Education Scotland communication with Local Authority Glow contacts regarding the expiration of the A1 Plus licence: FOI release
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
Information requested
In relation to the impending loss of the A1 Plus Microsoft licence, I have been advised that Education Scotland staff have been investigating the likely consequences and possible solutions.
I have been told that the service management team for Glow regularly engages with a group of Glow 'key contacts'. I would like to request that the following information be released:
• Copies of communication from Education Scotland (including but not necessarily limited to the Glow service management team) to local authority Glow contacts regarding or discussing the expiration of the A1 Plus licence and any associated information / action.
The time frame for this request is July 1 2023 - present.
Response
Please find enclosed the following documents in response to your request:
1. Emails issued to Glow Key Contacts from the Service Management Team meetings. You will note from the email in March 2024 that the issue related to the application of the restriction to overall tenancy size which had not yet been finalised. Please note that, following engagement with Microsoft, the Microsoft tenancy storage will not be limited and Microsoft will continue to meet our ongoing storage requirements until the end of their ten year contract in September 2027.
1. Email issued to Glow Key Contacts asking for information related to the impact of Microsoft changes.
1. The PowerPoint slide decks shared by Education Scotland with Glow Key Contacts at their monthly support meetings between August 2023 and June 2024 at which the relevant Microsoft changes were discussed. These meetings are informal and designed as a discussion forum. No minutes are made. Slide decks are included for monthly meetings where information related to the A1 Microsoft changes was provided.
An exemption under section 38(1)(b) (“third party data”) applies to some of the information requested. It is submitted that the disclosure of certain third party data contained within the material requested would contravene one of the principles set out in Article 5(1) of the UK GDPR (in this case, the lawfulness of processing). This is because, even if there were a legitimate interest in this information specifically (i.e. personal third party information of officials) and disclosure was considered necessary to achieve that interest, that legitimate interest would not override the interests, rights, and freedoms of those third parties.
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Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Enquiry Unit
Email: ceu@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrews House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG
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