FOI Review: Review of 101003187911 Closure and Mothballing of Inveravon School

Request 101003289539

Review of 101003187911 Closure and Mothballing of Inveravon School

I submitted a request on 24 November 2022 under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 pertaining to the proposed closure of Inveravon School, as follows:

1. All reports pertaining to the educational standards at Inveravon School prepared under the Quality Indicator Framework (HGIOS4) since 2016;
2. All documentation from Moray Council to parents of pupils at Inveravon School relating to the school's closure and alternative arrangements offered for transport and enrolment of pupils at an alternative school from 2017;
3. Dates of departures of pupils from Inveravon School from 2016 to 2017;
4. Legal documentation relating to the 'gifting' by Ballindalloch Estate of the land for building of Inveravon School, from the early nineteenth century.
The Moray Council response dated 22 December 2022 stated that articles 2,3 and 4 would be dealt with in the detailed responses to be published within the Consultation Report due to be published by the end of February 2023.

As this has failed to materialise, I would ask you as a matter of urgency to pursue this matter on my behalf by investigating why the relevant body within Moray Council has failed to fulfil its published duty and by ensuring dissemination of the promised information at the earliest possible opportunity.

Response 02-05-2023

Following your request for a review, a review into the Freedom of Information (FOI) Request - Closure and Mothballing of Inveravon School – 101003187911, was held on 25th April 2023. In attendance were the Information Governance Manager, Programme Manager Learning Estate, Solicitor Licencing and Information Co-ordinator.

Your FOI Request from 24th November 2022 was discussed. Our initial response to the FOI issued on 22nd December 2022 answered question 1 and applied an exemption against questions 2 to 4. For clarity, the response to questions 2 to 4 stated that the “detailed responses to these questions, which were raised during the public consultation on the proposal to close Inveravon Primary School that took place between 29 August 2022 and 7th October 2022, will be published within the Consultation Report due for publication at the end of February 2023” and an exemption under Section 27 (1) and 27(2) of the Freedom of Information Act - Information intended for future publication within 12 weeks of the request was applied.

The panel advises that the original exemption was applied because the date for publication of the Consultation Report on the proposed closure of Inveravon Primary School was due to coincide with planned discussion at the Education, Children’s and Leisure Services Committee on 25 January 2023. The request of the Committee was to consider the Consultation Report and recommend the proposal to close the school to the Moray Council meeting on 2 February 2023.

However, in reviewing the statutory requirements set out in the Schools (Consultation)(Scotland) Act 2010 it was noted that this would not have allowed the requisite minimum 3 weeks from publication of the report to a decision by the Education Authority. Consequently, the release of the Consultation Report was delayed until 12 April 2023 to coincide with the later Education, Children’s and Leisure Services Committee on 19 April 2023 and the Moray Council meeting on 24 May 2023.

We apologise for the delay and can confirm that the Consultation Report can now be found here: http://www.moray.gov.uk/moray_standard/page_148010.html