The Court of Session has upheld The General Teaching Council for Scotland's [GTC Scotland] right to receive evidence from Police Scotland, enabling it to fulfil its critical role in public protection.
GTC Scotland has welcomed the judgement, given that the sharing of key information allows the Council to carry out its statutory Fitness to Teach and public protection function as Scotland's professional regulator of teachers.
Previously, GTC Scotland has had to request individual orders from the Court of Session to access information and progress Fitness to Teach cases. This has brought about additional costs and delays to the progress of processing some of the most serious Fitness to Teach cases that GTC Scotland has been handling.
Commenting on the ruling, chief executive and registrar of GTC Scotland, Dr Pauline Stephen, said: “It is GTC Scotland’s role to ensure public protection by investigating fitness to teach. In the course of these investigations, GTC Scotland has sought information from Police Scotland which has not been provided. This has caused difficulties and delays in GTC Scotland fulfilling its regulatory function.
“We have invested considerable time, effort and cost to reach the conclusion that the Court issued on 26 October 2021; we believed it was the right thing to do in the public interest and to ensure public protection, which of course includes child protection. We are aware that the outcome will also have a positive impact on other professional regulators who found themselves in a similar position in their efforts to protect the public.”
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