FOI – 2024-000117 Joint Working agreements (HTML)

Date received – 21 February 2024 | Date responded – 28 March 2024

Request

Could you please provide the Minutes of the National Gender Identity Clinical Network for Scotland's steering group. This should cover the period from the meeting on 14 March 2023 to the current date.

Response

We have now completed the search of our records and can provide you with the following information:

Please find attached the following appendices for the information you requested.

• Appendix 1 - 2023-05-23 NGICNS SG Mins V1_Redacted
• Appendix 2 - 2023-08-10 NGICNS SG Mins D0_Redacted

Following the meeting on the 10th August 2023, the network was paused for the remainder of 2023/24 to release limited specialist resource available to support wider, time limited, national developments overseen by the Gender Identity Healthcare Reference Group.

Please Note - there were no further steering groups. The minutes of the 10th August remain as a final draft as there has been no subsequent meeting to ratify them.

In accordance with Section 39(1) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 for “Health and Safety” we have redacted all names and job titles of staff listed in the above documents.

These redactions are made with the utmost care and consideration, aiming to protect the health and safety of staff, especially those working in sensitive environments.

We believe disclosing this information could potentially compromise an individual's health or safety resulting from the release of sensitive information.

After further consultation we've learned of instances where staff members have faced unwelcome attention. Given this precedent, we consider it highly likely that disclosing names and job titles could compromise staff.

We believe that withholding this information is necessary to prevent further targeting and ensure the well-being of dedicated team members.

Specialist Healthcare Commissioning

The final stage of applying this exemption is the consideration of the Public Interest Test

In weighing up the Public Interest Test NSS recognises that there is always a public interest in Scottish public authorities operating in an open and transparent manner, however on this occasion NSS has considered that there is absolutely no public interest in compromising the health and safety of staff working in the area of transgender healthcare.

I trust you will find the information of assistance and if you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

If you are unhappy with any aspect of how we have dealt with your request, you can make representations to us asking us to review the handling of your request.

If you require any further information, please contact Head of Information and Cyber Security, Digital and Security within 40 working days of the date of this correspondence.

Contact

Address

If after a review you are still unhappy, you also have the right to apply to the Scottish Information Commissioner, who can be contacted at Kinburn Castle, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9DS, or via their application form.

National Services Scotland (NSS) is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. You can view all FOI responses within our FOI Publications repository.