FoI Request: School Climate Strikes and the Fridays for Future Movement

The request was successful.

elizabeth thomson

Good morning,

I am writing to make an open government request for all the information to which I am entitled under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

I am requesting this information on behalf of Amnesty International UK, to help us understand the position of Local Authorities regarding the climate strike actions taken by school pupils in Scotland. We need to be able to advise our young activists, youth groups, and teachers about their potential participation in climate strikes and any action that may be taken against pupils with unauthorised absences.

Please send me:

1. The position of your local authority towards climate strikes and authorised/unauthorised absences from school in order to attend any Friday climate strikes, as of the date you respond to this request.

2. Confirmation of whether climate strikers will be recorded as authorised or unauthorised absences by schools in your Local Authority area, and whether any punitive action will be taken against pupils or schools for involvement in climate strikes.

3. Details of any changes to the position or policy towards climate strike actions and authorised/unauthorised absences in your Local Authority during 2019.

4. Copies of any letters that your Local Authority has sent to schools or to all parents/carers in your authority area during 2019, that relate to climate strikes or the Fridays for Future Movement.

I would like the above information to be provided to me in electronic format.

If this request is too wide or unclear, I would be grateful if you could contact me as I understand that under the Act, you are required to advise and assist requesters.

If any of this information is already in the public domain, please can you direct me to it, with page references and URLs if necessary.

I would be grateful if you could confirm in writing that you have received this request.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully

Elizabeth Thomson
Campaigner
Amnesty International

Foi Enquiries, Aberdeen City Council

2 Attachments

Dear Ms Thomson

 

Information enquiry reference EIR-19-1162.

 

Thank you for your recent request for information, which we received on 26
August 2019.

 

The scheduled date for our response to your request for information is on
or before 23 September 2019.

 

Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any queries in the
meantime.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

[1]ACC_Crest_for Tomina Egbuson | Access to Information Officer
mac email
Aberdeen City Council | Access to Information Team |
Customer Feedback |Customer

Marischal College |Business Hub 6,  1^st Floor | Broad
Street | Aberdeen | AB10 1AB

 

Dial: 01224 522166

[2]www.aberdeencity.gov.uk | Twitter: @AberdeenCC |
Facebook.com/AberdeenCC

 

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
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References

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2. http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/

Foi Enquiries, Aberdeen City Council

2 Attachments

Dear Ms Thomson,

 

Thank you for your information request of 26 August 2019.  Aberdeen City
Council (ACC) has completed the necessary search for the information
requested. Our response is now detailed below.

 

 1. The position of your local authority towards climate strikes and
authorised/unauthorised absences from school in order to attend any
Friday climate strikes, as of the date you respond to this request.

We do not have a specific policy in place and any requests for absences
for climate change strikes would be deal with through our normal processes
for absences.

 

For any of our pupils taking part, they’d be marked down as an
unauthorised absence, and we would be taking no action.

 

 2. Confirmation of whether climate strikers will be recorded as
authorised or unauthorised absences by schools in your Local Authority
area, and whether any punitive action will be taken against pupils or
schools for involvement in climate strikes.

Please see the response to question 1 above.

 

 3. Details of any changes to the position or policy towards climate
strike actions and authorised/unauthorised absences in your Local
Authority during 2019.

No change.

 

 4. Copies of any letters that your Local Authority has sent to schools or
to all parents/carers in your authority area during 2019, that relate
to climate strikes or the Fridays for Future Movement.

No letters have been sent.

 

 

INFORMATION ABOUT THE HANDLING OF YOUR REQUEST

 

As the information which you requested is environmental information, as
defined under Regulation 2(1) of the Environmental Information (Scotland)
Regulations 2004 (the EIRs), ACC considered that it was exempt from
release through FOISA, and must therefore give you notice that we are
refusing  your request under Section 39(2) of FOISA (Freedom of
Information (Scotland) Act 2002).  However, you have a separate right to
access the information which you have requested under Regulation 5 of the
EIRs, under which ACC has handled your request. Please refer to the
attached PDF for more information about your rights under the EIRs.

 

We hope this helps with your request.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

[1]ACC_Crest_for Tomina Egbuson | Access to Information Officer
mac email
Aberdeen City Council | Access to Information Team |
Customer Feedback |Customer

Marischal College |Business Hub 6,  1^st Floor | Broad
Street | Aberdeen | AB10 1AB

 

Dial: 01224 522166

[2]www.aberdeencity.gov.uk | Twitter: @AberdeenCC |
Facebook.com/AberdeenCC

 

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.

References

Visible links
2. http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/