John Gallacher
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
24 June 2020
Our Ref: 319
Dear Mr Gallacher,
Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 – Request for Information
Thank you for your email/letter which was received by Borders College on 19 June 2020, requesting
information about:
1. Under Freedom of Information Scotland, I wish to receive the following information within 20
working days:
2. Since lockdown until 19 June 2020, can you please provide details of the number of staff who have
accessed the college buildings or otherwise travelled on college business? Can you please break
this down into dates, roles, FTE numbers, duration in hours/minutes, reason for attendance and
also indicate whether this was on a voluntary basis or for reasons connected with their substantive
roles?
3. Please advise whether there was prior consultation with Trade Unions before staff entered the
building or travelled on college business? If not, please indicate your reasons.
4. Were Trade Unions involved in the drafting/agreement of risk assessments prior to staff accessing
the buildings and did staff have sight of these prior to entry?
5. Did any staff members have to travel more than five miles in order to attend work under these
circumstances? If so, how many?
6. Did any staff have to use public transport to attend work under these circumstances? If so, how
many?
7. Was the decision to have staff attend work equality impact assessed? If not, why not?
Borders College Response
The information you have requested is shown overleaf.
1. All of the detailed information requested is not readily available therefore I must advise that in terms of
Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 some of the information sought is not
held.
2. Staff entered the Galashiels campus for the following reasons:
• FM staff providing a service at HWU request to open the building to allow them access to the
Textile workshops to produce face masks for the NHS
• FM staff collecting Beds for NHS Louisa Jordan and PPE for Eildon Housing
•
FM staff collecting furniture & IT to deliver out to staff in need due to working at home, staff
collecting equipment were not granted access
• FM staff delivering on a voluntary basis prescriptions
• FM staff checking on building security and providing some external maintenance, grass cutting
ect to maintaining property, meter readings, all access to equipment was from externally
accessed storage facilities
• FM staff opening on weekly basis for IT to change back up tapes as an essential service to
maintain remote working
• We have also had staff accessing the Newtown campus on a daily basis to feed animals.
All of the above was completed with the minimal of staff 2 or 3 maximum on site at any one time and
maintaining social distancing measures.
3. Union reps were aware of the above activities and raised no concerns.
4.
5. Staff would have travelled more than 5 miles to deliver prescriptions and furniture/IT equipment to
outlying areas.
6. Public transport was not used.
7. No equality impact assessment was compiled. The majority of the staff accessing the site were FM
staff, and had to be FM staff.
Copy
right
The supply of documents under the terms of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 does not give the
applicant or whoever receives the information any right to re-use it in such a way that might infringe the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988 (for example, by making multiple copies, publishing or otherwise distributing the
information to other individuals and the public). The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (Consequential
Modifications) Order 2004 ensured that Section 50 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (“CDPA”) applies to
the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (“FOISA”).
Breac
h of copyright law is an actionable offence and the College expressly reserves its rights and remedies available
to it pursuant to the CDPA and common law. Further information on copyright is available at the following website:
http://www.ipo.gov.uk/copy.htm
Your right to seek a review
If you are dissatisfied with the way in which the College has dealt with your request, you have the right to require us to
review our actions and decisions. To request a review, please contact the Vice Principal (Finance and Corporate
Services), Borders College, Scottish Borders Campus, Nether Road, Galashiels, TD1 3HE or e-mail:
xxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xx.xx within 40 working days. The review will be conducted by another member of the Executive
Team. Please provide your name, contact address/email and your reason for requesting a review. Your request must
be in a recordable format (letter, email, audio tape, etc). You will receive a full response within 20 working days of its
receipt.
If you are dissatisfied with how we have handled your request for review you may ask the Scottish Information
Commissioner to review our decision. You must submit your complaint to the Commissioner within six months of
receiving the response to review letter. The Commissioner’s Office may be contacted as follows:
Online Appeal Service:
Websit
e: www.itspublicknowledge.info/Appeal
By post:
The Scottish Information Commissioner
Kinburn Castle
Doubledykes Road
St Andrews
Fife
KY16 9DS
Telephone: 01334 464610
Fax: 01334 464611
E-mail:
xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxxx
An appeal, on a point of law, to the Court of Session may be made against a decision by the Commissioner.”
Further information
For further information on our Freedom of Information procedures please refer to
http://www.borderscollege.ac.uk/downloads/freedom_of_information_procedureoctober2018.pdf All complaints regarding requests for information will be handled in accordance with this procedure.
Yours sincerely
Mrs Hazel Robertson
Vice Principal Finance and Corporate Resources
Document Outline
