To ask the Minister of Education, pursuant to AQW 34786/22-27, for a breakdown of all independent reviews of his Department's programmes and Independent Assessors, that make up the table line entitled, Numerous independent reviews of DE programmes and costs in relation to Independent Assessors and Ministerial Advisory Panel, broken down (i) over the last three years; and (ii) related costs for each one.

I refer you to AQW 34786/22-27 where you will note that I included a rationale for the consolidation of the information in the table line entitled “Numerous independent reviews of DE programmes and costs in relation to Independent Assessors and Ministerial Advisory Panel”, as follows:

The costs of reviews of DE programmes, independent assessors and the International Ministerial Advisory Panel have been consolidated, as providing this information for these individually could lead to the release of personal and commercially sensitive information.

As such, the Department is unable to provide a detailed list or breakdown of the costs relating to all independent reviews of DE programmes and Independent Assessors by financial year, as releasing this would breach Section 43 (2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and data protection legislation as it could lead to the identification of the remuneration of individuals.

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, personal data is defined as any information relating to an identifiable natural person. If statistical data can be linked to an individual—either directly or indirectly—it is considered personal data and must be protected accordingly. Where appropriate, this encourages organisations to anonymise or suppress data to avoid identification and remain compliant with the legislation. This is often referred to as the principle of integrity and confidentiality, which requires the implementation of appropriate technical or organisational measures to safeguard personal data.