FOI Request - High-Resolution School Attendance Data

Request 101004002409

I am seeking to link indoor and outdoor air quality datasets (SAMHE, SEPA Volcanic Emissions Network, AURN, PurpleAir) with school absence data in Scotland during periods of volcanic activity from the Reykjanes peninsula. So far, I have only been able to locate aggregated annual attendance statistics.

1. I am therefore writing to ask whether higher resolution data, specifically daily attendance counts at the level of individual schools, from 2016 to the present (or as far back as records allow) might be available. Data from years prior to the 2021 onset of the eruptions will be used to establish baseline conditions, taking into account the disruption caused by the COVID 19 pandemic.

Response 15-06-2026

We do not hold daily attendance counts at the level of individual schools from 2016/2017 to 2024/2025. Information that is not held falls under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 - Information not held.

We do hold daily attendance information for the current school session (2025/2026), however this is at individual pupil level and we are unable to supply this as it has the potential to identify individual pupils. This information is therefore exempt under Section 38(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 - Personal Information.

We are able to access weekly attendance rate percentages per school from 2016 to present. However, as there are 52 schools x 10 years = 520 datasets  and at an estimated 10 minutes per dataset, this task would take more than 40 hours and this would cost the Council in excess of £600 of staff time. In accordance with section 12 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (excessive cost), we are therefore unable to comply with this part of the request.