A Guide to Information
At a glance - terms used in this document
|
Term used |
Explanation |
|---|---|
|
FOISA |
Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 Places a duty on those organisations covered to proactively publish certain types of informationl and to provide advice and assistance to those making requests for information. |
|
EIRs |
Environmental Information Regulations (Scotland) 2004 Those organisations covered by EIRs have a duty to respond to requests for environmental information. |
|
SIC |
The Scottish Information Commissioner Who is responsible for ensuring that those bodies covered by FOISA and EIRs comply with the terms of the legislation. |
|
MPS |
Produced by the SIC - this details all of the information that those subect to FOISA should publish (if they hold it) |
|
Guide to Information |
A guide that all organisations subjet to FOISA and adopting the MPS must produce to help people access the information it makes available. |
|
Classes of Information |
Nine broad categories describing the types of information authorities should publish (if they hold it). |
1. Background |
The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) requires that all housing associations/co-operatives in Scotland must produce and maintain a publication scheme. This must detail all of the key information that we publish and how you can access it. This Guide to Information is our publication scheme, and contains links to where you can find all of the information listed online.
Langstane Housing Association Ltd has adopted the Scottish Information Commissioner’s (SIC) Model Publication Scheme (MPS), and this Guide has been approved by the SIC.
2. Formats other than online |
All of the information listed is available on our website (unless stated), and completely free to access online. However, we understand that not everyone will have online access and where this is the case you can contact us to view this in our office (where this would be convenient).
If you would like a printed copy of any of the information listed, unfortunately we may have to charge a small fee to provide this. This fee will never exceed the cost of photocopying and postage – and we will let you know any total cost before we forward this to you.
Our charges for providing any information detailed in this guide are summarised below:
|
Format |
Charge |
|
Online |
Free |
|
View at our office |
Free |
|
Print in black and white |
0.003p per A4 sheet (rounded up to the nearest penny) |
|
CD Rom |
£0.64 per disc |
|
Posted document / CD Rom |
Cost of postage incurred |
If you would like to request information that we publish in a format other than online, or arrange a visit to our office to view information, please contact:
Governance and Corporate Team by emailing Governance@langstane-ha.co.uk or call our main number: 01224 423000 for assistance with your enquiry.
3. Information that we cannot publish |
Whilst we will try to make all of the information we have detailed available, in rare cases there may be some information that we cannot make available. For example, sometimes if we were to publish certain Board of Management or Sub-committee minutes, it could reveal personal details about an individual. This would be a breach of Data Protection legislation if we were to do so. When this is the case, we will remove any personal details before publication and highlight where and why we have done so.
4. For how long will information be published? |
We aim, where possible, to publish information for at least the current and previous two financial years. When we review any document – e.g. our policies – to avoid confusion we will only publish the current version once it has been updated. Please note that we have taken a ‘Day one approach’ to publication of on-going items and so have not actively backdated the publications of any items that we start to publish after 11 November 2019 when we became subject to Freedom of Information Regulations.
5. Copyright and re-use |
Where we hold the copyright on our published information, the information may be copied or reproduced without formal permission, provided that:
- It is copied accurately
- It is not used in a misleading context
- The source of the material is identified
6. Contact us |
If you have any queries about anything contained within this Guide to Information, or if there is some information that you cannot find that you would like to access, please contact our governance and corporate department on email: governance@langstane-ha.co.uk or call 01224 423000
