Freedom of information scotland act 2002 pdf

The Act provides a statutory right of access to information held by Scottish public authorities. These range from the Scottish Parliament and Government, to local authorities, NHS boards, higher and further education bodies, doctors and dental practitioners.

Requested information must be provided unless it is subject to one or more exemptions, as set out in the Act. If a requester is dissatisfied with the response received to a request or does not receive a response, he or she can ask the authority to review its decision or handling of the request. The Scottish Information Commissioner both promotes and enforces the Act. The provisions of the Act can be extended to bodies that carry out functions of a public nature or which provide, under a contract with a Scottish public authority, a service which is a function of that authority.

This can be done by making an order under section 5 of the Act, which designates those bodies as a Scottish public authority for the purposes of the Act. Following consideration by the Parliament the order came into effect on 1 April At the time the order was debated the then Deputy First Minister made clear that it was seen as an initial order and that consultation on further extension would follow.

The book then considers practical aspects of information requests: the persons who may make them; the bodies to whom they may be made; the time allowed for responding; the modes of response; fees and vexatious requests; the duty to advise and assist; the codes of practice; government guidance and its status; transferring of requests; third party consultation.

The next 13 chapters, comprising over half the book, are devoted to exemptions. These start with two important chapters dealing with general exemption principles, including the notions of 'prejudice' and the 'public interest'. The arrangement of these chapters reflects the arrangement of the FOI Act, but the text is careful to include analogous references to the Environmental Information Regulations and the Data Protection Act With each chapter, the exemption is carefully analysed, starting with its Parliamentary history giving full references to Hansard and other Parliamentary material and the treatment given in the comparative jurisdictions.

The analysis then turns to consider all court judgments and tribunal decisions dealing with the exemption. The principles are stated in the text, with footnotes giving all available references. Whether to prepare a case or to prepare a response to a request, these chapters allow the practitioner to get on top of the exemption rapidly and authoritatively.

The book concludes with three chapters setting out the role of the Information Commissioner and the Tribunal, appeals and enforcement. The chapter on appeals allows the practitioner to be familiar with the processes followed in the tribunal, picking up on the jurisprudence as it has emerged in the last eight or so years. Appendices include: precedent requests for information; a step-by-step guide to responding to a request; comparative tables; and a table of the FOI Act's Parliamentary history.

An up-to-date, user-friendly guide to the subject of commercial law as it operates in Scotland, this book is intended primarily for students on commercial law, mercantile law or business law courses.

It should also be useful for postgraduate courses and for practitioners. If in doubt, you can check the latest position at www. In addition to the bodies listed in the Act, with effect from 1 September the definition of a public authority now also covers companies which are wholly owned:. This type of company counts as a public authority in its own right and needs to respond to requests for information. Where a company is wholly owned by a number of local authorities it is also now a public authority for the purposes of FOIA.

The Act covers all recorded information held by a public authority. It is not limited to official documents and it covers, for example, drafts, emails, notes, recordings of telephone conversations and CCTV recordings. Nor is it limited to information you create, so it also covers, for example, letters you receive from members of the public, although there may be a good reason not to release them. The Act includes some specific requirements to do with datasets.

For these purposes, a dataset is collection of factual, raw data that you gather as part of providing services and delivering your functions as a public authority, and that you hold in electronic form. Your duties in relation to datasets are explained elsewhere in this Guide, where they are relevant.

Requests are sometimes made for less obvious sources of recorded information, such as the author and date of drafting, found in the properties of a document sometimes called meta-data. This information is recorded so is covered by the Act and you must consider it for release in the normal way. Similarly, you should treat requests for recorded information about the handling of previous freedom of information requests meta-requests no differently from any other request for recorded information.

If a member of the public asks for information, you only have to provide information you already have in recorded form.

You do not have to create new information or find the answer to a question from staff who may happen to know it. For example, you may keep certain records in off-site storage, or you may send out certain types of work to be processed by a contractor. Similarly, although individual councillors are not public authorities in their own right, they do sometimes hold information about council business on behalf of their council.

Where you subcontract public services to an external company, that company may then hold information on your behalf, depending on the type of information and your contract with them. Some of the information held by the external company may be covered by the Act if you receive a freedom of information request.

The company does not have to answer any requests for information it receives, but it would be good practice for them to forward the requests to you. The same applies where you receive services under a contract, for example, if you consult external solicitors.

The Act does not cover information you hold solely on behalf of another person, body or organisation. Anyone can make a freedom of information request — they do not have to be UK citizens, or resident in the UK. Freedom of information requests can also be made by organisations, for example a newspaper, a campaign group, or a company. Employees of a public authority can make requests to their own employer, although good internal communications and staff relations will normally avoid the need for this.

Requesters should direct their requests for information to the public authority they think will hold the information. The public authority that receives the request is responsible for responding. The section 45 code of practice gives recommendations for public authorities about their handling of requests.

It covers the situations in which you should give advice and assistance to those making requests; the complaints procedures you should put in place; and various considerations that may affect your relationships with other public bodies or third parties. There is an additional section 45 code of practice on datasets. This provides guidance to public authorities on how to meet their obligations in relation to the dataset provisions in sections 11, 11A, 11B and 19 of the Act.

These schools became subject to freedom of information legislation from 1 September Responses to the consultation raised a number of concerns about the practical and administrative resource implications of extending coverage to these various schools.

Specifically, given the statutory requirement to respond to freedom of information requests and reviews within 20 working days, the impact of school holiday periods on the school's ability to comply with this obligation.

For example, the collective response from the grant-aided special schools noted the difficulties of school holiday periods; Harmeny Education Trust Ltd requested clarification regarding the definition of 'working day' the same point being made by The Royal Blind School and the Scottish Council of Independent Schools with the Scottish Centre for Children with Motor Impairments SCCMI noting that due to their 'term-time only structure' complying with a 20 working day deadline would not always be possible.

The Scottish Government therefore decided to consult on proposals varying the period of time by which a response or review response must be issued [2]. Information We use cookies to collect anonymous data to help us improve your site browsing experience.