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.
We have adopted the Scottish Information Commissioner’s (SIC) Model Publication Scheme (MPS), and this Guide has been approved by the SIC.
Scope of the Order
We comply with the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA). In order to determine whether or not information is subject to FOISA it needs to be assessed as being covered by the scope of the order. Details of the scope can be found here.
Freedom of Information requests will be assessed to determine if the information covers one or more of the following functions –
1. Prevention & alleviation of homelessness
The Scottish Social Housing Charter identifies the Local Council (LCA) with the statutory duty for alleviation of homelessness (outcome 12). We currently publish information relating to Section 5 homeless referrals from LCAs as part of our Annual Return of the Charter (ARC) . Our responsibility for prevention is limited to provision of advice under charter outcome 7-9.
2. Management of social housing accommodation
FOISA rights apply to information held by an organisation in relation to the functions covered by the Order i.e. provision of Scottish Secure Tenancies (SSTs)
3. Provision & management of sites for gypsy travellers
The Scottish Social Housing Charter identifies the Local Council (LCA) with the statutory duty for managing gypsy traveller sites (outcome 16). We do not manage any gypsy traveller sites therefore FOISA does not apply.
4. Supplies financial/governance information to SHR
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 we can send this in a print format.
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:
Business Support Team
4 Hay Avenue
Edinburgh
EH16 4AQ
Email: foisa@placesforpeople.co.uk
Tel: 0131 657 0600
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 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.
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.
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
