We are committed to being open and transparent about how we operate.
The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) and the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs) give you the right to access information about the decisions we make and the services we provide.
On this page you’ll find information about who we are, how we make decisions, and how we deliver our services.
This includes key documents relating to our relationship with the Scottish Housing Regulator, found in the ‘Class 1: About Sanctuary Scotland’ section of our published information.
You can also find minutes of our Governing Body meetings in the ‘Class 3: How we make decisions and what we have decided’ area.
Terms used
| Terms | Explanation |
|---|---|
| FOISA |
Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 Places a duty on those organisations covered to proactively publish certain types of information; and to respond to requests for information; and to provide advice and assistance to those making requests for information. The Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 has extended the upper time limit for responding to ongoing and new requests and reviews under FOISA from 20 working days to 60 working days. |
| 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 |
Model Publication Scheme Produced by the SIC – this details all of the information that those subject to FOISA should publish (if they hold it). |
| Guide to Information |
A guide that all organisations subject 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). |
The purpose of this Guide to Information is to:
- Allow the public to see what information is available (and what is not available) for Sanctuary Scotland in relation to each class in the Model Publication Scheme
- State what charges may be applied
- Explain how to find the information easily
- Provide contact details for enquiries and to get help with access to the information
- Explain how to request information that has not been published
Alongside the Act, the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (the EIRs) provide a separate right of access to the environmental information that we hold. This guide to information also contains details of the environmental information that we routinely make available.
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. The Guide to Information below is our publications scheme, and contains links to where you can find all of the information listed online.
Information we publish
Sanctuary Scotland has adopted the Scottish Information Commissioner's (SIC) Model Publication Scheme and this Guide has been approved by the SIC.
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 one of our offices (where this would be convenient).
If you would like a printed copy of any of the information listed, we may have to charge a small fee to provide this. This fee will never exceed the cost of photocopying and postage. We will let you know any total cost before commencing printing to confirm you want to proceed.
| Format | Charge |
|---|---|
| Online | Free |
| View at our office | Free |
| Print in black and white | 10p per sheet |
| Print in colour | 20p per sheet |
| Posted document | Cost of postage incurred |
Postage costs
Postage costs may be recharged at the rate we paid to send the information to you. Our charge is for sending information by Royal Mail First Class. When providing copies of pre-printed publications, we will charge no more than the cost per copy of the total print run.
We do not pass on any other costs to you in relation to our published information
Charges for information which is not available under the scheme
If you submit a request to us for information which is not available in this Guide, the charges will be based on the following calculations:
General information requests
- There will be no charge for information requests which cost us £100 or less to process
- Where information costs between £100 and £600 to provide you may be asked to pay 10% of the cost. That is, if you were to ask for information that cost us £600 to provide, you would be asked to pay £50 calculated on the basis of a waiver for the first £100 and 10% of the remaining £500
- We are not obliged to respond to requests which will cost us over £600 to process
- In calculating any fee, staff time will be calculated at actual cost per staff member hourly salary rate to a maximum of £15 per person per hour
- We do not charge for the time to determine whether we hold the information requested, nor for the time it takes to decide whether the information can be released. Charges may be made for locating, retrieving and providing information to you
- In the event that we decide to impose a charge we will issue you with notification of the charge (a fees notice) and how it has been calculated. You will have three months from the date of issue of the fees notice in which to decide whether to pay the charge. The information will be provided to you on payment of the charge. If you decide not to proceed with the request there will be no charge to you.
Charges for Environmental Information
Environmental information is provided under the EIRs rather than FOISA.
The rules for charging for environmental information are slightly different.
We do not charge for the time to determine whether we hold the environmental information requested or deciding whether the information can be released. Charges may be made for locating, retrieving and providing information to you e.g. photocopying and postage.
If we decide to impose a charge, we will issue you with notification of the charge and how it has been calculated. The information will be provided to you on payment of the charge.
If you decide not to proceed with the request there will be no charge to you. Charges are calculated based on the actual cost to Sanctuary Scotland of providing the information:
- Photocopying is charged at 10p per A4 sheet for black and white copying, 20p per A4 sheet for colour copying.
- Postage is charged at actual rate for Royal Mail First Class.
- Staff time is calculated at actual cost per staff member hourly salary rate to a maximum of £15 per person per hour.
The first £100 worth of information will be provided to you without charge.
Where information costs between £100 and £600 to provide, you will be asked to pay 10% of the cost. That is, if you were to ask for information that cost us £600 to provide, you would be asked to pay £50, calculated on the basis of a waiver for the first £100 and 10% of the remaining £500.
Where it would cost more than £600 to provide the information to you, however, we will ask you to pay the full cost of providing the information, with no waiver for any portion of the cost.
Other Formats
If you would like to request information that we publish in a format other than online, or arrange a visit to one of our offices to view information, please contact our Customer Hub on 0800 131 3348.
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 [committee/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. We will clearly mark which version of the information is current and which is previous.
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
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 Customer Hub on 0800 131 3348.
FOI request
To make a request for information, use the button below to visit our Freedom of Information (FOI) Scotland Request Form