Guide to Information

CAIRN HOUSING GROUP’S GUIDE TO INFORMATION

Our Guide to Information has been developed to:

• allow the public to see what information is available (and what is not available) for Cairn Housing Group in relation to each class in the Model Publication Scheme 2018
• state what charges may be applied
• explain how you can find the information easily
• provide contact details for enquiries and to get help with access to the information
• explain how to request information that we hold which has not been published

Advice and Assistance

If you have any difficulty identifying the information you want to access, then please contact us to help you.

FOI Lead, Cairn Housing Group, Bellevue House, 22 Hopetoun Street, Edinburgh EH7 4GH

Tel: 0800 990 3405 or Email: FOI@cairnha.com

This guide organises our published information under nine classes.

In using these nine classes we are following the Scottish Information Commissioner’s Model Publication Scheme and applying its guidance.

If you have any questions, queries or suggestions about how to improve our published information or this guide, please email our Governance Services Manager at Carolyn.Owens@cairnha.com.

Making a Request

If what you are looking for is not here then you can make a request for information using the relevant FOI Request form (insert link). Requests for information under FOISA must be submitted in writing or any other form that can be kept for future use (e.g. fax, audio or video tape) and must include:

• your full name and an address for correspondence (e.g. a postal or email address); and
• a description of the information you are requesting.

FOISA requests may be made to the Freedom of Information Lead, Cairn Housing Association, 22 Hopetoun Street, Edinburgh EH7 4GH or by email to FOI@cairnha.com

You can expect to receive a response from us within 20 working days, though we may ask you for clarification to help us locate the information you are interested in more easily.

Withholding Information

Information may be withheld from disclosure under both FOISA and the EIRs if there is a good reason for doing so. If we withhold information, we will remove or redact (black out) information that we consider to be exempt from disclosure and let you know why. If you are unhappy with our decision, you can ask us to review our decision.

If you do not agree with the outcome of the review, you can ask the Scottish Information Commissioner to investigate.

Copyright and re-use

Where Cairn Housing Group holds the copyright in our published information, the information may be copied or reproduced without formal permission, provided that:

• it is not copied or reproduced accurately;
• it is not used in a misleading context; and
• the source of the information is identified.

Cairn Housing Group will make it clear where we do not hold copyright in our published information.

Charges

This section explains when we may charge for our publications and how any charge will be calculated. There is no charge to view information on our website or at our premises. We may charge for providing information to you, but we will charge you no more than it costs us to do so. We will always tell you what the cost is before providing the information to you.

Cairn Housing Group may charge for providing information in response to a specific request under FOISA. Any fees charged for additional, specific information will be set in accordance with the Freedom of Information (Fees for Required Disclosure) (Scotland) Regulations 2004

Our charges for providing any information detailed in this guide are summarised as follows

• 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. Cairn Group may also ask the applicant to pay the full cost above the £600 limit.
• 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) within 20 working days of the request, showing the estimated fee, how it has been calculated and how applicants can appeal against the fee. 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.

How information is provided	Detail	Cost
Printing and photocopying based on black and white copies	A3 paper	20p per sheet
Printing and photocopying based on black and white copies	A4 paper	10p per sheet
Postage	By Royal Mail	First Class
Staff time in preparing information	Per hour	£15

Charges for Environmental Information

Environmental information is provided under the EIRs rather than FOISA. The rules for charging for environmental information are slightly different.

• Requests for information can be made verbally under EIRs.
• The 20 day time period for responding to requests can be extended to 40 working days where the request is complex and voluminous and would involve a considerable amount of work. Cairn Housing Group will notify applicants where the time period is extended.
• There is no upper or lower cost limit and Cairn Housing Group can recover in full the reasonable cost of supplying the information requested. Cairn Housing Group will provide a schedule of fees relating to environmental information which is available, and that sets out the charges applicable to EIR requests.
• EIRs have exceptions rather than exemptions and all of these are subject to the public interest test.
• Information relating to emissions has special status and will have to be supplied in most cases.

Where an applicant is unhappy with Cairn Housing Group’s response to a request for environmental information and wants Cairn Housing Group to review its decision this request must be made in writing.

Environmental Information

The Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 provide a right of access to environmental information held by Scottish Public Authorities. This includes the Cairn Housing Group (including in some cases our commercial subsidiary Cairn Homes and Services Limited (trading as Cairn Living).

The definition of environmental information is very broad and includes:

• the state of elements of the environment and their interaction (air, water, soil, land and landscape, natural sites, flora and fauna)
• discharges, emissions, noise, radiation, waste measures and activities affecting the environment (e.g. policies, legislation, plans, activities)
• reports on implementation of environmental legislation
• cost benefit and economic analysis
• effects of the environment on conditions of human life (including flood, buildings)

The Regulations are governed by the Scottish Information Commissioner, who is also responsible for the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

Making a Request

Environmental information is available within our website and in our Guide to Information.

Information can also be provided upon request, either verbally, in writing or by completing the Information Request Form

If we do not hold the information requested, but know of another public authority that does, we will let you know.

You can expect to receive a response from us within 20 working days, though we may ask you for clarification to help us locate the information you are interested in more easily.

We may also extend the response time by an additional 20 working days if the enquiry is large or complex. We will let you know in good time if that is the case.

Charges

In responding to requests for environmental information under the EIRs, we are entitled to charge a reasonable amount towards making the information available. This includes enviromental information which may have been requested under the FOISA.

The costs for EIRs requests are based on estimated costs of staff time to locate and retrieve information, plus any costs associated with putting the information into a particular format, copying and postage costs.

We do not charge for the time taken to decide if we hold the information requested, or the time it takes to decide whether the information can be released.

Classes of Information

The classes of information that we publish

We publish all the information that we hold within the following classes. Once information is published under a class we will continue to make it available for the current and previous two financial years.

Where information has been updated or superseded, only the current version will be available. If you would like to see previous versions, you may make a request to us for that information.