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Freedom of information

The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 give everyone the right to request information held by any Scottish public authority.

Citizens Advice Scotland, insofar as it undertakes duties and powers relating to the following services is subject to the requirements of the Act and the Regulations:

  • the Extra Help Unit 

     

    All information on our website www.cas.org.uk is available to download for free.

Publication scheme
For an outline of information that we already publish or that you can request from us please see our:

Guide to information
Our guide to information:

  • allows you to see what information is available (and what is not available) in relation to each class
  • states what charges may be applied
  • explains how to find the information easily
  • provides contact details for enquiries and to get help with accessing the information
  • explains how to request information that has not been published.

    Alternatively you can contact us on 0131 550 1000 or by email, [email protected], to ask for a hard copy to be posted to you.

Note: Citizens Advice Scotland has adopted the Single Model Publication Scheme 2014 developed by the Scottish Information Commissioner. The adoption period runs until 31 May 2018. Our guide to information has been produced as part of the process of adopting the Single Model Publication Scheme.

How to request information which is not in our publication scheme
If the information you want is not in our publication scheme, you have the right to request it from us.  The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 gives you a right of access to the information we hold (whether we publish it or not), subject to certain exemptions.

  • Email us - [email protected]
  • Write to us at Broadside, Powderhall Road, Edinburgh EH7 4GB

    For advice on how best to make a request you can contact us on 0131 550 1000.

For advice enquiries, find contact details of your local Citizens Advice Bureau. Citizens Advice Scotland cannot provide advice directly.

Charges for information
There is no charge for downloading information from our website. If we send published information to you, we may ask you to pay the costs of providing it to you e.g., photocopying and postage.

We may charge for unpublished information provided in response to a request for it.  Where it would cost us £100 or less to provide the information to you, we will not impose a charge. If it costs us between £100 and £600 to provide the information, we may ask you to pay 10% of that part of the cost.  So, for example, if it costs us £400, then we may charge up to £30 (i.e. first £100 is free, then we may charge 10% of the cost between £100 and £400).

Where it would cost more than £600 to provide information to you, we may ask you to pay the costs as set out above up to £600 and the remaining costs over £600 in full.

We are pleased to provide advice and assistance to help requesters frame their requests to reduce the possibility of charges for information.

For further details of CAS's charging policy for information see:

Information Requests - Charging Schedule

Availability and formats
The information we publish through the model scheme is, wherever possible, available on our website. We offer alternative arrangements for people who do not want to, or cannot, access the information online or by inspection at our premises. For example, we can usually arrange to send information to you in paper copy (although there may be a charge for this).

Exempt information
We will publish the information we hold that falls within the classes of information below. If a document contains information that is exempt under Scotland’s freedom of information laws (for example sensitive personal information or a trade secret), we may remove or redact the information before publication but we will explain why.

Copyright
Where Citizens Advice Scotland holds the copyright in its published information, the information may be copied or reproduced without formal permission, provided that:

  • it is copied or reproduced accurately
  • it is not used in a misleading context, and
  • the source of the material is identified
    Where Citizens Advice Scotland does not hold the copyright in information we publish, we will make this clear.

We publish 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.

CLASS 1: About Citizens Advice Scotland
Information about Citizens Advice Scotland, who we are, where to find us, how to contact us, how we are managed and our external relations

General information about Citizens Advice Scotland
Information on how to contact CAS and the location of our offices and key staff contacts
If you would like information over and above what is provided in the About us section of our website in relation to our Consumer Futures, Extra Help Unit or Citizens Advice Consumer Service work then please make a request.

CLASS 2: How we deliver our functions and services
Information about our work, our strategy and policies for delivering functions and services and information for our service users can be found in the document 'Citizens Advice Scotland: Strategic Framework 2018 - 2023'. This can be downloaded using the link at the bottom of this page.

We do not currently publish more detailed information on our website. If you would like information on how we deliver our functions and services in relation to the Extra Help Unit please make a request.

CLASS 3: How we take decisions and what we have decided
Information about the decisions we take, how we make decisions and how we involve others.

Information about our governance (including details of our board of directors)
In forming some of our work plans we consult with others. Details can be found in the Publications (publication type: corporate) section of our website.
If you would like information over and above what is provided in the our governance and our Publications (publication type: corporate) sections of our website on how CAS makes decisions and what it has decided in relation to the Extra Help Unit please make a request.

CLASS 4: What we spend and how we spend it
Information about our strategy for, and management of, financial resources (in sufficient detail to explain how we plan to spend public money and what has actually been spent.

Some information on what we spend and how we spend it is available in our annual reports. These can be found in the Publications (publication type: corporate) section of our website.
We do not currently publish more detailed information on our website. If you would like information on what we spend and how we spend it in in relation to the Extra Help Unit please make a request.

CLASS 5: How we manage our human, physical and information resources
Information about how we manage the human, physical and information resources of Citizens Advice Scotland.

We do not currently publish these policies on our website. If you would like information on how we manage human, physical and information resources in in relation to the Extra Help Unit please make a request.

CLASS 6: How we procure goods and services from external providers
Information about how we procure goods and services, and our contracts with external providers

We do not currently publish procurement policies on our website. If you would like information on CAS procurement policies in relation to the Extra Help Unit please make a request.

CLASS 7: How we are performing
Information about how we perform as an organisation, and how well we deliver our functions and services

Annual reports and other publications related to our performance can be found in the Publications (publication type: corporate) section of our website.
If you would like information over and above what is provided in our Publications (publication type: corporate) section on how CAS is performing in relation to our the Extra Help Unit please make a request.

CLASS 8: Our commercial publications
Information packaged and made available for sale on a commercial basis and sold at market value through a retail outlet e.g. bookshop, museum or research journal.

Citizens Advice Scotland does not hold or publish any information under this class.

If you would like us to print off information from the website, or publish information which isn’t yet on our website, we may charge for providing information. However we will charge you no more than it actually costs CAS to provide it to you.

Charges
Where charges are made, they are as follows:

  • Photocopying per double-sided sheet at 10p per black and white A4 sheet and 20p per colour A4 sheet.
  • CD Roms are charged at 50p per disc.
  • Postage costs are recharged at the rate we pay to send the information to you by Royal Mail First Class.

    When providing copies of pre-printed publications we will charge no more than what it cost CAS, per copy, to have the publication printed.  Please note that this charging schedule does not apply to our commercial publications.

Charges for information available only by request.

This applies to information which we do not routinely publish, but which anyone can request from us. It applies to all requests, whether for environmental or non-environmental information.

What may we charge for?
We do not charge for the time taken to determine whether we hold the requested information, nor for the time it takes us to decide whether the information can be released. Charges may, however, be made for the staff time taken to locate and retrieve the information and for providing it to you.

Calculating charges
Charges are calculated on the basis of the actual cost to CAS of providing the information.  Staff time is charged at the average hourly rate of pay for the grade(s) of the staff responding to the request, up to a maximum of £15 per hour per member of staff.

Charge waiver 
We do not charge for information which costs less than £100 to provide to you.
Where information costs between £100 and £600 to provide to you, we may ask you to pay 10% of the cost of providing it.
Where information costs over £600 to provide to you, we may ask you to pay the additional cost over that amount in full.
Please note that CAS may refuse to deal with requests for non-environmental information which would cost more than £600 to provide.
Requests for your own personal data
Requests for your own personal data should be made via a Subject Access Request.  Please see the relevant page on our website with details on Privacy and Data Protection for details on how to make a Subject Access Request.

Fees Notice
If we intend to make a charge we will contact you before we send any information. We will issue you a Fees Notice which sets out the charge and how it has been calculated. The notice will tell you how to pay the fee to us. It will also offer advice and assistance to help you narrow your request to reduce or avoid charges altogether. If you receive a Fees Notice you can decide whether to pay for the information or to take up our offer of advice and assistance. If we do not hear from you within 20 working days of issue of a fees notice, we will assume that you have withdrawn your request.

Key Legislation
The following legislation provide the legal basis under which some of Citizens Advice Scotland work is subject to the requirements of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act 2007 (CEAR Act)
This legislation can be viewed at www.legislation.gov.uk. Please check for warning signs that there are outstanding changes not yet made to the legislation.

The Extra Help Unit unit, part of Citizens Advice Scotland from April 2014, works to fulfil the duty under Section 13 of the CEAR Act to deal with cases where the consumer has been disconnected or has been threatened with disconnection, including prepayment off-supply cases. Citizens Advice Scotland and Citizens Advice also have powers under Section 12 of the CEAR Act to deal with energy or postal cases received from vulnerable consumers. The CEAR Act defines a vulnerable consumer as being someone that it is not reasonable to expect to pursue the complaint themselves.

The Public Bodies (The Office of Fair Trading Transfer of Consumer Advice Scheme Function and Modification of Enforcement Functions) Order 2013
Statutory Instrument: 2013 Number 783

This legislation can be viewed at www.legislation.gov.uk. Please check for warning signs that there are outstanding changes not yet made to the legislation.

The Public Bodies (Abolition of the National Consumer Council and Transfer of the Office of Fair Trading’s Functions in relation to Estate Agents etc) Order 2014
Statutory Instrument: 2014 Number 631

This legislation can be viewed at www.legislation.gov.uk. Please check for warning signs that there are outstanding changes not yet made to the legislation.

This statutory instrument makes key amendments to other legislation, including the CEAR Act 2007, to transfer powers to Citizens Advice Scotland and Citizens Advice (England and Wales).

Scottish Government - Public Bodies Act Consent Memorandum relating to The Public Bodies (Abolition Of The National Consumer Council and Transfer of the Office of Fair Trading’s Functions In Relation To Estate Agents etc) Order 2014
This memorandum can be viewed at: www.scottish.parliament.uk.

The memorandum gives legislative consent as appropriate to the The Public Bodies (Abolition Of The National Consumer Council and Transfer of the Office of Fair Trading’s Functions In Relation To Estate Agents etc) Order 2014.