Freedom of information - publication scheme guide

The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (the Act) requires Scottish public authorities to produce and maintain a Guide to Information. Authorities are under a legal obligation to:

  • publish the classes of information that they make routinely available
  • tell the public how to access the information and what it might cost.

Education Scotland has adopted the Model Publication Scheme produced by the Scottish Information Commissioner and updated in March 2021. You can see this scheme on the Scottish Information Commissioner - Publication schemes website.

The purpose of this Guide to Information is to:

  • allow the public to see what information is available (and what is not available) in relation to each class (a class is a group of information having one or more common characteristics such as subject or origin);
  • state what charges may be applied;
  • explain how to find the information easily;
  • provide contact details for enquiries and to get help with accessing the information;
  • explain how to request information we hold that has not been published.

Education Scotland

Education Scotland is the Scottish Government's national development and improvement agency for education. It is charged with providing support and challenge to the education system, from the early years to adult learning, in furtherance of the government’s policy objectives.

It came into existence on 1 July 2011 as an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government.

Availability and formats

The information we publish through the model publication scheme is, wherever possible, available on the Education Scotland 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 which 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 will remove or redact the information before publication and explain why.

Copyright

The information we produce is subject to Crown copyright, which is administered by the Queen's Printer for Scotland. The material listed in this publication scheme is Crown copyright unless stated otherwise. You may use and re-use the information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence, provided it is reproduced accurately and not used in any misleading context.

Where any of the Crown copyright items published through this guide are being republished or copied to others, the source of the material must be identified and the copyright status acknowledged.

Images and videos we publish are also subject to Crown copyright protection unless otherwise indicated. For example some photographs and videos which are identified as the copyright of a third party are not covered by Crown copyright. It is your responsibility to obtain permission or other authorisation to use such material from the copyright holder. If you are unsure about copyright status of our material please contact enquiries@educationscotland.gov.scot

For further information on Crown copyright policy and licensing arrangements see the National Archives guidance.

Charges

This section explains when we may make a 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 or provided by email. We may charge for providing information to you e.g. photocopying and postage, but we will charge you no more than it actually costs us to do so. We will always tell you what the cost is before providing the information to you.

Photocopying is charged at 10p per A4 sheet for black and white copying, 30p per A4 sheet for colour copying.

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.

Please note that this charging schedule does not apply to any commercial publications (see Class 8).

We are required by the Equality Act 2010 to take steps to meet the needs of people who share a relevant protected characteristic. In terms of access to information, this means making reasonable adjustments to our practices to ensure that information is physically accessible. This may, for example, involve producing information in a larger script or different format where it is practicable to do so. The costs of this will be met by us. Charges for information available only through request.

Non-environmental information

Education Scotland does not charge anyone for making requests for, nor for providing, information under FOISA, but we will refuse to deal with a request where we estimate that it will cost more than £600 to locate, retrieve and provide the information.

Environmental information

The Scottish Government does not charge anyone for making requests for, nor for providing, environmental information under the EIRs, up to a limit of £600. Thereafter we may charge the full cost of providing the information.

In the event that we decide to charge for the full cost of a request under the EIRs costing over £600, we will issue you with notification of the charge and how it has been calculated. If you decide not to proceed with the request there will be no charge to you.

Charges are calculated on the basis of the actual cost to the authority of locating, retrieving and providing the environmental information.

Photocopying is charged at 10p per A4 sheet for black and white copying, 30p per A4 sheet for colour copying.

Postage is charged at actual rate for first class mail.

Staff time is calculated at actual cost per staff member hourly salary rate to a maximum of £15 per person per hour.

Advice and assistance

You can contact us for assistance with any aspect of this Guide to Information.

We will also advise you how to ask for information that we do not publish or how to complain if you are dissatisfied with any aspect of this publication scheme.

Duration

Where available and still current, information will be accessible through this Guide to Information for at least the current and previous two financial years. If you would like to see previous versions, you may make a request to us for that information.

This Guide to Information was last updated in April 2022.

The classes of information that we publish

We publish information that we hold within the following classes:

  • Class 1: About Education Scotland
  • Class 2: How we deliver functions and services
  • Class 3: How we take decisions
  • Class 4: What we spend
  • Class 5: How we manage our resources
  • Class 6: How we procure goods and services
  • Class 7: How we are performing
  • Class 8: Our commercial publications
  • Class 9: Our open data

Class 1: About Education Scotland

Information about Education Scotland - who we are; where to find us; how to contact us; how we are managed; and our external relations.

General information about Education Scotland

How Education Scotland is run

Corporate planning

External relations

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.

Functions

Services

Class 3: How we take decisions

Information about the decisions we take, how we make decisions and how we involve others.

Class 4: What we spend

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.

Class 5: How we manage our resources

Information about how we manage the human, physical and information resources of the authority.

Human resources

Physical resources

Information resources

Class 6: How we procure goods and services

Information about how we procure goods and services, and our contracts with external providers.

Class 7: How we are performing

Information about how the authority performs as an organisation, and how well it delivers its functions and services.

Class 8: Our commercial publications

Information packaged and made available for sale on a commercial basis.

Education Scotland holds no information under this class.

Class 9: Our open data

Open data made available by Education Scotland as described by the Scottish Government’s Open Data Resource Pack.

Education Scotland holds no information under this class.