Freedom of Information
1. Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 - Publication Scheme - Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland
This is the Publication Scheme for Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland, as required by section 23 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. Under the Act, Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland is required to specify:
- the classes of information published or intended to be published;
- how information is published;
- whether the information is available free of charge or on payment of a fee; and
- how to make a complaint if you are not satisfied with the information available.
This publication scheme has been prepared with the intention of providing the maximum amount of information on the functions of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland ( HMICS).
The person with overall responsibility for this publication scheme is:
Mr Ian Burnside
Lead Staff Officer
1st Floor West
St Andrews House
Regent Road,
Edinburgh EH1 3DG
Tel: 0131 244 5625
Fax: 0131 244 5616
Email: hmics@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Alongside the Freedom of Information Act, the Environment Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (the EIRs) provide a separate right of access to the environmental information that we hold.
2. About Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland
Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland is responsible for inspecting Scottish police forces and common police services. HMICS operates independently of the police service and Scottish Ministers.
The purpose of HMICS is to promote efficiency and effectiveness in respect of the standards of the police service in Scotland. This is achieved by:
- inspection, advice and assistance to forces and police organisations;
- providing professional advice on policing matters and submission of an annual report to Scottish Ministers;
- identification and promotion of effective working practices.
In carrying out these duties HMICS adheres to the highest possible professional standards and conducts its business in accordance with a set of principles which underwrites all HMICS activities.
A full explanation of the work carried out by HMICS and its structure can be accessed by clicking here.
3. Preparing the publication scheme
When preparing or reviewing our publication scheme, we are obliged by FOISA to have due regard to the public interest in providing access to the information that we hold which relates to:
- the services we provide;
- the costs of those services;
- the standard of those services;
- the facts that inform the important decisions we take; and
- the reasoning that informs our decisions.
In preparing this publication scheme, Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland have reviewed previous FOI requests to identify information that is appropriate for inclusion in this scheme.
4. How to access information from this Publication Scheme
Information included in this publication scheme is available from our website. For those without access to the website or those wishing to make a request for information in paper form then HMICS can be contacted in the following ways:
E-mail: hmics@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Telephone: 0131 244 5618
Fax: 0131 244 5616
By Post:
HM Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland ( HMICS)
1st Floor West
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
EDINBURGH
EH1 3DG
There is no charge to users for information which can be downloaded from our website. For those without access to our website a single print-out in the website layout (or a hard copy of the document) is available by post from the contact addresses provided above. These will be provided free of charge. Requests however for multiple print-outs of material on the website may attract a charge for the cost of retrieval, photocopy, postage etc (£1 per 10 pages). If charges are to be made you will be told at the time of your request and these would be payable in advance.
5. Accessing information not available under this scheme
This publication scheme does not contain all the information held by HMICS. If the information that you are seeking is not available under this publication scheme, then you may wish to request it from us. The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 provides you with a right of access to the information that we hold, subject to certain exemptions (detailed below). The Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 ( EIRs) separately provide a right of access to the environmental information available, while the Data Protection Act 1998 ( DPA) provides a right of access to any personal information about you that we hold. Again, these rights are subject to certain exceptions or exemptions.
Should you wish to request a copy of any information that we hold that is not available under this scheme, please write to Douglas Adams at the address given below.
Charges for information which is not available under the scheme:
The charges for information which is available under this scheme are detailed earlier in section 4. If you submit a request to us for information which is not available under the scheme 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, that 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.
Information may be withheld from any of the classes of information listed below where: we consider that disclosure may seriously prejudice law enforcement, legal proceedings or our regulatory or enforcement activity; or where the disclosure is otherwise prohibited by law. We may also withhold information if its disclosure would breach the law of confidentiality or seriously prejudice the commercial interests of any person or organisations. We may also withhold information which is personal information under the Data Protection Act 1998.
In these cases, we will withhold the information and indicate why the information is being withheld. If you wish to complain about information which is being withheld from you, please read section 9 "Complaints" below.
Charges for environmental information:
All of our environmental information is contained within the Scottish Government reports that are available here. However if the information that you are looking for is not contained within the information available then the conditions detailed below will apply.
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 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 on the basis of the actual cost to the authority of providing the 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.
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, that 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.
6. Records Management Policy
HMICS uses the same records management procedures as the Scottish Government. A full explanation of these policies can be accessed by clicking here.
7. Classes of Information available
Listed below are the classes of information which HMICS publishes. All information listed under these classes are (except where indicated) available on request.
Information about HMICS. This class includes details of the role, structure and functions of the HMICS, how it carries out these functions and the costs of providing them.
Information about Inspections carried out by HMICS (from 1998 onwards)
Statistical Information
HMICS collects statistical information from each of the eight police forces on a range of management information. Statistical data from 1998 is available on our website (click here) or by contacting us as above.
Self Assessment
Some information generated by the new Self Assessment process being implemented within the Scottish Policing sector will be made available on our website over the next 12-18 months. However it is difficult to determine exactly what will be made publically available at this time but this scheme will be revised once the Self Assessment process has become more established.
8. Maintenance of the HMICS Publication Scheme
The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 requires public authorities not only to maintain a publication scheme approved by the Scottish Information Commissioner but also from time to time to review the scheme. As part of this process we would be glad to receive any comments or suggestions on the publication scheme and, in particular, comments from users on their experiences in obtaining information from the Scheme. Comments or suggestions for particular classes of information to which we might in future commit to publishing under the scheme would also be welcomed.
Comments or complaints should be addressed to the person responsible for maintaining the HMICS publication scheme:
Mr Douglas Adams
Inspection Support Manager
HM Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland
1st Floor West
St Andrew's House
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG
Email : hmics@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Tel: 0131 244 5618
Fax: 0131 244 5616
9. Complaints
You have legal rights to access information under this scheme and a right of appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner if you are dissatisfied with our response. These rights apply only to information requests made in writing* or another recordable format. If you are unhappy with our responses to your request then you can ask us to review it and if you are still unhappy, you can make an appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner. His contact details are given below:
Scottish Information Commissioner
Kinburn Castle
Doubledykes Road
St Andrews
Fife KY16 9DS
Tel: 01334 464610
Fax: 01334 464611
Email: enquiries@itspublicknowledge.info
Website: http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/home/ScottishInformationCommissioner.asp
*=verbal requests for environmental information carry the same rights.
10. Copyright Statement
HMICS is a Crown body and 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. The copyright in some of the material which may be found in this Publication Scheme has been waived. This means that you can re-use this material freely. Categories of material for which copyright has been waived include: press notices, legislation and explanatory notes on the legislation, ministerial speeches, consultation documents, documents featured on official websites (except where expressly indicated otherwise), headline statistics and unpublished public records. More details of these and other categories can be found at
http://www.oqps.gov.uk/copyright/pubcopyright_gn.htm
For other types of material, the supply of documents under Freedom of Information does not give the person or organisation who receives them an automatic right to re-use the documents in a way that would infringe copyright, for example, by making multiple copies, publishing and issuing copies to the public.
Brief extracts of any of the material included in this Publication Scheme may be reproduced under the fair dealing provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (sections 29 and 30) for the purposes of research for non-commercial purposes, private study, criticism, review and news reporting.
Details of the arrangements for re-using Crown copyright material can be found on HMSOnline in the Click-Use Licence s section or by contacting OQPS at:
OQPS Licensing Division
St Clements House
2-16 Colegate
Norwich NR3 1BQ
Tel: 01603 621000
Fax: 01603 723000
Email: oqpslicensing@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk
Authorisation to re-use copyright material not owned by the Crown should be sought from the copyright holders concerned. If in doubt, users should contact OQPS in the first instance.