Publication Scheme

About the Publication Scheme

Capital City Partnership has produced this Publication Scheme of the type required by public bodies by Section 23 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. It lists:

• the types of information that the company publishes or intends to publish;
• how publications can be accessed;
• what and how other information is available; and
• whether any charges will apply.

Capital City Partnership is strongly committed to promoting openness and transparency in public life. Through this scheme, we make available a wide range of information about the Partnership and its work as a matter of course.

Information listed in this scheme will always be made available unless there is a good reason not to do so. The only circumstances in which information will be withheld are where one or more of the exemptions listed in the Act is judged to apply. See the appendix below for more information on exempt information.

Finding Information

The first port of call for information about the Partnership and its work is our website at www.capitalcitypartnership.org. That is also a gateway to related sites.

Web access, e-mail and post

All of the documents published by the Partnership since 2000 are available on the website under 'publications'.

Minutes of Partnership Board meetings since 2000 are also available on the website under 'Minutes' in the Publications section.

Minutes of CCP Business Management Group meetings up to March 2006 (after which all business items were dealt with at Board meetings) are also available under 'Minutes' in the publications section on the website.

Information on all currently funded projects and on our standard funding procedures and grant conditions is available under 'Who We Fund and Why'.

The Partnership's membership and memorandum and articles of association are available in the 'publications' section of the website.

You can also request copies of documents to be sent by e-mail or by post. Please note that there may be a charge for this - see the details on charging below. You can make your request using the following contact details:

Publication Scheme Requests
Capital City Partnership
1-3 Canon Street
Edinburgh EH3 5HE

e-mail: gillianbaxter@capitalcitypartnership.org
(please state "publication scheme request" in the subject line of your e-mail).

Phone: 0131 270 6030
Fax:     0131 270 6031

Visiting the office

You can visit the Partnership's office (see address above) to collect a copy of the information under the scheme. Our office opening hours are 9.00am – 5.00pm, Monday to Thursday, 9.00am – 3.45pm Friday, except on public holidays.

We recommend that you contact the office before your visit to ensure that we are able to provide you with the publications you want as efficiently as possible. We cannot guarantee same day provision of information to visitors other than where you have contacted the office beforehand and we have agreed a time for the supply of the information requested. Every effort will be made to make this a straightforward process.

Other formats

If you need information supplied in an alternative format, e.g. on audio tape, in Braille or alternative languages, please let us know and we will take all reasonable steps to provide it in the format you request.

Please note that if we need to arrange for a document to be transcribed or translated into an alternative format it may take longer than normal to provide you with the information. Depending on the size of the document(s) requested, there could be a delay of up to a month in providing them. We will always provide publications as quickly as we can, however, and where there is a delay we will contact you to explain why and when you can expect to receive them.

Responsibility for the Publication Scheme

Gillian Baxter, the Partnership's Information Officer, is responsible for the scheme's day-to-day operation and maintenance. Her e-mail address is gillianbaxter@capitalcitypartnership.org

Overall responsibility for this Publication Scheme is held by Jim Rafferty, Chief Executive of the Partnership. His e-mail address is jimrafferty@capitalcitypartnership.org

Exemptions

Capital City Partnership aims to be as open as possible. However, information may be withheld where it is considered that its disclosure may fall within one of the exemptions contained in the Act. For example, information which would or would be likely to substantially prejudice the commercial interests of any person or organisation, or which would breach the law on confidentiality. We will also withhold information classed as personal data under the Data Protection Act 1998. The exemptions policy in full is available as an Appendix below.

General Access to Information not Contained in this Scheme

If the information you want is not made available as a matter of course through the Publication Scheme, you can still ask the Partnership to release it. Please feel free to ask if you are looking for any information that is not routinely made available through the Publication Scheme.

Records Management and Copyright

There is no limit to the length of time for which the Partnership will keep key electronic records.

Where Capital City Partnership holds copyright for information in this Publication Scheme all of this information can be copied or reproduced without formal permission from the Partnership provided it is copied or reproduced accurately, is not used in a misleading context and provided that the source of the material is identified.

The scheme contains some material where the copyright holder is not the Partnership. In most cases the copyright holder will be obvious from the documents. In cases where the copyright is unclear, however, it is the responsibility of the person accessing the information to locate and seek the permission of the copyright holder before reproducing the material or in any other way breaching the rights of the copyright holder.

Charging Policy

The following charging policy relates to all of the classes of information contained in the scheme.

Information in this scheme is available to view free of charge on this website or if it is sent to you by e-mail.

The Partnership will make a charge to cover reproduction and postage costs for paper copies or computer discs, but only if the total cost of sending you the information exceeds £5.00. There will not normally be a charge for staff time but the partnership may charge for time spent on particularly large or repetitive requests. Where this is the case this will be advised before the event.

Our charges are based on the following:

• 10p per side for standard A4 photocopy/printing
• £1.00 per CD Rom or floppy disc
• Actual postage costs as charged by Royal Mail (these will, of course, depend on the size of the document(s) and the location of the address to which they are sent)
• Large print, audio tape and Braille copies - free (postage costs waived on these items)

We will try to find ways to supply requested information which limit the cost in every circumstance to below £5.00 but, where this is impossible and where a charge will apply, you will be told of this and we will send the information to you as soon as your payment is received.

Comments or Complaints

The Partnership's Publication Scheme will be reviewed periodically, and we welcome comments or criticism which will help us improve it.

Please let us know whether you found it easy or otherwise to locate information about the partnership, and whether there is any additional information which you feel should be included in the routinely available material.

Please pass on any comments to Gillian Baxter by e-mail or through any of the other contact details listed above.

If you wish to complain about any aspect of the Publication Scheme, please contact Jim Rafferty in the first instance. Any complaint will be acknowledged within five working days of receipt and we will respond in full within twenty working days.

APPENDIX
Exemptions - Information for which other access rights are provided - such as personal information covered by the Data Protection Act 1998
When dealing with requests for personal data the partnership will first of all determine whether the request falls under the FOI Act or under the Data Protection Act (DPA) 1998.

1. Where the person making the request has asked for information about themselves.
   If the request is for personal data about the person requesting the information there is no provision under the FOI Act. Such a request should be dealt with under the terms of the Data Protection Act 1998. There is an absolute exemption where the information constitutes personal data of which the person is the subject. This is known as a subject access request and falls under the remit of the Data Protection Act 1998.
2. Where the person making the request has asked for information about a third party.
   When the request is for personal data about someone other than the applicant i.e. third party data, the request will be dealt with under the FOI Act. The following absolute or qualified exemptions apply:
   
   Absolute Exemption - applies if disclosure would breach any of the Data Protection Principles. There is also an absolute exemption for personal census information and a deceased person's health record (although these parts of the exemption are no longer applicable after 100 years).
   
   The Data Protection Principles state that personal data must:

• be processed fairly and lawfully;
• be obtained only for specific and lawful purposes;
• be adequate, relevant and not excessive;
• be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date;
• be kept for no longer than necessary;
• be processed in accordance with the rights of the data subject under DPA;
• be protected against unauthorised or unlawful processing and accidental loss, destruction or damage; and
• not be transferred to a country or territory outside the European Economic Area unless the country has in place an adequate level of protection.
• The first principle requires that personal data is processed fairly and lawfully. Unlawful disclosure would be where there was a breach of confidence or where there is a law forbidding disclosure. Fairness is harder to define but may take into account the following:
• The expectation of the data subject
• Whether any distress or damage would be caused to the data subject as a result of the disclosure
• Any express refusal by the data subject
• Whether the information relates to the data subject's public or private life. A person's private life is likely to deserve more protection.

The overall effect of this is that where an enquiry is received which, on the face of it, appears to be for data of a personal nature and which may be exempt from disclosure, the partnership will ask about the nature and purpose of the request in order to be sure that that disclosure will not contravene any of the data protection principles before it decides whether it can release the requested information.

Qualified Exemption - exists if the data subject has exercised their right under section 10 of the DPA to issue a notice preventing the processing of certain personal information. ("Section 10 Notice" = If an individual believes that a data controller is processing personal data in a way that causes, or is likely to cause, substantial unwarranted damage or distress to them or to another person, section 10 of the DPA gives the individual the right to send a notice to the data controller requiring him to stop the processing within a reasonable time.) As this part of the exemption is "qualified", it means the information must still be released if the public interest in disclosing the information is not outweighed by the public interest in withholding the information.

  3. Guidance on Personal Data

1. Personal Data as defined by the Data Protection Act
   This term is defined in the DPA as information which relates to a living individual from which that individual can be identified. Such information can include opinion about the individual and any indication of the intentions of any person in respect of the individual. Potentially this is a very wide definition but is likely to be a question of fact in each individual case. For something to be considered personal data the information must be more than simply the mention of a person's name in a document. If there is other, related data such as an address or home telephone number, the information is more likely to come under the definition of personal data. If an individual's name is included in a document where the focus is on something other than that individual, the information is unlikely to be considered personal data. This is because the information does not 'relate to' the individual – the focus is on something other than the individual. An example of this could be a report on the performance of a department of a public authority. Although individuals may be mentioned by name the focus of the information is not the individuals themselves.
   
   Information which is always likely to be considered personal data may include:
   1. Information about an individual's political preference;
   2. Information about an individual's bank details;
   3. An individual's personal email address; and
   4. An individual's employment record.
2. Sensitive Personal Data as defined by the Data Protection Act
   In the Act "sensitive personal data" is taken to be personal data consisting of information as to:
   • the racial or ethnic origin of the data subject,
   • his/her political opinions,
   • his/her religious beliefs or other beliefs of a similar nature,
   • whether he/she is a member of a trade union (within the meaning of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992),
   • his/her physical or mental health or condition,
   • his/her sexual life,
   • the commission or alleged commission by him/her of any offence, or
   • any proceedings for any offence committed or alleged to have been committed by him/her and the disposal of such proceedings or the sentence of any court in such proceedings.
3. Does the information relate to a third party's private life?
   The view is that information which is about the home or family life of an individual, personal finances or personal references is likely to deserve protection. By contrast where an individual is acting in an official or work capacity, information relating to this part of a person's life should normally be provided.
4. Determining what requests come under FOI and what come under DPA
   Public authorities generally have to ensure that they take account of the individual requesting personal data as there are a number of different scenarios which could occur:
   1. If the request is for personal data about the individual the request is a subject access request and must be considered under the terms of the DPA.
   2. If the request is for personal data about a third party but the individual is acting on behalf of the data subject this is also a subject access request and must be considered under the terms of the DPA.
   3. if the request is for personal data about a third party but is not on behalf of the data subject this is a freedom of information request and must be considered under the terms of the FOI Act.
   4. Should an individual make a request under the FOI Act for information which is personal information of which the applicant is the subject, the information is exempt from release under that Act. Should a public authority decide to apply the exemption they are required to send the applicant a refusal notice to that effect.