PUBLICATION SCHEME

Section 3 About our Publication Scheme

This is the Scottish Legal Aid Board's Publication Scheme as required by section 23 of the FOI Act.

Section 23 of the Act places a duty on Scottish public authorities to adopt and keep a Publication Scheme, which must specify:

• classes of information the authority publishes or intends to publish
  
• the manner in which this information will be published
  
• whether the published information will be available to the public free or on payment of
  a charge.

We aim that our Publication Scheme will be clear and comprehensive, so you can:

• increase your understanding of what we do
  
• increase your awareness of our services
  
• clearly see the information we hold
  
• see how you can get that information and at what cost (if any).

A Publication Scheme must be approved by the Commissioner. This Publication Scheme received the approval of the Commissioner on 14 September 2004.

This Publication Scheme is a guide to the information we already publish or intend to publish. It will help you to find all the information we publish, and we have organised it in a series of 68 classes. ‘Publish’ can mean to make information available in various ways. These include: electronically (such as on our website), printed copy (such as printed leaflets, booklets, brochures or books), CD-ROMs or other audio or visual recordings, including photographs.

For practical reasons, in very limited circumstances (for example, where the information is contained in bulky documents) the right of access will be by inspection.

Our ‘duty to assist’

Section 15 of the FOI Act obliges Scottish public authorities to advise and help someone who proposes to ask for or has asked for information, so far as it is reasonable to expect the authority to do so.

We will try to help members of the public to make a request and to help those who have asked for information to identify and find it. If the information is otherwise accessible, we will tell them where they can get it.

How we developed this scheme

Our Publication Scheme was developed by a Freedom of Information Project Board, whose membership included representatives of all departments of the Board.

In summer 2004 we undertook an information audit. The audit helped us identify what information we hold, and helped us develop and carry out a suitable records management and archiving policy. The audit also helped us decide what we ought to include in our Publication Scheme.

To help make sure our scheme is clear and easy to understand, the Plain Language Commission considered and advised us on it.

We sought legal advice on what information we could pass on, given the confidentiality law under which we work (section 34 of the Legal Aid ( Scotland) Act 1986). The law says that, subject to limited exceptions, we may not supply information given to us under the Act without the consent of the person who supplied it.

We undertook a public consultation on our proposed scheme in September 2004. We sent the scheme to key stakeholders, including the legal and advice sectors, as well as organisations that represent users of legal aid. Examples of organisations consulted include the Scottish Executive, Law Society of Scotland, Faculty of Advocates and Scottish Consumer Council. We also gave individuals the chance to comment on the draft scheme by placing it on our website.

We intend to evaluate and review our scheme at regular intervals Consultation is part of our constant commitment to openness and transparency, and we will welcome your comments to help us revise and update our scheme. You can send any comments on it to the contacts shown in section 4.

We will watch how the scheme works. We will consider, where necessary, making changes to the scheme to reflect how the public use it, their comments and demands.