Freedom of Information requests
You can request any recorded information under the Freedom of Information Act (Scotland) 2002. If you wish to make a Freedom of Information (FOI) request you will need to give us your name and a contact address, but you do not need to tell us anything more about you or why you want the information.
Some information is already available to the public, and published information can be found in our guide to information available through our model publication scheme.
If you cannot find what you want there, you can make a request by emailing us or writing to us:
Environmental information
You can also ask us for environmental information under the Environment Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004. We will answer your request within 20 working days.
Sometimes there may reasons why we cannot provide the information you requested. If this is the case, we will tell you why. If we refuse to give information to you, we must tell you why. You can challenge our decision to keep information from you and ask us to review our response.
If you are unhappy with the outcome of the review, you can appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner. You may also find the Scottish Information Commissioner’s website useful in understanding the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act.
Subject access requests
You have a right under the Act to see certain information held by us about you. A request to see information held about you in known as a “subject access request”. If you would like to see the information we hold about you, you should write to us. We have 40 calendar days to respond to your request.
There are exemptions in the Act which may mean that we do not need to comply with all, or part of your request.
If you are not happy with how we deal with your request, please let us know and we will try to resolve your complaint. If you are still not happy, you can contact the Scottish Information Commissioner’s office.
Data protection
For requests for information under the Data Protection Act, please write to:
Our Partners, NHS Lothian and City of Edinburgh Council provide services on our behalf. They hold and share personal data about you so that they can deliver health and social care services to you. Personal data is information about you.
We are committed to protecting any personal data we hold and complying with the Data Protection Act 1998. We will use your details to provide you with the service which you or someone else has asked us or our partners to provide, or to deal with any complaints or concerns you may have.
We may also share information with our partners so that they can provide you with better services. We may also use your details for the purposes of crime prevention and crime detection and / or when required by law and will share it with other public bodies for that purpose.
Publication scheme
All Scottish public authorities must have a publication scheme in place setting out the information that will be made publicly available, how it can be accessed and whether there is any charge for information,
We have adopted the Scottish Information Commissioner’s Model Publication Scheme and a guide to information has also been produced.