Freedom of Information
Freedom of Information Act
The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 gives everyone a right of access to information held by Scottish public authorities.
Hjaltland Housing Association has been designated as a Scottish Public Authority by an order made under section 5 of the Act, known as the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (Designation of Persons as Scottish Public Authorities) Order 2013. This order came into effect for Hjaltland Housing Association on 11th November 2019.
The aim of the Act is to increase openness and transparency by allowing people to access information about how decisions are taken and how public services are delivered.
To find out more please see our Guide to Information.
One of our Housing Officers with our Financial Inclusion Officer
About Freedom of Information
The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (the Act) requires Scottish public authorities to adopt and maintain a publication scheme which has the approval of the Scottish Information Commissioner, and publish information in accordance with that scheme.
Authorities are under a legal obligation to:
- publish the classes of information that the authority makes routinely available
- tell the public how to access the information and whether information is available free of charge or on payment
Alongside the Act, the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (the EIRs) provide a separate right of access to the environmental information that we hold.
Model Publication Scheme
Hjaltland Housing Association has adopted the Model Publication Scheme 2018, produced and approved by the Scottish Information Commissioner.
The Scheme can also be viewed in Publication Scheme Resources at the Scottish Information Commissioner website.
The scheme set out our commitment to make certain classes of information routinely available, such as policies and procedures, minutes of meetings, annual reports and financial information. We have developed a Guide to Information for this purpose and this also contains details of the environmental information that we routinely make available.
A member of the Tenant Focus Group carrying out an inspection
Contact Us
If you have a request for information, please complete and submit our Freedom of Information Request Form.
Requests can also be made in writing, by email, video or audio tape.
If you have any questions or require a copy of the Model Publication Scheme 2018 or the Guide to Information in a different format, please contact our Corporate Services Department on 01595 694986 or by e-mail on mail@hjaltland.org.
Withholding Information
Under Freedom of Information legislation, information may be withheld if there is a good reason for doing so.
If we withhold information, we will let you know why. If you are unhappy with our decision, or with the way we have dealt with your request, you can ask us to review our decision.
If you do not agree with the outcome of the review, you can ask the Scottish Information Commissioner to investigate.