Freedom of Information

The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 gives everyone a right of access to information held by Scottish public authorities.

CHA 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. 

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.

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

CHA has adopted the Model Publication Scheme 2021 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 sets 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.