Publication Scheme of the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR)
1. Introduction - aims and purpose
2. About the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR)
3. How to access information from this Publication Scheme
4. General Access to information not in the scheme
5. Information held by OSCR following investigations into individual charities
6. Personal Information
7. Charging Policy
8. Copyright and Licensing notes for Publication Schemes
9. Complaints Procedure
10. Classes of Information
11. Maintenance of the Publication Scheme
1. Introduction, aims and purpose
This is the Publication Scheme of the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR), as required by section 23 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, “the Act”
Under the Act we are required to specify:
- the classes of information we publish or intend to publish
- how information is published
- whether the information is available free of charge or on payment of a fee.
OSCR is committed to being open and transparent and has adopted a Freedom of Information culture from the outset. The Act highlights a number of categories of information that can be seen to be of particular interest to the public and we have made every effort to include this information in our scheme:
- Information relating to the provision of services by a public authority.
- Information about the costs of providing those services.
- Information about the standards achieved by those services.
- Facts and analysis on the basis of which decisions of importance to the public are made.
- The reasons for decisions by OSCR.
2. About the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR)
The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) became a non Ministerial office holder in the Scottish Administration on the 24 April 2006, established under the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005. From December 2003 until March 2006, OSCR was an agency of the Development Department of the Scottish Executive. OSCR has an independent Board appointed by Scottish Ministers and the Chief Executive and employees of OSCR are civil servants, employed by the Scottish Executive.
OSCR’s general functions are:
- to determine whether bodies are charities
- to keep a public register of charities
- to encourage, facilitate and monitor compliance by charities with the legislation
- to identify and investigate apparent misconduct in the administration of charities
- to give information or advice to the Scottish Ministers on matters relating to OSCR’s functions.
3. How to access information from this Publication Scheme.
Publications contained in all the classes of information listed in this scheme are available in both electronic and printed format. There are a number of ways in which this information can be accessed:
Online: The documents listed in this publication scheme are available on our website.
On request: You can also request copies of documents to be sent by e-mail or by post. Please note there may be a charge for this – see the details on charging below. You can make your request using the following contact details:
Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR)
2nd Floor
Quadrant House
9 Riverside Drive
Dundee
DD1 4SY
By e-mail: info@oscr.org.uk (please state publication scheme request in the subject line of the e-mail.)
Telephone +44 (0)1382 220446
Fax +44 (0)1382 220314
4. General access to information not in the scheme
The publication scheme does not list all of the information held by us. If the information you require is not included in the publication scheme you can submit a written request to us. Please note that we may withhold information from any of the classes of information listed where it is considered that the information falls under one of the exemptions contained in the Act. For example, we will withhold information where we consider that disclosure may prejudice legal proceedings or our regulatory or enforcement activity, or where the law otherwise prohibits disclosure. We may also withhold information if its disclosure would breach the law of confidentiality or seriously prejudice the commercial interests of any person or organisation or which is personal information under the Data Protection Act 1998. If you wish to complain about information which is being withheld, please refer to the complaints procedure.
5. Information held by OSCR following investigations into individual charities
The effective regulation of charities requires OSCR to make inquiries into the running of Scottish charities. While OSCR aims to be as open and transparent as possible in our operations, there are legitimate exemptions contained in the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 which enable information to be withheld.
OSCR may lawfully withhold information in order to ensure the effectiveness of the investigatory process. This withholding of information may be particularly relevant to the following categories of information:
- Witness statements provided to OSCR in confidence
- Correspondence to/from a charity during an ongoing investigation into that charity
- Correspondence to/from a complainer during an ongoing investigation
- Internal file notes, memos and reports relating to an ongoing investigation.
A brief explanation on the exemptions which may enable information to be withheld is provided below. It is important to note however, that each and every request for information will be looked at on its own merits, and that the following information is merely for guidance purposes only. Those making information requests should also note that the Act provides a right of appeal in circumstances where information is withheld.
Confidentiality: Section 36(2)(a) and (b) is an exemption for information obtained by a public authority from another person in confidence, the disclosure of which would result in an actionable breach of confidence.
This exemption may apply to witness statements provided to OSCR in confidence, as well as to correspondence to / from a charity or complainer during an ongoing investigation. This is because this information is given directly to, and received by, OSCR under conditions that imply a duty of confidence. The information itself is often genuinely confidential, not publicly known and if it were to be disclosed it would cause substantial prejudice to OSCR’s ability to carry out its regulatory function. If OSCR cannot expect such information to be held in confidence then in future people may be reluctant to supply OSCR with information about charities. This would not be in the public interest.
Law Enforcement: Section 35 is an exemption relating to general law enforcement which includes specific clauses relating to charities. Section 35(1)(g) exempts information from disclosure if that disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the exercise by a public authority of its functions. These functions include: protecting a charity against misconduct or mismanagement (whether by trustees or other persons) in its administration; protecting the property of a charity from loss or mismanagement; and / or recovering the property of a charity (sections 35(2)(f)(g) and (h)).
This exemption may apply to OSCR's internal file notes, memos and reports. This is because the disclosure of this information can prejudice substantially, or be likely to prejudice substantially, OSCR’s future ability to: protect a charity against misconduct or mismanagement in its administration; protect the property of a charity; or recover the property of a charity. Where there would be a negative and damaging impact on OSCR's regulatory role of any disclosure, it would not be in the public interest to compromise OSCR’s investigatory procedures in future.
Prejudice to the Effective Conduct of Public Affairs: Section 30(b)(i) and (ii) exempts information from disclosure if that disclosure would, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially the free and frank provision of advice or the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation.
This exemption may apply to OSCR's internal file notes, memos and reports regarding an inquiry, where they relate to the exchange of information between OSCR staff as to whether there should be prosecution for an offence. The release of this correspondence may inhibit substantially the free and frank provision of advice, or the exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation as it could impact negatively on OSCR's decision-making processes. Disclosing some types of correspondence would prejudice substantially OSCR’s ability to regulate charities, and the conduct of future investigations. It would not be in the public interest to prejudice the effective regulation of charities and future investigations.
6. Personal information
Under the Data Protection Act 1998 you have the right to ask OSCR to inform you whether it processes any personal information relating to you and if so to provide you with a copy of such data. This is called a subject access request.
If you wish to access your personal information from OSCR you should write to us at the above address.
7. Charging Policy
There is no charge to users for information contained in our website although the user will have to meet any charges by their Internet provider and any personal printing costs. For those without access to the website a single printout, as on the website (or a hard copy of document where indicated) can be requested. These will be provided free of charge except where indicated.
Requests for multiple printouts of material from the website or for multiple hard copies of documents may attract a charge for the cost of printing, photocopy, postage etc. Printing and photocopy costs will not exceed £1 per 10 pages.
If charges are to be made you will be told at the time of your request. Any charges will be payable in advance.
8. Copyright and Licensing Notices for Publication Schemes
The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) is a Crown body and the information we produce is subject to Crown copyright, which is administered by the Queen’s Printer for Scotland (OQPS). The material listed in this Publication Scheme is Crown copyright unless stated otherwise.
The copyright in some of the material that may be found in this Publication Scheme has been waived. This means that you can re-use this material freely. Categories of material for which copyright has been waived include: legislation, explanatory notes on legislation, extracts from the Scottish Charity Register, OSCR press releases, forms and consultative documents. More details of these and other categories can be found at: http://www.oqps.gov.uk/copyright/pubcopyright_gn.htm
For other types of material, the supply of documents under Freedom of Information does not give the person or organisation who receives them an automatic right to re-use the documents in a way that would infringe copyright, for example, by making multiple copies, publishing and issuing copies to the public.
Brief extracts of any of the material included in this Publication Scheme may be reproduced under the fair dealing provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (sections 29 and 30) for the purposes of research for non-commercial purposes, private study, criticism, review and news reporting.
Details of the arrangements for re-using Crown copyright material can be found on HMSOnline or by contacting OQPS at:
OQPS Licensing Division
St Clements House
2-16 Colegate
Norwich
NR3 1BQ
Tel +44 (0)1603 621000
Fax: +44 (0)1603 723000
e-mail OQPS Licensing
Authorisation to re-use copyright material not owned by the Crown should be sought from the copyright holders concerned. If in doubt, users should contact OQPS in the first instance.
9. Complaints Procedure
The review will be carried out by a staff member not involved in the original decision making process.
10. Classes of Information
Listed below are the classes of information that we publish or intend to publish. Our Publication Scheme consists of classes of information organised into broad topic areas:
A. Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator
Personnel
Staff structure
Records Management
Board Meetings
Finance
Strategic and Operational plans
Annual and Quarterly reports
B. Encouraging and facilitating compliance with the Legislation
Guidance booklets
Guidance Notes
Conferences, Seminars and Events
Media
Presentations and Speeches
Communications Strategy
Website
C. Enquiry and intervention
Court decisions
Reports of inquiries
Investigation procedures
D. The Scottish Charity Register
Extracts from the Scottish Charity Register
E. External policy and research
Protocols with other government bodies
Research and Benchmarking
F. Consultations and responses
Open consultations
Archived consultations
All information listed under these classes is (except where indicated) available under this scheme.
Where it is indicated that information will be available from a later date this will be because: the current information is out of date and being revised; the information is not currently available in the form indicated by this scheme; or the information contains significant amounts of exempt material and is being prepared for publication.
The publication scheme does not list all of the information held or published by OSCR. If the information you require is not included in the publication scheme you can submit a written request.
Some important information relating to our work is not published by OSCR but by other bodies, and is therefore not included in this publication scheme. This information includes material such as Acts of the Scottish Parliament and subordinate legislation.
Copies of Acts of the Scottish Parliament and subordinate legislation can be viewed and downloaded free of charge from the website of the Office of the Queen's Printer for Scotland (OQPS). Their web address is http://www.oqps.gov.uk/.
All information contained in this Publication Scheme will be available on the OSCR website. For those without access to the website a single printout, as on the website (or a hard copy of document where indicated) can be requested. These will be provided free of charge except where indicated.
11. Maintenance of the Publication Scheme.
The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 requires OSCR not only to maintain a publication scheme approved by the Scottish Information Commissioner but also from time to time to review the scheme. As part of this process we would be glad to receive any comments or suggestions on the publication scheme and in particular comments from users on their experiences in obtaining information from the scheme. Comments or suggestions for particular classes of information to which we might in future commit to publishing under the scheme would also be welcomed.
Comments or complaints should be addressed to:
Judith Hayhow
Head of Resource Management
2nd Floor
Quadrant House
9 Riverside Drive
Dundee
DD1 4SY
Tel: 01382 220446
Fax: 01382 220314
E-mail: judith.hayhow@oscr.org.uk
