contents
These links take you to the relevant section, further down the page:
1. Introduction - purpose and aims of the publication scheme
2. About the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS)
3. How to access information from this publication scheme
8. Contact, Feedback and Complaints
9. Access to your personal information (subject access request under the Data Protection Act 1998)
Annex List of classes of information
Introduction
The Freedom of Information ( Scotland ) Act 2002
The Freedom of Information ( Scotland ) Act 2002 introduces a statutory right of access by any individual to all types of recorded information held by a wide range of Scottish public authorities.
The FOI Act will be enforced by the Scottish Information Commissioner (SIC) who is independent of both the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government.
The Duty to Assist
Section 15 of the Act also places a 'duty to assist' on Scottish public authorities to provide advice and assistance to a person who proposes to make, or has made, a request for information, so far as it is reasonable to expect it to do so. We will help members of the public in making requests, or those having made requests, in identifying and locating the information they are seeking. If the information is otherwise accessible, we will provide advice as to where it may be obtained.
The Agency will take all reasonable steps to meet requests to provide information in a particular format, for example, on tape or in Braille.
This is the Agency's publication scheme as required by section 23 of the Freedom of Information ( Scotland ) Act 2002. Under the Act the Agency is required to specify:
- the classes of information it publishes or intends to publish
- how information is published: and
- whether the information is available free of charge or on payment of a fee.
We have designed the scheme to be as inclusive as possible and sufficiently flexible to allow for future expansion or revision.
A hardcopy of the publication scheme is available on request.
2. About the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS)
Who we are and what we do
We are a Government Agency. We pay grants and bursaries to Scottish students in higher education. We have approximately 150 staff and handle over 130,000 applications every year.
What we do
We help Scottish students throughout the United Kingdom by:
- assessing and paying financial support for living costs and tuition fees;
- dealing with the Students' Allowances Scheme, the Postgraduate Students' Allowances Scheme (PSAS), the Nursing and Midwifery Students Bursary Scheme (NMSB) and applications for student loans;
- collecting the Graduate Endowment;
- providing resources and data to the Student Loans Company for the payment of student loans;
- distributing Discretionary Funds and Childcare Funds to Scottish universities and colleges;
- maintaining a register of charities that offer educational endowments;
- helping learners through the Individual Learning Accounts Scotland (ILAS) scheme, which we run with Learndirect Scotland ; and
- working with the Health Department to develop and deliver NHS Bursaries targeted at specific groups (eg Dentistry students).
3. How to access information from this Publication Scheme
Information included in the SAAS publication scheme will generally be available on our web site (www.saas.gov.uk). Those without access to the website or needing information in paper form can contact the Agency in the following ways :-
Enquiry Line: +44(0)845 111 1711
E Mail: www.saas.gov.uk/contact.htm
Fax: +44(0)131 244 5887
Post:
Student Awards Agency for Scotland
Gyleview House
3 Redheughs Rigg
EDINBURGH
EH12 9HH
4. Charging Policy
There is no charge to users for information which they can download from the Agency's web-site. People who cannot access the web- site can ask for a single print-out from it free of charge. However we may charge for requests for multiple print-outs or for multiple hard copies of documents or booklets to cover photocopying and postage etc. If we decide to make a charge we will tell you at the time of your request. You will have to pay in advance of receiving the information you have asked for.
Publications
Printed copies of our annual report and accounts (which are also available free of charge on our website) can be obtained by contacting:-
The Stationery Office Bookshop
71 Lothian Road
Edinburgh
EH3 9AZ
Telephone: 0870 606 5566
Fax: 0870 606 5588
E-mail: tsobookshop.edinburgh@theso.co.uk
The Stationery Office Bookshop will charge for these publications.
5. Copyright Statement
SAAS is a Crown body and the information we produce is subject to Crown copyright, which is administered by the Queen's Printer for Scotland . The material listed in this Publication Scheme is Crown copyright unless stated otherwise. The copyright in some of the material which 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: press notices, legislation and explanatory notes on the legislation, ministerial speeches, consultation documents, documents featured on official websites (except where expressly indicated otherwise), headline statistics and unpublished public records. 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 in the Click-Use Licences section or by contacting OQPS at:
OQPS Licensing Division
St Clements House
2-16 Colegate
Norwich
NR3 1BQ
Tel: 01603 621000
Fax: 01603 723000
e-mail: oqpslicensing@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk
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.
6. Records Disposal Statement
The Agency has a Records Retention Schedule for all documents we create or hold which sets out the length of time which documents must be held. This means that although the Freedom of Information ( Scotland ) Act 2002 is retrospective, it will only be possible to provide copies of documents that are still in existence. A copy of the Records Retention Schedule can be found under the Information Management class of information.
7. Classes of Information
The list of classes of information lists the information which the Agency publishes or intends to publish. However the classes of information contained in the scheme may contain exempt information under Freedom of Information( Scotland ) Act 2002 which the authority may not make available under the scheme. When considering whether or not we have to withhold information, we will take into account the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Government Information and from 1 January 2005, the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002).
We have grouped the classes of information available under this Publication Scheme into the following broad categories:
- Administration of SAAS
- SAAS complaints and appeals procedure
- Application forms and guidance material
- Statistics
- Finance
- Human Resources
- Information management
The list of classes of information lists the information available under these categories by title, description of the information, frequency of publication, where or how it can be obtained, in what format, together with details of any charges we may make.
Information contained in this Publication Scheme which is due to be published within 12 weeks of the date of the request will be supplied as soon as is practicable on or around the date of publication.
You can also download many documents from our website. To read PDF documents you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader.
If you do not already have one installed on your system, click on the following link to download a free PDF viewer.
8. Contacts, Feedback and Complaints
The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 requires public authorities not only to maintain a publication scheme approved by the Scottish Information Commissioner but also to review the scheme from time to time. 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 about the publication scheme should be addressed to the person responsible for maintaining the Agency's publication scheme:-
Linda Pender
Chief Executive's Office
Student Awards Agency for Scotland
Gyleview House
3 Redheughs Rigg
EDINBURGH
EH12 9HH
Email: linda.pender@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Tel: 0131 244 5890
The Agency's Chief Executive, David Stephen, has overall responsibility for the publication scheme and can be contacted at the address above or by e-mail at david.stephen@scotland.gsi.gov.uk.
9. Access to your personal information
Under the Data Protection Act 1998 you have the right to ask us for a copy of any personal information that we hold relating to you. This is called a subject access request.
If you wish to access your personal information you should make your request in writing to SAAS, Gyleview House, 3 Redheughs Rigg, Edinburgh , EH12 9HH .
Before we can release information to you we need proof of your identity. This can be a copy of your driving licence, birth certificate or passport. You also need to pay a £10 fee. Cheques should be made payable to the 'Student Awards Agency for Scotland '.
You need to send this proof with your payment together with a letter which is signed by you and which tells us:
a) what information you want to access - please provide as much detail as possible to help us find it.
b) your home address