Section 1 - Introduction to the Guide to Information

The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) requires that all Scottish public authorities make certain types of information routinely available, and provide a guide to information telling the public how to access the information and what it might cost.

This Guide to Information also contains details of the environmental information that we routinely make available under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (the EI(S)Rs).

The University of the Highlands and Islands has adopted the Scottish Information Commissioner's Model Publication Scheme. You can see this scheme on the Commissioner's website or by contacting us at the address below.

We have made a commitment to publish all information which we hold which falls within the classes of information in the scheme. This Guide to Information describes the onformation which we publish in accordance with the scheme, and how you can access the information.

We are obliged by FOISA to have due regard to the public interest in providing access to the information that we hold which relates to:

• the service we provide;
• the costs of those services;
• the standard of those services;
• the facts that inform the important decisions we take; and
• the reasoning that informs our decisions.

This Guide to Information was prepapred by the Scottish Higher Education Information Practitioners Group, under the auspices of Universities Scotland's Secretaries' Group. SHEIP consulted the public authorities to be covered by the Guide, to assess what information should be included in the Guide, taking account of reviews of information requests, and assessments of previous publication scheme feedback.