Guide to Information

Guide to Information ELHA

Last Reviewed: January 2024

Terms used
Term Used Explanation
FOISA

Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002

Places a duty on those organisations covered to proactively publish certain types of information; and to respond to requests for information; and to provide advice and assistance to those making requests for information
EIRs

Environmental Information Regulations (Scotland) 2004

Those organisations covered by EIRs have a duty to respond to requests for environmental information
SIC

The Scottish Information Commissioner

Who is responsible for ensuring that those bodies covered by FOISA and EIRs comply with the terms of the legislation
MPS

Model Publication Scheme

Produced by the SIC – this details all of the information that those subject to FOISA should publish (if they hold it)
Guide to Information A guide that all organisations subject to FOISA and adopting the MPS must produce to help people access the information it makes available
Classes of Information Nine broad categories describing the types of information authorities should publish (if they hold it)
Background

The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) requires that all housing associations in Scotland must produce and maintain a publication scheme. This must detail all of the key information that we publish and how you can access it. This Guide to Information is our publication scheme, and contains links to where you can find all of the information listed.

ELHA has a wholly-owned subsidiary, R3 Repairs, to which FOISA also applies in some very limited circumstances. This Guide also covers R3 Repairs, although please note that R3 does not produce any publications or documents within the scope of FOISA which would fall under the classes of information in the Model Publication Scheme. Any requests for in-scope information held by R3 Repairs can be sent to ELHA using the details under Contact Us below.

East Lothian Housing Association has adopted the Scottish Information Commissioner’s (SIC) Model Publication Scheme (MPS), and this Guide has been approved by the SIC.

Formats other than online

All of the information listed is available at elha.com (unless stated), and completely free to access online. However, we understand that not everyone will have online access and where this is the case you can contact us to view this in our office (where this would be convenient).

If you would like a printed copy of any of the information listed, unfortunately we may have to charge a small fee to provide this. This fee will never exceed the cost of photocopying and postage – and we will let you know any total cost before we forward this to you.

A summary of our charges for providing any information detailed in this guide are summarised below:

Format Charge
Online Free
View at our office Free
Print in blank & white 10p per A4 sheet
Print in colour 20p per A4 sheet
CD ROM £1.00
Posted document/CD ROM Cost of postage incurred


If you would like to request information that we publish in a format other than online, or arrange a visit to our office to view information, please contact: enquiries@elha.com

Information that we cannot publish

Whilst we will try to make all of the information we have detailed available, in rare cases there may be some information that we cannot make available. For example, sometimes if we were to publish certain Management Committee minutes, it could reveal personal details about an individual. This would be a breach of Data Protection legislation if we were to do so. When this is the case, we will remove any personal details before publication and highlight where and why we have done so.

For how long will information be published?

We aim, where possible, to publish information for at least the current and previous two financial years. When we review any document (for example, any of our policies), to avoid confusion we will only publish the current version once it has been updated.

Copyright and re-use

Where we hold the copyright on our published information, the information may be copied or reproduced without formal permission, provided that:

  • It is copied accurately
  • It is not used in a misleading context
  • The source of the material is identified

Contact us

If you have any queries about anything contained within this Guide to Information, or if there is some information that you cannot find that you would like to access, please contact:

enquiries@elha.com

East Lothian Housing Association
18-20 Market Street
Haddington
East Lothain
EH41 3JL

01620 825032

The Information that we make available to you

Under the MPS, the information we provide must be listed under certain “classes” of information. These are the categories of information that are detailed below. As FOI applies to other bodies and sectors across Scotland (such as Scottish Government and Councils for example), this means that not all of the categories in the MPS apply to housing associations.

The details of all the information we hold under each of the classes that apply to our organisation, and hyperlinks to access this information when available online, are outlined below. 

Class 1 - About us

Information about ELHA – who we are, where to find us, how to contact us, how we are managed and our external relations.

Descriptions of who we are:

Mission Statement None, we only have our Vision and Values document
Vision Healthy Happy Homes
Values Professional; Honest; Reliable; Friendly
Corporate Objectives To provide Healthy, Happy Homes
Area(s) of operation East Lothian
Key activities; strategic/corporate plan(s) We are a housing association specialising in the provision and management of first class affordable rented homes. In addition, our Care & Repair Service promotes independent living by ensuring homes are maintained or adapted to suit individual needs
Business Plan Summary Pending
Customer Service Standards https://www.elha.com/page/customer-service-standards


Location & opening arrangements:

Contact Us: https://www.elha.com/page/contact-us-1

Information relating to Freedom of Information:

Publication Scheme and Guide to Information: This document

Charging Schedule for Published Information: See above

Contact details and advice on making an FOI request: enquiries@elha.com

Freedom of Information policies and procedures: https://www.elha.com/page/policies

Charging Schedule for environmental information provided in response to requests made under EIRs: See the schedule at the end of this document

About our Governing Body:

List of Governing Body members, including names, when they became a governing body member, professional biographical details, office-bearing responsibilities, when they became an office-bearer:

Description of the role of the Governing Body:

How to become part of the governing body:


About our Staff:

List of senior management team, including professional biography.

Organisational structure

Governance Documents and Corporate Policies

Rules/Articles

Standing Orders

Membership Policy

Code of Conduct for Staff

Code of Conduct for Governing Body Members

Entitlements Payments and Benefits Policy (or equivalent, including arrangements for payments for expenses and subsistence)

Register of Interests

Equalities & Diversity Policy

Health and Safety Policy

Sustainability Policy


Relationship with Regulators:

Engagement plan with Scottish Housing Regulator

Assurance Statement

Annual Return on Charter Submission to SHR

Financial Returns to SHR

Charter report to tenants

Internal and External Audit arrangements

Group Details:

Details of our subsidiaries:

R3 Repairs Limited

Key Partnerships:

Strategic agreements with other organisations:

We have a Strategic Alliance with Castle Rock Edinvar Housing Association (Also known as Places for People Scotland) for the provision of development services to ELHA

Class 2 - How we deliver our functions and services

Information about our work, our strategy and policies for delivering services and information for our service users.

List of services provided

How to report a repair

  • Use your My Home account and click the ‘book a repair’ button or contact us

Right to Repair information

How to apply for a house

How to get information about tenancy support 

How to make a complaint

How to speak to a Housing Officer

How we consult with tenants and other customers to inform and improve service delivery and develop new services

These Homes (Allocations) Policy

Anti-Social Behaviour Policy

Asbestos Management Policy

Arrears Management Policy (now called ‘Rent Arrears and Tenancy Debt’)

Asset Management Policy 

Customer Care Policy 

Data Protection Policy  & Privacy Policy

Equality and Diversity Policy 

Estate Management Policy (Included within the Tenancy Management Policy)

Health and Safety Policy

Legionnaires Inspection/Prevention

Procurement Policy

Risk Management Strategy

Rent & Service Charge Policy

Maintenance Policy

Sustainability Policy

Tenant Participation Strategy

Tenancy Sustainment Policy

 

Class 3 - How we take decisions and what we have decided

Information about the decisions we take, how we make decisions and how we involve others. 

Governing Body Meetings

Governing body meeting minutes

Governing body meeting reports/papers

Governing body agendas

Consultation and Participation

Tenant Participation Strategy

Consultation reports noting the outcome of any recent consultations with tenants/others

Tenant Scrutiny Panel

Registered Tenant Organisations

 

Class 4 – What we spend and how we spend it

Information about our strategy for, and management of, financial resources (in sufficient detail to explain how we plan to spend public money and what has actually been spent). 

Information about our accounts and budgets

Description of funding sources:

Revenue income is primarily from tenants in the form of rents and service charges and is used to fund the management and maintenance of our properties and to service our loans, and from local Government grants to fund our Care & Repair Service. Key sources of capital funding (for the acquisition / development of new homes) are Housing Association Grant, loans from banks and building societies and accumulated revenue surpluses.

Audited accounts

Budget policies and procedures

Budget allocation to key service areas:

Our programme of work and projects

Brief details of any project funding and how it’s being spent - Not applicable

Capital works programme/plans information (annual programme figure):

Spending relating to Staff and Governing Body

Entitlements Payments & Benefits Policy

Employee Expenses Policy

Management Committee Member & R3 Board Member Expenses Policy

Senior Staff/Governing Body Member Expenses

Board Member remuneration other than expenses - none

General information about staff pension scheme

We offer staff pensions through the SHAPS scheme – through the Defined benefit (DB) and Defined Contribution (DC) schemes. More information is available here:

 

Class 5 – How we manage our resources

Information about how we manage our human, physical and information resources.

Strategy and management of human resources - Pending

Staff Training Policy

Staffing structure 

Human resources policies, covering recruitment, performance management, salary and grading, pensions, discipline, grievance, staff development, maintenance and retention of staff records:

Trade Union information

  • Our relationship with Trade Unions is handled by our HR Support advisors, EVH – more information is available here: www.evh.org.uk

Summary of professional organisations/trade bodies of which we are a member

  • Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, 3rd Floor, Sutherland House,149 St Vincent Street Glasgow, G2 5NW
  • Employers in Voluntary Housing, 5th Floor, 137 Sauchiehall Street ,Glasgow , G2 3EW

Physical Resources

Management of our land and property assets, including environmental/sustainability reports (Asset Management Strategy)

General description of our land and property holdings:

Estate development plans

Information Resources

Records management policy and records management plan, including records retention schedule

Data protection or privacy policy

Class 6 - How we procure goods and services from external providers

Information about how we procure works, goods and services, and our contracts with external providers.

Information about our key service delivery contractors who carry out responsive repairs, landscape maintenance, planned/cyclical maintenance:

We used the following suppliers for repairs and maintenance services in the last year:

  • Chimney Scotland
  • Dunbar Removals
  • Grange Energy Services
  • Lothian Gas
  • R3 Repairs
  • SCS Cleaning Services

List of suppliers and contractors used by organisation (provided to staff under our Entitlements Payments and Benefits Policy)

Information about regulated procurement contracts awarded (value, scope, duration):

Our Procurement

Who we work with

Information on how to tender for work and invitations to tender

Register of contracts awarded which have gone through formal tendering, including name of supplier, period of contract and value

Links to procurement information we publish on Public Contracts Scotland website

Framework Agreements - None

Class 7 – How we are performing

Information about how we perform as an organisation, and how well we deliver our functions and services. 

Annual Report

ARC report to tenants

Performance Standards / indicators

Benchmarking information

Complaints policy, guidance and forms

Complaints reports or equivalent to show how complaints are handled and influence service delivery (aggregate reports rather than individual outcomes).

Tenant scrutiny reports

Class 8 – Our commercial publications

Information packaged and made available for sale on a commercial basis and sold at market value through a retail outlet e.g. bookshop, museum or research journal.

This class does not apply to us as we do not produce any publications for sale.

Class 9 – Our open data

Open data made available by us under the Scottish Government’s Open Data Resource Pack and available under open licence. 

This class does not apply to us

Charging Schedule

This section explains when we may make a charge for our publications and how any charge will be calculated. There is no charge to view information on elha.com or at our premises. We may charge for providing information to you, but we will charge you no more than it costs us to do so. We will always tell you what the cost is before providing the information to you.

Our photocopying charge per side of paper is shown in the tables below:

Black and White Photocopying:

Size of paper Pence per sheet
A4 10p
A3 20p

Colour Photocopying:

Size of paper Pence per sheet
A4 20p
A3 40p

Alternative formats:

Format Charge
Computer Discs £1.00

Postage Costs

Postage costs may be recharged at the rate we paid to send the information to you. Our charge is for sending information by Royal Mail First Class.

When providing copies of pre-printed publications, we will charge no more than the cost per copy of the total print run. We do not pass on any other costs to you in relation to our published information.

Charges for information which is not available under the scheme

If you submit a request to us for information which is not available in this Guide and we agree to supply it to you, the charges will be based on the following calculations: 

General information requests:

  • There will be no charge for information requests which cost us £100 or less to process
  • Where information costs between £100 and £600 to provide you may be asked to pay 10% of the cost. That is, if you were to ask for information that cost us £600 to provide, you would be asked to pay £50 calculated on the basis of a
  • waiver for the first £100 and 10% of the remaining £500
  • We are not obliged to respond to requests which will cost us over £600 to process
  • In calculating any fee, staff time will be calculated at actual cost per staff member hourly salary rate to a maximum of £15 per person per hour
  • We do not charge for the time to determine whether we hold the information requested, nor for the time it takes to decide whether the information can be released. Charges may be made for locating, retrieving and providing information to you
  • In the event that we decide to impose a charge we will issue you with notification of the charge (a fees notice) and how it has been calculated. You will have three months from the date of issue of the fees notice in which to
  • decide whether to pay the charge. The information will be provided to you on payment of the charge. If you decide not to proceed with the request there will be no charge to you. 

Charges for Environmental Information Environmental information is provided under the EIRs rather than FOISA.

The rules for charging for environmental information are slightly different.

We do not charge for the time to determine whether we hold the environmental information requested or deciding whether the information can be released. Charges may be made for locating, retrieving and providing information to you e.g. photocopying and postage.

If we decide to impose a charge, we will issue you with notification of the charge and how it has been calculated. The information will be provided to you on payment of the charge.

If you decide not to proceed with the request there will be no charge to you. Charges are calculated based on the actual cost to us of providing the information:

  • Photocopying is charged at 10p per A4 sheet for black and white copying, 20p per A4 sheet for colour copying.
  • Postage is charged at actual rate for Royal Mail First Class.
  • Staff time is calculated at actual cost per staff member hourly salary rate to a maximum of £15 per person per hour. 

The first £100 worth of information will be provided to you without charge.

Where information costs between £100 and £600 to provide, you will be asked to pay 10% of the cost. That is, if you were to ask for information that cost us £600 to provide, you would be asked to pay £50, calculated on the basis of a waiver for the first £100 and 10% of the remaining £500.

Where it would cost more than £600 to provide the information to you, however, we will ask you to pay the full cost of providing the information, with no waiver for any portion of the cost.

Charges for requesting for your own personal data

There is no charge for requesting your own personal data under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Subject Access Request. We will provide a copy of the information free of charge.

However, we can charge a ‘reasonable fee’ when a request is manifestly unfounded or excessive, particularly if it is repetitive. We may also charge a reasonable fee to comply with requests for further copies of the same information. This does not mean that we can charge for all subsequent access requests. The fee must be based on the administrative cost of providing the information.

Further information on GDPR can be found on the Information Commissioner’s Office website, linked below

https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/