Guide to Information available through the Model Publication Scheme
The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (the Act) requires Scottish public authorities to produce and maintain a publication scheme. Authorities are under a legal obligation to:
- publish the classes of information that they make routinely available
- tell the public how to access the information and what it might cost.
The Grampian Assessor and Grampian Valuation Joint Board have adopted the 2017 Model Publication Scheme produced by the Scottish Information Commissioner.
You can see this scheme below or by contacting us at the address below.
The purpose of this Guide to Information is to:
- allow you to see what information is available (and what is not available) in relation to each class
- state what charges may be applied
- explain how you can find the information easily
- provide contact details for enquiries and to get help with accessing the information
- explain how to request information we hold that has not been published
- explain how you can re-use public sector information
The Guide is split into the following sections;
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Availability and formats
The information we publish through the model scheme is, wherever possible, available on this website. We offer alternative arrangements for people who do not want to, or cannot, access the information online or by inspection at our premises. For example, we can usually arrange to send information to you in paper copy (although there may be a charge for this).
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Exempt information
We will publish the information we hold that falls within the classes of information below. If a document contains information that is exempt under Scotland’s freedom of information laws (for example sensitive personal information or a trade secret), we may remove or redact (black out) the information before publication and we will explain why.
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Copyright
Where Grampian Assessor or Grampian Valuation Joint Board hold the copyright in their published information, the information may be copied or reproduced without formal permission, provided that:
- it is copied or reproduced accurately
- it is not used in a misleading context, and
- the source of the material is identified
Where Grampian Assessor or Grampian Valuation Joint Board does not hold the copyright in information we publish, we will make this clear.
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Re-use of public sector information
The Grampian Assessor is not a Public Sector Body in terms of the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015. Therefore the statement below only applies to information held by the Grampian Valuation Joint Board in pursuit of its public task.
The Board is responsible for the administrative side of the valuation process: ensuring that there are sufficient staff/offices to fulfill the valuation function, monitoring accounts, performance, audit and complaint matters. Therefore, as above, Valuation Rolls, Council Tax Valuation Lists, Electoral Registers and their supporting data will not be covered.
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Charges
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 our website or at our premises.
We may charge for providing information to you e.g., photocopying and postage, but we will charge you no more than what it costs us to do so. We will always tell you what the cost is before providing the information to you.
VAT will be charged where appropriate.
Our photocopying charge per side of paper is shown below;
Size of paper Pence per sheet Black and white A4 10p Colour A4 30p Information on CD or DVD will be charged at £1.00 per disc.
Postage costs will be recharged at the rate we pay to send the information to you. This is normally by Royal Mail First Class.
Fixed Charge Publications
There are a small number of pre-printed publications for which we make a charge. These documents include the Valuation Roll, Council Tax List and Electoral Register.
The costs for these documents are detailed below:
Valuation Rolls
Definition
“List of non-domestic properties for the Valuation Area with appropriate Rateable Valuations as a basis for rates bills.”
Availability
Inspection –
The Valuation Roll is available to view free of charge at any of our offices or at www.saa.gov.uk, a website that is jointly operated by the 14 independent Assessors in Scotland.The Valuation Roll is available to purchase in paper or data formats. Enquiries should be sent to;
Data Custodian
Grampian Assessor & ERO
Woodhill House
Westburn Road
Aberdeen
AB16 5GETel: 01224 068400
e-mail: datacustodian@grampian-vjb.gov.uk
Costs
Paper – £60 per Local Authority area
Data – £50 per Local Authority area/Joint Board areaCouncil Tax Valuation Lists
Definition
“List of domestic properties within the Valuation Area with appropriate Bands”
Availability
Inspection –
The Council Tax Valuation List is available to view free of charge at any of our offices or at www.saa.gov.uk, a website that is jointly operated by the 14 independent Assessors in Scotland.The Council Tax Valuation List is available to purchase in paper or data formats. Enquiries should be sent to;
Data Custodian
Grampian Assessor & ERO
Woodhill House
Westburn Road
Aberdeen
AB16 5GETel: 01224 068400
e-mail: datacustodian@grampian-vjb.gov.uk
Costs
Paper – £75 per Local Authority area
Data – £50 per Local Authority area/Joint Board areaExtract Certificates from the Council Tax List or Valuation Roll do not fall within any class of this publication scheme, but we do provide Extract Certificates and photocopies from the Valuation Roll and Council Tax List.
The cost for this additional service can be obtained by contacting us at:
Data Custodian
Grampian Assessor & ERO
Woodhill House
Westburn Road
Aberdeen
AB16 5GETel: 01224 068400
e-mail: datacustodian@grampian-vjb.gov.uk
Electoral Register (Open or Edited version)
Definition
“Open version of the Register of Electors. This version does not include the names of those electors whose names appear in the full version of the Register but who have taken advantage of the Representation of the People legislation and chosen to have their names excluded from the Open version of the Register, which can be sold to anyone.”
Availability
Copies of the Open Register can be inspected at any of our offices.
Costs
As defined in the Representation of the People (Scotland) Regulations 2001.
Data Format;
The fee for purchasing a copy of the register in data format is at the rate of £20 per Constituency plus £1.50 for each 1,000 entries (or remaining part of 1,000 entries) in it.Printed;
The fee for purchasing a copy of the register in the printed form is at the rate of £10 plus £5 for each 1,000 entries (or remaining part of 1,000 entries) in it.Enquiries should be sent to;
Data Custodian
Grampian Assessor & ERO
Woodhill House
Westburn Road
Aberdeen
AB16 5GETel: 01224 068400
e-mail: datacustodian@grampian-vjb.gov.uk
We do not pass any other costs on to you in relation to our published information.
This charging schedule does not apply to our commercial publications (see Class 8 below). These items are offered for sale and their price reflects market value which may include the cost of production.
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Contact us
You can contact us for assistance with any aspect of this publication scheme:
Grampian Assessor
Woodhill House
Westburn Road
Aberdeen
AB16 5GETel: 01224 068400
Email: assessor@grampian-vjb.gov.uk
We will also be pleased to advise you how to ask for information that we do not publish, or how to complain if you are dissatisfied with any aspect of this publication scheme.
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Notifying the Commissioner
In accordance with paragraph 9(ii) of the Scottish Information Commissioner’s Model Publication Scheme, the Grampian Assessor and Grampian Valuation Joint Board undertake to notify the Commissioner if their legal status changes.
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The classes of information that we publish
We publish information that we hold within the following classes. Once information is published under a class we will continue to make it available for the current and previous two financial years.
Where information has been updated or superseded, only the current version will be available. If you would like to see previous versions, you may make a request to us for that information.
CLASS 1: ABOUT GRAMPIAN ASSESSOR & GRAMPIAN VALUATION JOINT BOARD Class description: Information about Grampian Assessor & Grampian Valuation Joint Board, who we are, where to find us, how to contact us, how we are managed and our external relations CLASS 2: HOW WE DELIVER OUR FUNCTIONS AND SERVICES Class description: Information about our work, our strategy and policies for delivering functions and services and information for our service users. The information we publish under this class Valuation Roll and rateable values Valuation Roll appeals Scottish Assessors Association practice notes Council Tax Valuation List and bands Council Tax band appeals Electoral Registration information CLASS 3: HOW WE TAKE DECISIONS AND WHAT WE HAVE DECIDED Class description: Information about the decisions we take, how we make decisions and how we involve others The information we publish under this class Code of corporate governance Grampian Valuation Joint Board minutes and reports CLASS 4: WHAT WE SPEND AND HOW WE SPEND IT Class description: 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). The information we publish under this class Financial regulations GVJB accounts External audit reports Scheme of Delegation CLASS 5: HOW WE MANAGE OUR HUMAN, PHYSICAL AND INFORMATION RESOURCES Class description: Information about how we manage the human, physical and information resources of Grampian Assessor and Grampian Valuation Joint Board. CLASS 6: HOW WE PROCURE GOODS AND SERVICES FROM EXTERNAL PROVIDERS
Class description: Information about how we procure goods and services, and our contracts with external providers The information we publish under this class Financial Regulations and Procurement procedures Value of contracts with external providers Current invitations to tender CLASS 7: HOW WE ARE PERFORMING Class description: Information about how we perform as an organisation, and how well we deliver our functions and services The information we publish under this class External audit reports Performance Report Equalities mainstreaming and outcomes CLASS 8: OUR COMMERCIAL PUBLICATIONS Class description: Information packaged and made available for sale on a commercial basis. The information we publish under this class None CLASS 9: OUR OPEN DATA Class description: Open data made available by the authority as described by the Scottish Government’s Open Data Resource Pack and available under an open licence The information we publish under this class Analysis of the Valuation Roll Analysis of the Council Tax Valuation List Analysis of the Electoral Register -
How to access information which is not available under this scheme
If the information you are seeking is not available under this publication scheme, then you may wish to request it from us. The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) provides you with a right of access to the information we hold, subject to certain exemptions. The Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs) separately provide a right of access to the environmental information we hold, while the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) provides a right of access to any personal information about you that we hold. Again, these rights are subject to certain exceptions or exemptions.
Should you wish to request a copy of any information that we hold that is not available under this scheme, please write to:-
Data Custodian
Grampian Assessor & ERO
Woodhill House
Westburn Road
Aberdeen
AB16 5GETel: 01224 068400
e-mail: datacustodian@grampian-vjb.gov.uk
Charges For Information Which Is Not Available Under The Scheme
The charges for information which is available under this scheme are set out under the section on Charges above. If you submit a request to us for information which is not available under the scheme 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
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 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 on the basis of the actual cost to the authority of providing the information.
• Photocopying is charged at 10p per A4 sheet for black and white copying and 30p per A4 sheet for colour copying.
• Postage is charged at actual rate for first class mail.
• 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.
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Requests for your own personal data
You are entitled to request your personal data from the Grampian Assessor who reserves the right to charge. Please contact us for further details.