Requesting information

This guide explains how to use your rights to access information held by the National Records of Scotland.

• Where to start
• Making a request for information
• How you should word your request
• Will there be a fee?
• What happens next
• Your right to review and appeal

Where to start

Before making a request

You might not need to request information, as it may already be available. We already make a large amount of information publicly available, mainly on our website. Our Guide to Information will help you in gaining an overview as to what is available. If you cannot find the statistics you want,  please contact Statistical Customer Services.

Are we the right people to request information from?

It may be that you are seeking information that we simply do not have, relating to the functions or work of another authority. If you are unsure, you can use our Contact us page to ask us, as we may be able to direct you to another authority who holds the information.

Making a request for information

Your information rights

Data protection law (the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018) gives you a right of access to your own personal information. The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) and the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs) give you the right to request information from public authorities. You can find more information about your rights under these laws on the websites of the Information Commissioner's Office and the Scottish Information Commissioner.

Requesting access to your own (personal) information

General information about personal data processed by NRS can be found in our privacy notice.

Requests for your personal information should be made by completing and sending to us a subject access request form. You do not have to use this form, but it usually makes it easier for us to process your request. In order to ensure that you are the data subject of the information you have requested, you will also need to send us proof of your identity and your address. Further details are provided on the subject access request form.

Please note that a separate application process must be followed to request a certificate (or official extract) of your personal information in the statutory birth, marriage, adoption, divorce, civil partnership and dissolution registers. For more information see our page on ordering a copy of a certificate. 

If you are considering applying to the Scotland’s Redress Scheme and are searching for personal information on time spent in care in Scotland as a child, we recommend you read our Time in Care Records page and follow the guidance there.

You can contact us by email: dataprotection@nrscotland.gov.uk or by post: Data Protection Officer, National Records of Scotland, HM General Register House, 2 Princes Street, Edinburgh, EH1 3YY.

Requesting Information (Other than your personal information)

Requests for information which is not personal data will usually fall under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA). These should be made in writing to either:

• foi@nrscotland.gov.uk
• National Records of Scotland, Information Governance Team, HM General Register House, 2 Princes Street, Edinburgh, EH1 3YY

Requests for environmental information fall under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs) and can be made in writing or orally.

If we receive a request and do not understand it or think we need more information from you to identify and locate the information you are requesting, then we will contact you for clarification.

How you should word your request

Please be specific about the information that you are looking for. It helps us to identify what you require and answer your request more promptly. For example, does a specific date or time period apply? Are there any references you can give that will help us to identify the information?

You do not have to explain why you want the information, but if you are happy to do this it may help us to answer your request more satisfactorily.

Will there be a fee?

We do not charge a few for making a request.

We will refuse to deal with a FOI request where we estimate that it will cost more than £600 to locate, retrieve and provide the information.

If you can be as precise as possible about the information you are seeking, it will help to keep your request within this cost limit. Requests for specific information are less likely to exceed this cost limit and can be answered much more quickly than requests for 'all information' on a subject.

Splitting up a single request into many related requests in order to deliberately avoid this cost limit will not necessarily ensure that your requests do not in fact exceed the cost limit.

We may refuse to comply with a request under the EIRs if it is manifestly unreasonable.

There is no fee for making a subject access request. Where, however, the request is manifestly unfounded or excessive we may charge a reasonable fee for the administrative costs of complying with the request.

What happens next

Timeframes

We will aim to respond to FOI or EIRs requests within 20 working days. We are allowed 30 working days to respond to requests for information in closed archival records under sections 10 and 22 of FOISA. Data Protection subject access requests are processed within one month.

Understanding our response

We will provide you with the information you have requested where we can. Where this has not been possible, we will explain why.

We may not be able to provide information because:

• We do not hold it
• It exceeds the cost limit
• The request is vexatious or repeated.
• Exemptions/exceptions apply. FOISA and the EIRs expressly recognise that some information cannot be provided.

There are therefore a number of exemptions (or in the case of the EIRs, exceptions) that may apply to information you have requested. The Data Protection Act 2018 also provides for exemptions from disclosure.

Some exemptions are 'absolute', which means that if the information falls within a particular category, it will not be provided. However, most exemptions require us to explain to you why there will be 'substantial prejudice, harm, or inhibition' to NRS or others if we released the information, and why it is not in the public interest to provide the information.

Your right to review and appeal

Our responses will tell you how to exercise your rights to review and appeal.

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your request FOISA or the EIRs , you can ask us to carry out an internal review of our response. Tell us why you are unhappy with our response within 40 working days, and it will be looked at afresh.

We will aim to provide you with our review response within 20 working days (or 30 working days for review requests relating to information in closed archival records).

If you remain unhappy with our review response, you then have the right to appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner. You should keep copies of all the correspondence you have had with us, as if you decide to appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner you will be asked to provide these. For more information, visit the Scottish Information Commissioner’s website.

If you are unhappy with our response to a subject access request, you can ask us to carry out a review. If you continue to have concerns, you have the right to report them to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). For more information visit the ICO website.