FOI Request - Publication Scheme Use And Impact
Request 101003797025
I am conducting research into the effectiveness and usage of publication schemes across Scottish public authorities. Under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, I would be grateful if you could provide the following information:
1. Usage and Access
a) How many times has your publication scheme or guide to information been accessed or downloaded in the past 12 months
b) Do you collect any data on the most frequently accessed pages or documents within your publication scheme? If so, please provide this data for the same period.
c) Are analytics (e.g. page views, downloads, search terms used) collected for the publication scheme? If so, please provide these if available.
2. FOI Requests and Publication Scheme Exemptions
a) In the past 12 months, how many FOI requests did your authority receive in total?
b) In the same period, how many FOI requests were refused on the basis that the information was already available through your publication scheme (under Section 25 of FOISA)?
c) If available, please provide this figure as a percentage of all FOI requests received.
d) Do you provide requesters with direct links to the relevant parts of the publication scheme when refusing under Section 25?
3. Maintenance and Updates
a) How often is your publication scheme reviewed or updated?
b) When was the last review or update of your publication scheme conducted?
4. Proactive Disclosure Strategy
a) Does your authority have any internal targets or KPIs regarding proactive publication of information?
b) Is there a dedicated team or officer responsible for managing the publication scheme? If so, please provide the job title(s) (not personal information).
Clarification sought and received 02-06-2025
Response 20-06-2025
1.a) Views 15th June 2024 – 14th 2025
• Publication Scheme - Moray Council (http://www.moray.gov.uk/moray_standard/page_84996.html) – 40 Views
• Guide to Information - Model Publication Scheme 2013 - Moray Council (http://www.moray.gov.uk/moray_standard/page_84984.html) – 11 Views
b) Statistics for the subpages that sit under the Publication Scheme (Views 15th June 2024 – 14th 2025)
• Class 1 - About Our Authority (http://www.moray.gov.uk/moray_standard/page_84560.html) – 19 Views
• Class 2 - How We Deliver Our Functions and Services (http://www.moray.gov.uk/moray_standard/page_84583.html) – 17 Views
• Class 3 - How the authority takes decisions and what it has decided (http://www.moray.gov.uk/moray_standard/page_84576.html) – 40 Views
• Class 4 - What We Spend and How We Spend It (http://www.moray.gov.uk/moray_standard/page_84577.html) - 47 Views
• Class 5 - How We Manage Our Resources (http://www.moray.gov.uk/moray_standard/page_84578.html) - 8 Views
• Class 6: How We Procure Goods and Services http://www.moray.gov.uk/moray_standard/page_84579.html) – 4 Views
• Class 7 - How We Are Performing (http://www.moray.gov.uk/moray_standard/page_84580.html) – 5 views
• Class 8 - Our Commercial Publications (http://www.moray.gov.uk/moray_standard/page_84581.html) – 4 views
c) Both Publication Scheme (2 times) and Guide to information (10 times) have been searched in the past 12 months page from a Google Search.
Neither of these results have been clicked on.
2. a) -c) This information can be found on the Scottish Information Commissioner's website where FOI and EIR stats are published quarterly. It is therefore exempt under section 25 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, information otherwise accessible. For ease of reference please find a link to the web page here: https://www.itspublicknowledge.info/statistics
d) No, direct links to the information are usually provided.
3. a) The scheme utilises numerous links to current webpages, which are regularly updated by their relevant departments.
b) Not held. Information that is not held falls under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 - Information not held.
4. a) Not held. Information that is not held falls under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 - Information not held.
b) Information Governance Manager and Data Protection Officer (DPO)