The Freedom of Information Act (Scotland) 2002 was passed by the Scottish Parliament on the 24th April 2002 and received Royal Assent on the 28th May 2002. It introduced a general statutory right of access to all types of "recorded" information of any age held by Scottish Public Authorities. Subject to certain conditions and exemptions, any person who makes a request to a Public Authority for information will be entitled to receive it.

The Act places two main duties on us:

• To adopt and maintain a publication scheme from 1st June 2004.
• To deal with individual requests for information from 1st January 2005.

Publication Scheme

Strathclyde Fire & Rescue are committed to delivering an open and transparent service wherever possible and it is our intention to publish information in our Publication Scheme that the public have an interest in viewing. Strathclyde Fire & Rescue must produce and maintain a Publication Scheme outlining:

• The classes of information that we publish
• The manner in which information is published
• Details of any charges

Strathclyde Fire & Rescue’s Publication Scheme consists of information already published and held by SFR, or information which is to be published in the future. That means that information in our Publication Scheme is available to either download from the Internet or in paper copy by request.

Classes of Information

• The Publication Scheme guides you to information which we currently publish or which we will publish in the future - these are split into "classes" of information.
• The information currently published in the 'Classes of Information' section, details of how information is, or will be published and any fees charged for information contained in the Publication Scheme are set out in the same section.
• The classes in the Scheme are based on departmental functions. Under each heading there is a list of the information that we publish which relates to that function. For example, information classified under the heading of personnel includes recruitment, conditions of service, Equality and diversity schemes etc.