Thank you for your email.

This automated message is East Lothian Council’s acknowledgement that your
information request has been received and is receiving attention.  The
statutory timescales for responses are as follows:

Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 20 working days
Environmental Information Regulations 2004 20 working days
Internal Reviews 20 working days

Please note that East Lothian Council will close for the Christmas and New
Year break at 4pm on Tuesday 24 December 2024, re-opening on Friday 3
January 2025.  If you submit an information request to us during this
period, however, normal timescales will still apply i.e. we will respond
to you within 20 working days for Freedom of Information/Environmental
Information Regulations requests.  "Working days" exclude Saturdays,
Sundays and Scottish bank holidays (Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s
Day and 2 January).

Customer Feedback and FOI Team

East Lothian Council

John Muir House

Haddington

EH41 3HA

Tel: 01620 827623

Email: [1][East Lothian Council request email]

Information about East Lothian Council’s complaints procedure can be found
[2]here.

Details of your rights to requesting information from East Lothian Council
are published [3]here.

The Scottish Information Commissioner is responsible for the enforcement
of Scotland's freedom of information laws.  Guidance regarding your rights
of access to information held by Scottish public authorities is available
on the Commissioner’s [4]website.

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References

Visible links
1. mailto:[east%20lothian%20council%20request%20email]
2. https://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/info/2105...
3. Link to ELC website
http://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/info/704/d...
4. Link to SIC website
http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/

Our Ref:  2025/ELF20094 

Dear Mr Richardson

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) ACT 2002

ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) REGULATIONS 2004

We are writing in response to your enquiry of 3 January.

East Lothian Council (ELC) has considered your request under the terms of
the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.  We apologise for the
slight delay in our reply, however we are now able to provide ELC’s
response; please refer to the attachments.

For awareness, it is ELC’s usual [1]policy to recover full staff costs for
every information request received which falls under the Environmental
Information Regulations 2004 (EIRs).  As this policy is currently under
review, we have temporarily suspended charging for EIRs until the review
has been completed.

Under the terms of this legislation, if you are unhappy with the way your
request has been handled, you are entitled to request that we undertake an
internal review.  Please note, however, that both the Freedom of
Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and the Environmental Information
(Scotland) Regulations 2004 only relate to the release of information. 
The Scottish Information Commissioner publishes the following guidance
about internal reviews:

You can ask the authority to review its decision if it does not respond or
you are unhappy with the way it has dealt with your request, for example
by:

·                  refusing to give you the information

·                  failing to reply to you within the time limit allowed

·                  claiming the information is exempt

·                  failing to give you advice about, and help with, making
your request

·                  asking you to pay a fee that you feel is unreasonable

For example, if you are unhappy because you do not believe the information
you have received is accurate, an internal review would not apply.  Should
this be the case, however, please let us know and we will try to resolve
this.  If we in this team are unable to help, we will be happy to put you
in touch with someone who can.

We must receive a request to review within 40 working days of the date of
this notice.  A request to review our decision must be in writing (e-mail
is acceptable) or another permanent format.  When writing, you should
include your reasons as to why you are unhappy with our response and why
you wish it to be reviewed.  Your reasons for dissatisfaction must relate
to your information request of 3 January only and should be addressed to:

Customer Feedback and FOI Team

People and Governance

East Lothian Council

John Muir House

Haddington

EH41 3HA

Email: [2][East Lothian Council request email]

We will have a maximum of 20 working days from the date we receive your
request in order to complete our review and give you our decision.  In
order to ensure an impartial approach, an independent senior officer will
be appointed to carry out the review.

If you are still not satisfied with our decision following the review
process, then you may ask the Office of the Scottish Information
Commissioner (OSIC) to investigate the matter.  You must appeal to
the Commissioner within six months of receiving the review decision.  You
may submit your appeal online via OSIC’s website, a link to the online
appeal service is provided for your convenience:  [3]Appeal to the
Commissioner | Scottish Information Commissioner (foi.scot)

Alternatively, you may contact OSIC at:

Scottish Information Commissioner

Kinburn Castle

Doubledykes Road

St Andrews

Fife

KY16 9DS

Telephone:  01334 464610

E-mail:  [4][email address] 

If you remain dissatisfied following the Commissioner’s decision, you may
be able to appeal to the Court of Session.   You should, however, obtain
legal advice before deciding on this course of action.  This is because an
appeal may only be made on a point of law, not because you disagree with
the Commissioner’s view of the case. 

Yours sincerely

Shelley Neville

Freedom of Information Team

East Lothian Council

John Muir House

Haddington

EH41 3HA

Tel: 01620 827623

Email: [5][East Lothian Council request email]

Information about East Lothian Council’s complaints procedure can be found
[6]here.

Details of your rights to requesting information from East Lothian Council
are published [7]here.

The Scottish Information Commissioner is responsible for the enforcement
of Scotland's freedom of information laws.  Guidance regarding your rights
of access to information held by Scottish public authorities is available
on the Commissioner’s website: [8]Homepage | Scottish Information
Commissioner (foi.scot)

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