Public Health Scotland aims to proactively publish data:

• for which there is a wide demand
• that it is freely available to all

When a customer makes a general enquiry or a freedom of information request, we may determine that responding to the request requires bespoke new analysis of health and care data held in our national databases.

In these circumstances, the customer may be directed to the relevant PHS team to handle the request.

Bespoke new analysis will be undertaken by us if resources allow. Priority goes to core business activities directed by our sponsors – the Scottish Government and COSLA – or for which Public Health Scotland receives funding.

All requests must also follow our statistical governance rules and meet these conditions:

• existing published information or previous responses do not meet the customer’s needs
• the customer clearly explains what information they need and, if possible, why they need it – this helps our analysts understand the request and provide the most useful response

If the work needed for an information request requires significant resources, we may charge a fee to recover costs, in line with our charging policy.

For further information, see the:

• information request protocol
• statistical disclosure protocol