Public Health Scotland aims to proactively publish data for which there is a wide demand so that it is freely available to all. When a customer makes a general enquiry or a Freedom of Information Request, Public Health Scotland 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 team in Public Health Scotland to handle the request.

Bespoke new analysis will be undertaken by PHS if resources allow. Priority goes to core business activities directed by our sponsors – the Scottish Government or COSLA – or for which Public Health Scotland receives funding. Requests are also subject to Public Health Scotland's overarching rules relating to statistical governance, and provided that:

• Other information already published or held by Public Health Scotland, for example a response to a previous information request, does not meet the needs of the customer
• The customer has stated clearly what information they require and, if possible, why, to enable Public Health Scotland analysts to understand the request and to provide the most relevant and useful response.

Depending upon the resource required to undertake an Information Request, a charge may be applied to recover costs in accordance with our information charging policy.

For further information see:

• Information request protocol
• Statistical disclosure protocol