Publication Scheme

Introduction

The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) requires Scottish public authorities to adopt and maintain a publication scheme. Authorities are under a legal obligation to:

1. publish the classes of information that they make routinely available
2. tell the public how to access the information they publish and whether information is available free of charge or on payment

A class is a group of information having one or more common features such as subject or origin.

The National Social Work Agency (NSWA) has adopted the Model Publication Scheme produced by the Scottish Information Commissioner and updated in March 2021.

The purpose of this Guide to information is to:

• allow the public to see what information is available (and what is not available) in relation to each class (a class is a group of information having one or more common characteristics such as subject or origin)
• state what charges may be applied
• explain how to find the information easily
• provide contact details for enquiries and to get help with accessing the information
• explain how to request information we hold that has not been published

The National Social Work Agency (NSWA)

The NSWA is an executive agency of the Scottish Government. Its aim is to lead excellence and drive change across social work in Scotland. The NSWA’s purpose is to champion the social work profession to ensure Scotland has a sustainable workforce for the future and to lead national improvements to that enhance the experience of people who need social work support.

As an executive agency, the Scottish Government’s 6 principles of Freedom of Information, underpin our approach. These principles make clear the Scottish Government’s commitment to open government and publishing information routinely whenever possible. We have also considered the types of information which are requested from the NSWA routinely and, where possible, sought to publish information proactively.

Availability and formats

The information we publish through the model publication scheme is, wherever possible, available on the NSWA website. We offer alternative arrangements for people who do not want to, or cannot, access the information online or by coming along to our premises. For example, we can usually arrange to send information to you in paper copy. While we do not intend to charge for this, there may be a charge where the volumes requested or the time to prepare the information is more than reasonable. To request information in an alternative format you can contact us in several ways. These can be found later in this guide.

Publications

Publications by the NSWA can be found on our website. The documents are searchable and can be filtered by topic, type and date.

All information released by the NSWA in response to FOI requests is published on the gov.scot website.

Exempt information

All information published in this guide can be accessed either through our website, or by asking us for it.

Our aim in maintaining this publication scheme is to be as open as possible. You should note, however, that there may be circumstances where information will be withheld from publication. Information will only be withheld where the Act or, in the case of environmental information, the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 expressly permits it. This could include where the information’s disclosure would breach the law of confidentiality, harm an organisation’s commercial interests or endanger the protection of the environment. Information may also be withheld if it is another person’s personal information and its release would breach the data protection legislation.

Where we withhold information we will remove it before publication and explain why.

Copyright and re-use

The material contained within the NSWA website and publications is © Crown copyright 2019. You may use and re-use the information featured on this website free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. You may not use or re-use logos which are used to identify the NSWA.

Images and videos are subject to Crown copyright protection unless otherwise indicated. Any materials on this site, for example some photographs and videos which are identified as the copyright of a third party, are not covered by Crown copyright. It is your responsibility to obtain permission or other authorisation to use such material from the copyright holder. If you are unsure about copyright of material on this site, please contact admin@socialwork.gov.scot

For further information on Crown copyright policy and licensing arrangements see the National Archives guidance.

Charges

We do not intend to charge for our publications where the cost is reasonable. If we consider the costs incurred not to be reasonable, we may charge for providing information to you e.g., photocopying and postage, but we will charge you no more than it costs us to do so. We will always tell you what the cost is before providing the information to you.

If applying a charge, postage costs will be recharged at the rate we paid to send the information to you. When providing copies of pre-printed publications, we will charge no more than the cost per copy of the total print run. We do not pass on any other costs to you in relation to our published information.

We are required by the Equality Act 2010 to take steps to meet the needs of people who share a relevant protected characteristic. In terms of access to information, this means making reasonable adjustments to our practices to ensure that information is physically accessible.

This may, for example, involve producing information in a larger script or different format where it is practicable to do so. The costs of this will be met by us. Charges for information are available only through request.

Advice and assistance

You can contact us at admin@socialwork.gov.scot for assistance with any part of this Guide to Information. We will also tell you how to ask for information that we do not publish or how to complain if you are dissatisfied with any aspect of this publication scheme.

Duration

Where available and still current, information will be accessible through this Guide to Information for at least the current and previous two financial years. If you would like to see previous versions, you may make a request to us for that information.

This Guide to Information was last updated: 17 March 2026.

The classes of information that we publish

We publish information that we hold within the following classes:

• Class 1: About the National Social Work Agency
• Class 2: How we deliver functions and services
• Class 3: How we take decisions
• Class 4: What we spend
• Class 5: How we manage our resources
• Class 6: How we procure goods and services
• Class 7: How we are performing
• Class 8: Our commercial publications
• Class 9: Our open data

Class 1: About the National Social Work Agency

Mission, structure, governance, contact details

Class 2: How we deliver our functions and services

Services provided – Description of functions and services

Class 3: How we take decisions and what we have decided

Decision-making – Board minutes, agendas, policies

Class 4: What we spend and how we spend it

Financial information – Annual reports, audited accounts, payments over £25,000

Class 5: How we manage our human, physical and information resources

Resources management – HR policies, staff structures

Class 6: How we procure goods and services from external providers

Procurement – Tender opportunities, awarded contracts

Class 7: How we are performing

Performance – KPIs, strategic plans, performance reports

Class 8: Commercial publications

Commercial publications – Reports or paid documents

Class 9: Open data

Open data – Datasets under open data policy