What the average cost per hour of retrieving information under the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information has been in…

The information requested is not available.All requests for information received by the Executive and other public authorities covered by the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information must be considered under the terms of this code (whether or not the code is cited). For monitoring purposes, requests for information are recorded as "formal" requests under the code if the applicant specifically mentions the code, or where the information is refused or where a charge is to be made. Under the code, charges may be made
- on the basis of actual staff costs to search for and retrieve information and, where appropriate, photocopy it
- if the cost to the public authority of providing the requested information is above £100. During the period 1 July 1999 to 31 December 2000, 27 requests for information (of many thousands) were recorded as having incurred charges. Details of formal code requests for the calendar year 2001 will be available early this year.