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The Geographical Information Charter Standard Statement

National Records of Scotland (NRS), formerly General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) endeavour to comply with the Geographic Information Charter Standard Statement in the following ways:

• Consult users when preparing specifications or drafting legislation for the collection of data
  NRSis committed to consulting customers
• Regular meetings of the Scottish Statistical Liaison Committee and the Scottish Census Advisory Group are held.
• We have also recently established a Geography Products User Group in order to provide a forum for customers to discuss current and proposed NRS geographic products.

Provide information about what data are available

Full details of our geographic products can be found in our: A users guide to GROS Geography Products. We regularly update the guide either with supplements (for minor changes to products) or with complete re-issues.

Provide clear statements on the price of data

The prices of all our products are published in A users guide to GROS Geography Products. Customers may discuss charges for non-standard products with a member of our Statistics Customer Services staff using our enquiries page.

Make data available, however if there are specific reasons for not doing so, explain reasons why

We aim to make geographic datasets readily and timeously available. The availability of products takes account of data protection and census confidentiality legislation.

Data must follow British, European and international standards and classifications. However if there are specific reasons for not doing so, the reasons should be explained

As part of the Government Statistical Service, GROS is covered by the National Statistics Code of Practice, available on the Office for National Statistics (ONS) website. We aim to follow international standards, classifications and programmes where these are compatible with users' needs. Some of our data are historical therefore we are not always able to comply with current standards and classifications.

Deliver data in standard digital, or other, formats wherever possible

We provide digital data in the formats requested by customers whenever possible. Where this is not possible we offer a number of standard formats that may be used by customers to convert to their own formats.

Supply accompanying documentation with data to enable users to judge the fitness for their purpose

We include in the user guide to GROS Geography products a statement on the origin and quality of products for sale. The statement includes a description of the checks carried out on the products. Detailed specifications of the products are available on request and are supplied with sales.

Consult users before destroying datasets, subject to the prior guidance of the national record office

We shall consult with users, via the mechanisms described above, if destruction is planned. Our policy now is to maintain an archive of our important data sets.

Publish a contact point to deal with enquiries

We operate a Statistics Customer Services Branch which provides contact points for specific enquiries. Contact points for sales and technical matters listed in the users Guide to GROS Geography Products are also given below.

Provide information about how users can complain if they are not satisfied with the service they receive

Details of the standards customers can expect from us are described in our standard of service - Statistical and Geographical Services. Complaints about geographic information should be addressed to Peter Scrimgeour, Head of Census and Population Statistics Division, Ladywell House, Ladywell Road, Edinburgh EH12 7TF. If the complaint is urgent, you can find details of our phone, email or fax numbers on our enquiries page. 

Enquiries