Customer Service

Our relationship with customers

We supply statistical information on the demography of Scotland, for example, births, deaths, population, as well as data from past Censuses. Our customers are wide ranging, and include government departments and agencies, the National Health Service, local councils, educational establishments, private companies and organisations, and members of the general public.

It is important to us that we provide a good service to our customers. To help us to do this we regularly seek feedback via user consultation groups, events and seminars, and occasional customer surveys. This has resulted in improvements to our service which have enabled us to we meet our customers’ needs better.

What you can expect from us

All of our statistical publications are available for free from our website.

Our customer services team also provide statistical information on request. We aim to meet the following targets:

• Written or telephone enquiries for one or two published figures will be met immediately.
• Other simple enquiries for readily available information will be met within 5 working days.
• For more complex requests involving new analyses or large amounts of information we will either supply the information within 10 working days or send an interim reply within that time and keep the customer informed of progress at monthly intervals.

Charging policy

The cost of ad hoc requests will reflect the amount of time taken to develop the tables and to apply statistical disclosure checking and associated processes. The charges for ad hoc requests will be based on an hourly rate of £25. This reflects the economic costs of delivering this service and will be subject to a minimum cost. All charges will be subject to VAT at the standard rate. Requests for delivery of information via portable media (CD/DVD) may incur additional charges to cover administration, production and delivery of these items. 

The table below gives a guide to how much ad hoc requests will cost. However, NRS will consider each request on a case-by-case basis, and will agree the final cost with the customer prior to any work commencing.