On 8 February 2025 the SIC wrote:
Please note that the Shetland Islands Council does not consider your email to be a valid request for information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (the "Act").
In order for a request under the Act to be valid it must fulfil the criteria set out at section 8 of the Act. Section 8(1)(b) requires that a request for information must include the name of the requestor.
We are unable to verify the names of the office bearers of your organisation, so we cannot be sure that this is a request on behalf of your organisation or another individual. It is reasonable, in these circumstances, for the Council to check the validity of the requestor and ask for their real names to be provided.
I would therefore be grateful if you could provide us with such names. Once this has been received I can then proceed to process your request in accordance with the requirements of the Act.
You may wish to review the Scottish Information Commissioner's guidance about how to make freedom of information request: https://www.foi.scot/how-do-i-ask
If you are dissatisfied with the way in which the Council has dealt with your request for information on this occasion, then you may ask the authority to review its actions and decisions in relation to your request, by submitting a formal appeal to the Executive Manager - Governance and Law. A leaflet explaining this process is attached.
FOI Administrator
Shetland Islands Council
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On 8 February 2025 the SIC wrote:
Regarding your further email received today, I can advise that the Council remains satisfied that its initial assessment of your email, received at 12.39, is correct even in light of the sender's latest representations seeking to argue the contrary and that, accordingly, the matter will not be progressed as an FOI request.
Regards
FOI Co-ordinator
Shetland Islands Council
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It seems the SIC thinks themselves above the law.
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