On 13 February 2025, as The Sovereign Nation of Shetland, we wrote:
Dear FOI Officer,
Freedom Of Information request: The Name
In the light of points 1-7 below, please provide the information which shows by what
authority you determine that The Sovereign Nation of Shetland is not a valid person for the
purposes of the 2002 Act:
1. Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002:
"(1). General Entitlement
(1) A person who requests information from a Scottish public authority which holds it is
entitled to be given it by the authority. (Emphasis added).
8. Requests for information.
(1) In this Act any reference to a "request for information" is a reference to such a request
which
(b) states the name of the applicant and an address for correspondence" (Emphasis
added).
2. SHETLAND ISLANDS COUNCIL, THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) ACT
2002 ARRANGEMENTS FOR APPEALS:
"The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (the Act) comes into force on 1st January
2005. In terms of the Act, a person who requests information from a Scottish public
authority which holds it, is entitled to be give it by the authority. There are a very few
exemptions.
The Act emphasises the obligation on public bodies to make information available to
anyone who asks." (Emphasis added).
3. The Interpretation Act 1978, Schedule 1:
"Person includes a group of persons, corporate or unincorporate."
4. The Sovereign Nation of Shetland, as an unincorporated association, is a legal "person".
5. FOI response dated 30 January 2925:
"the Council is aware of your organisation"
6. The ICO website: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/foi/guide-to-managing-anfoirequest/
what-makes-a-valid-request/:
"To be valid under the Act, the request must:
be in writing. This could be a letter or email. Requests can also be made via the web,or
even on social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter if your public authority uses
these;
include the requester's real name. The Act treats all requesters alike, so you should not
normally seek to verify the requester's identity. However, you may decide to check their
identity if it is clear they are using a pseudonym or if there are legitimate grounds for
refusing their request and you suspect they are trying to avoid this happening, for example
because their request is vexatious or repeated. Remember that "a request can be made in
the name of an organisation", or by one person on behalf of another, such as a solicitor on
behalf of a client." (Emphasis added).
7. FOISA/EIRs Guidance:
Informationrequeststhenameoftherequesterorapplicant.pdf(itspublicknowledge.info):
"9. All requests must name the person making the request. (Again, remember that a
"person" may be a company or organisation.)" (Emphasis added) and
"14. The Commissioner expects public authorities to check the validity of a request only
where there are reasonable grounds for believing that the request might not be valid.
Otherwise, the Commissioner expects the authority to simply deal with the request"
(Emphasis added) and
"19. If the request has been made by a company or organisation, then a request made in
the name of the company or organisation will be valid." (Emphasis added). And
"22. While it may be helpful to have a named contact for corresponding with a company or
organisation in response to a request, this is not essential as the company/organisation
name is sufficient for the request to be valid" (Emphasis added).
Sincerely,
The Sovereign Nation of Shetland
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On 19 February 2025 we wrote:
Dear FOI Officer,
Freedom Of Information requests
We have had no response, even in the way of ackowledgement, to our last FOI request dated 13
February 2025. Are we to understand that you are simply ignoring our requests?
Regards
The Sovereign Nation of Shetland
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We wait with bated breath.
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