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. It also recognises that there will be costs to public bodies, in respect of
locating, retrieving and providing the information requested. The Act and its associated
legislation permits the Council to make certain charges in respect of supplying the
information requested.
The purpose of this leaflet is to set out:
arrangements for appeals and complaints
Appeals and Complaints
If you are dissatisfied with the way in which the Council has dealt with your request for
information, or with the charges connected with your request, then you may ask the
authority to review its actions and decisions in relation to your request, by submitting a
formal appeal.
Timescales for submitting an appeal
If your appeal is because the Council has not responded to your request, then your
appeal must be submitted within forty working days of the expiry of the time allowed for
the Council to comply with the request. The Council has twenty working days in which to
respond to a request, counting from the day it received the request. This means that
your appeal must be submitted within sixty working days, counting from the day the
Council received your request.
If the Council has responded to your request, but the response you received was not
satisfactory, then your appeal must be submitted within forty working days of the date of
the reply you received from the Council.
If you were asked to pay a charge in connection with the request, and you are appealing
against the amount, then your appeal must be submitted within forty working days of the
date of the reply you received from the Council.
The Council will only consider late appeals, in unusual circumstances.
How to submit an appeal
If you wish to do this, then you must submit your appeal in writing, or in another
permanent format such as a CD or an audio tape. You should state:
your name and the address to which correspondence addressed to you, should
be sent;
the request for information to which the requirement for review relates; and
why you are dissatisfied with the way in which the Council has dealt with your
request for information.
Please send any appeal to: Jan-Robert Riise
Executive Manager – Governance and Law
Shetland Islands Council
8 North Ness Business Park
LERWICK
Shetland ZE1 0LZ
Tel: 01595 744551
Fax: 01595 744585
Email
xxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Any complaints about the handling of requests should also be directed to the Executive
Manager – Governance and Law at the above contact address.
The Council must respond to an appeal within twenty working days of receiving it.
If your appeal is turned down
The role of the Scottish Information Commissioner is to promote and enforce the
Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and to make sure government bodies
release information you are entitled to see. If you are dissatisfied with the response of
the local authority to your appeal, you have the right to complain to the Commissioner.
You must do this within six months of receiving the response to your appeal.
Contact details:
The Scottish Information Commissioner
Kinburn Castle
Doubledykes Road
ST ANDREWS
Fife
KY16 9DS
E-mail:
xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxxx
Online Appeals
You may also submit an appeal online a
t http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/Appeal. Further information
Further information about Freedom of Information may be obtained from the Scottish
Information Commissioner’s website
http://www.itspublicknowledge.info. This website
also has on-line access to the legislation and its associated Codes of Practice.
SIC
12 April 2019
