Details of Local Authorities and Councils: FOI Review

Information requested

Original request - 202300390928

The full Name of Local Authorities / Council, Main Website address for each Local Authority / Council, Physical Address of Main Office, Email and Main Contact number(s) for each Local Authority / Council, additionally their contact number and email for their education services.

Request for review

I appreciate the information provided directing me to the COSLA website for details on the various Local Authorities / Councils. However, I encountered challenges in obtaining the specific information I requested for each Local Authority / Council due to inconsistencies in website templates and the omission of data by some councils and limited access to websites through internet.

Specifically, I encountered difficulties in finding the following details for certain councils: Main Office Physical Address, Main Office Official Email, Main Office Main Contact Number(s), and Education Physical Address, Education Services Official Email, Education Services Main Contact Number(s).

I understand the principle of reasonable access, and I genuinely attempted to navigate the COSLA website to obtain the information with what access I had. However, the variations in website templates and the absence of some data made this process more challenging than anticipated.

I kindly request your guidance on how to address these challenges or if there are alternative sources or methods to obtain the complete information for each Local Authority / Council. Your assistance in this matter would be greatly appreciated.

You also asked for a paper copy of the items specified as access your access to the mentioned websites in the original response was limited.

Response

I have now completed my review of our response to your request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA).

Response

I have been asked to look at your request afresh, to decide whether the original response should be confirmed, with or without modifications, as appropriate, or that a fresh decision should be substituted. I can confirm that I was not involved in the handling or decision-making around the original response. I have concluded that a different decision should be substituted.

I have enclosed the following details:

• The name of each Local Authority / Council;
• The main website address for each Local Authority / Council; and
• The postal address for each Local Authority / Council.

You may wish to note that some of this information is also available on the Scottish Government website (www.mygov.scot/organisations#scottish-local-authority) but as you have requested a paper copy I have provided this at Annex A to be as helpful as possible.

Regarding your request for the physical address for the main office for each Local Authority, the document I attach at ‘Annex A’ contains the addresses we hold as the point of contact for Chief Executive and Council Leaders to each Local Authority. My assumption is that this would be classed as the main address for the local authority and why I provide this information.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you requested. This is regarding the main office email and contact numbers for the local authority, and the addition of the contact number and email for their respective educational services. Officials liaise with their equivalent counterparts in the local authorities and do not use main office emails/numbers. You should be able to access this information by using the website details provided earlier in my response. At the foot of each Local Authority website there should be a ‘Contact Us’ section which I was able to locate on a sample number of the websites to check. Alternatively, I would suggest using an internet search engine such as google or bing to locate the information or details to raise a freedom of information request to each local authority.

This is formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI 202400395456 - Information Released - Annex A

File type

Excel document

File size

16.5 kB