Sent by email 28 July 2025
Dear [redacted text]
REQUEST UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) ACT 2002 (FOISA)
Thank you for your requests dated 11 and 13 July 2025 under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA). While we noted that you also cancelled your request for that information in your email of 16 July 2025 we are happy to provide the information set out below.
Your request
You asked for:
(1) “What publications published by your organisation or related organisations carry the point of view you have expressed in your email to me – or variations of it”
(2) “How those opinions [in your email] were put together, sources – et cetera and although I'm certain you can't give me the identity of the authors, I would like to know the qualifications of the people who authored those opinions”
(3) “Details of any discussions relating to the sources upon which the Consumer Focus understanding has relied upon in its decision to be aligned with those publications”
Response to your request
Please find below the answers to the questions outlined in your requests.
(1) “What publications published by your organisation or related organisations carry the point of view you have expressed in your email to me – or variations of it”.
Consumer Scotland has not published any information on the Consumer Rights Act 2015. In terms of related organisations, Consumer Scotland came into existence in April 2022 and is a statutory, Non-Ministerial Office and there are no related organisations.
(2) “How those opinions [in your email] were put together, sources – et cetera and although I'm certain you can't give me the identity of the authors, I would like to know the qualifications of the people who authored those opinions”
(3) “details of any discussions relating to the sources upon which the Consumer Focus understanding has relied upon in its decision to be aligned with those publications”.
[redacted text]
Information on the background of all of us can be found on the Consumer Scotland website on the following pages: Senior Leadership Team | Consumer Scotland and Executive Team | Consumer Scotland
Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please let us know and we will provide a paper copy.
The sources that we reviewed were the following:
- The attachments in your email of 3rd July 2025 (which included extracts from Which?, TS Wales, House of Commons research briefing, Liverpool TS and from SCOTTS Trading Standards)
- Consumer Rights Act 2015
- House of Commons Research briefing by Lorraine Conway on the Consumer Rights Act 2015 https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN06588/SN06588.pdf
- Selling and supplying goods | Business Companion (The Business Guidance issued by CTSI on behalf of the Department for Business & Trade).
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Your right to request a review
If you are unhappy with this response to your FOI request, you may ask us to carry out an internal review of the response, by writing to;
Sam Ghibaldan,
Chief Executive
Consumer Scotland