FOI Release: Status of Registers of Scotland with regards to the Monarch and the Crown

FOI reference: CW-2024-146
Date received: 18  March 2024
Date responded: 27 March 2024

Information requested:

Information requested:

a)Please state the full name of the Monarch under which the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland, operates under, and derives its legal powers from. Please provide official documented evidence to support your answer by way of primary or secondary legislation, warrants, writs, and/or other forms of official applicable documentation.

b)Please state the full official name of the Crown in which the Monarch identified in your answer to request (a) sits under and derives their power from. For clarity this is the full name of the Crown in which the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland operates under, examples of which would be the 'Imperial Crown of the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland' and the 'St Edwards Crown' etc. Please provide official documented evidence to support your answer by way of primary or secondary legislation, warrants, writs, and/or other forms of official applicable documentation.

c)Please state the full name of the man/woman who holds the current position of Monarch under which the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland, operates under. Please provide official documented evidence to support your answer by way of primary or secondary legislation, warrants, writs, and/or other forms of official applicable documentation.

d)Please state whether the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland is a corporate entity or an unincorporated entity, please also state whether the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland is a creation of, and/or subsidiary of a corporate entity. Please provide official documented evidence to support your answer by way of primary or secondary legislation, warrants, writs, and/or other forms of official applicable documentation.

e)Please state whether His Majesty's Government is a body corporate or unincorporated. Please provide official documented evidence to support your answer by way of primary or secondary legislation, warrants, writs, and/or other forms of official applicable documentation.

f)Please state whether the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland operate as part of the British Government, HM Government or other form of Government. Please provide official documented evidence to support your answer by way of primary or secondary legislation, warrants, writs, and/or other forms of official applicable documentation.

g)Please state and list the number of appointments (if any) that are made for positions, for, within, or under, the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland that are required to be made by letters patent or warrant, by His Majesty, please then list these positions and provide copies of all letters patent, warrants, or such others means of appointment, signed by His Majesty's own hand (Royal Sign Manual) for all current appointed positions by said letters patent, warrants, or appointments made by other means. If there are any said letters patent, warrants or appointments made by such other means, that have not been signed by Royal Sign Manual, please state that they have not been signed and provide all copies held also.

h)Please state all, if any, Ministers, officers, or employees, or agents, of the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland who derive and/or execute authority, in the name of, and/or, by the authority of, ‘His Majesty’ in the course of their official duties. Please state the full name and title to which the position of His Majesty refers to. Please provide official documented evidence to support your answer by way of primary or secondary legislation, warrants, writs, and/or other forms of official applicable documentation.

i)Please state the full name and title of the current Monarch who holds the position of ‘Monarch in right of the Crown’ and the full name of the man/woman who holds this position as Monarch in right of the Crown. Please provide official documented evidence to support your answer by way of, proclamations, primary or secondary legislation, warrants, writs, and/or other forms of official applicable documentation.

Response:

Freedom of Information legislation gives people the right to request recorded information held by public bodies. We can therefore only provide recorded information we hold in response to any questions asked.

Where your questions do not relate directly to the status or operations of RoS, we do not hold the relevant information to provide a response. Where this is the case, we have suggested alternative organisations who may be able to help.

a) As stated in our Framework document, the Keeper is a non-ministerial office holder in the Scottish Administration and therefore operates under authority given to her by Scottish Ministers and is accountable to the Scottish Parliament.

Our full Framework document, which includes a list of legislation that provides a statutory background for the functions of the Keeper, can be found on our website.

If you require further information relating to Scottish Ministers or to the Scottish Government, you can contact the Scottish Government’s Central Enquiry Unit at the following address: ceu@gov.scot.

b)As a non-ministerial office-holder within the Scottish Administration, the Keeper operates under the authority given to her by Scottish Ministers.

c)See our response to question b) above.

d)As stated in our Framework document, the Keeper is a non-ministerial office-holder in the Scottish Administration. Registers of Scotland is a Scottish Public Body categorised as a non-ministerial office.

e)If you require further information relating to Scottish Ministers or to the Scottish Government, you can contact the Scottish Government’s Central Enquiry Unit at the following address: ceu@gov.scot.

If you require further information relating to the UK Parliament, you can contact the House of Commons Information Compliance team at the following address: foicommons@parliament.uk

f)As stated in our Framework document, the Keeper is a non-ministerial office holder in the Scottish Administration.

g)No appointments for or under the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland are required to be made by letters patent or warrant by His Majesty.

h)We do not hold information pertaining to Ministers (see response to question a) above).

The Keeper operates several registers, including the Register of the Great Seal, in which documents are authenticated by way of application of a seal on behalf of the Monarch. A full list of the registers held by the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland, and the statutory basis for them, can be found in the appendices to our Framework document.

i)For information relating to the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, please refer to the official website of the Royal Family: