Small Vessel Replacement Programme (SVRP): FOI release

Information requested

"Please provide all correspondence that relates to when Scottish Ministers were informed of the decision to award the Small Vessel Replacement Programme to Remontowa on 17 March 2025.”

Response

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of the FOISA (personal information of a third party) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exemption is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.

An exemption under Section 33(1)(b) - Substantial prejudice to commercial interests applies to some of the information requested. This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. We recognise that there is some public interest in release, however this is outweighed by the fact that disclosing some of the information may cause substantial prejudice to the interests of a commercial shipyard.

An exemption under Section 30(b)(i) - free and frank provision of advice applies to some of the information requested. This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. We recognise that there is some public interest in release, however, this is outweighed by the fact that the some of the information is correspondence with Scottish Cabinet Ministers in relation to a live contract between CMAL and Cemre shipyard and contains sensitive information that should not be disclosed publicly.

You may wish to note that Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited provides the latest programme updates on its website, which can be accessed below.
Small Vessel Replacement Programme | CMAL Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd

About FOI

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

FOI 202500459355 - Information Released - Annex

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