Information regarding the financial activities and contractual arrangements of Crown Estate Scotland: EIR release

Information requested

Recorded information regarding the financial activities and contractual arrangements of Crown Estate Scotland during the period from 1 January 2020 to 1 July 2025, specifically:

1. Revenue Transfers

Please provide the annual figures for both gross and net revenues generated from:

Agricultural land leases;
Coastal leases and moorings;
Seabed leases (including ScotWind and INTOG projects);
Any other commercial assets.

Also, provide details of annual transfers to the Scottish Consolidated Fund, including the exact amounts and transfer dates.

2. Contractual Expenditures

A full list of all contracts, grants, or consultancy payments exceeding £25,000 issued by Crown Estate Scotland or its subsidiaries, including:

Recipient name;
Purpose/description of the contract;
Total value;
Duration;
Procurement/tender process used (if any).

3. Related Parties and Conflicts of Interest

A list of all declared conflicts of interest, where Crown Estate board members, executives, or advisors were directly or indirectly connected to any organisation that received payments or contracts.

4. Third-Party Beneficiaries and Trusts

A breakdown of all active land or seabed leases where the lessee is:

An offshore company;
A discretionary trust;
A shell company; or
Any entity whose beneficial owner is registered outside the UK.

Please include:

Legal name of the lessee;
Country of registration;
Description of the leased asset;
Lease start and end dates.

5. Payments to Parliamentarians or Related Parties

Information on any payments, consultancy contracts, or grants (2020–2025) where the recipient (or related party) is:

A Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP);
A Member of the UK Parliament;
A relative, business associate, or declared interest of either.

6. Audit and Oversight Reports

The most recent internal and external audit reports or internal assessments concerning:

Mismanagement or administrative failings;
Improper contracting;
Unexplained fund transfers;
Issues relating to transparency and accountability.

7. Administrative Costs and Executive Compensation

A detailed breakdown of administrative expenses from 2020 to 2025, including:

Salaries and bonuses of the CEO and board members;
Travel and accommodation expenses;
Marketing and PR costs.

Response

As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the EnvironmentalInformation (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

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, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

Question 1 (Transfers to Scottish Consolidated Fund)

The answer to your question on providing details of annual transfers to the Scottish Consolidated Fund, including the exact amounts and transfer dates can be found in the table attached.

Questions 2, 3, 7

Some of the information you have requested on

• Salaries and bonuses of the CEO and board members,
• A full list of all contracts, grants, or consultancy payments exceeding £25,000 issued by Crown Estate Scotland or its subsidiaries,
• A list of all declared conflicts of interest, where Crown Estate board members, executives, or advisors were directly or indirectly connected to any organisation that received payments or contracts
• Salaries and bonuses of the CEO and board members;
• Marketing and PR costs.

is available from Crown Estate Scotland’s annual report and accounts and Public Service Reform reporting, which Crown Estate Scotland are required to publish annually.

2020/2021 Annual Report
2021/2022 Annual Report
2022/2023 Annual Report
2023/2024 Annual Report

Public Service Reform Reporting 2021/2022
Public Service Reform Reporting 2022/2023
Public Service Reform Reporting 2023/2024

Crown Estate Board – Register of Interests
CES Board - Register of Interests July 2025.pdf

Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then you may wish to contact Crown Estate Scotland at FreedomofInformation@crownestatescotland.com as they own the published information.

Remaining Questions:

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have most of the information you have requested. Therefore we are refusing your request for the following parts of the request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. The reasons why that exception applies are explained in the Annex to this letter. This exception 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 exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about the information listed above, however we cannot provide information which we do not hold. However, I see that you have already contacted Crown Estate Scotland who will issue it’s own response.

REASONS FOR NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION

The Scottish Government does not have the information

Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. The Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested because the Scottish Government is not responsible for most of the information requested. This exception 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 exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about Crown Estate finances, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

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 202500475863 - Information released - Table

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