Risk assessments relating to munitions dumped in Scottish seas by the Ministry of Defence (MOD): EIR Review

Information requested

Original request 202500481569

All risk assessments relating to munitions dumped in Scottish seas by the MOD.

Response

I have now completed my review of our response to your request under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs) for 'all risk assessments relating to munitions dumped in Scottish seas by the MOD' (original reference EIR 202500481569).

Background

The response to your original request applied the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) – information not held, of the EIRs. There was no further explanation given beyond the detail of applying 10(4)(a) and confirming no information with application of the public interest test.

Your review request, of 6 September 2025 stated ‘I would like to request an internal review as surely people want to know. It may not suit you, but the public have a right to know and make up their own mind.’

Outcome of review

As part of my review procedure, I have reconsidered the scope of your request and I have undertaken additional searching activity associated with the Scottish Government’s electronic filing system. I have discussed the original and the review response with respect to interpretation, with the business area in Scottish Government who handled the original request.

My searching activity has revealed a small amount of information relating to your request, and some additional information which may or may not be relevant. I have concluded that the application of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a), as undertaken within the original response, was incorrect and that a different decision should be substituted. Further detail of the information of relevance is provided below, under the section Response to your request.

I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to you for the incorrect handling of your request through our initial response.

Response to your request

Scottish Government holds some information relating to risk assessments relevant to munitions dumped in Scottish seas by the MOD This information relates to section 3.3.5 of a report entitled ‘Scottish Southern Energy Networks (SSEN) - Western Isles Transmission Link - Cable Burial Risk Assessment & Burial Plan’. The relevant information has been extracted from this report and is provided to you within Annex 1 of this response. Further information relating to the work to which that project refers to is also available on the Scottish Government website: https://marine.gov.scot/?q=node/26827

Further information

In our duty to advise and assist in accordance with section 9(1) of the EIRs, we are also providing you with the following information.

Some additional information which may or may not be relevant to your request relates to proposed developments within the marine environment and has been provided to us with other documentation relating to marine licencing requirements under the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010. It is not always possible to establish whether such information, relating to the assessment of risk from unexploded ordnance, is or is not related to munitions ‘dumped by the Ministry of Defence’. Accessing the Scottish Government website: https://marine.gov.scot/ and searching for terms such as ‘munitions’, ‘unexploded ordnance’ or ‘UXO’ will highlight potentially relevant information to you.

You can find further information on the location of historic munitions disposal sites through our website and the National Marine Plan interactive - Defence (Military) - Historic munitions disposal sites | marine.gov.scot

The UK government and devolved administrations (which includes Scottish Government) has national and international commitments relating to the management of our seas and the protection of habitats and species. In support of this a policy paper and joint position statement has been published relating to unexploded ordnance clearance with respect to the marine environment - Marine environment: unexploded ordnance clearance Joint Position Statement - GOV.UK

You may wish to contact the Ministry of Defence Ministry of Defence - GOV.UK to explore whether any additional information is held by them in relation to the subject area of your request.

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.

EIR 202500483656 - Information released - Annex 1

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