Scottish Enterprise funding to companies manufacturing military equipment: FOI release

Information requested

1. What companies have Scottish Enterprise been funding, to date, that have known records of supplying weapons/arms components to Israel?

2. Which of those companies has now had that funding terminated?

3. On what specific date was the termination of that funding put into effect?

4. Will the termination of such funding include the halting of any money still to be “drawn down” by any of those companies?

5. Can you provide written statements from the Scottish Government instructing Scottish Enterprise of these intended changes?

6. Can you provide written responses to the Scottish Government showing how and when Scottish Enterprise will implement any such changes?

Response

In answer to your question:

• Will the termination of such funding include the halting of any money still to be “drawn down” by any of those companies?

On 3 September, the First Minister announced that the Scottish Government will pause the payment of new business grants to, or investment in, companies involved in the design, production, supply, and support of military equipment, technologies and services whose products or services are provided to specific identified countries, where there is plausible evidence of genocide being committed by that country. This funding decision does not apply retrospectively.

The Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have asked for because the information is not held.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the following information you have requested:

• What companies have Scottish Enterprise been funding, to date, that have known records of supplying weapons/arms components to Israel?
• Which of those companies has now had that funding terminated?
• On what specific date was the termination of that funding put into effect?
• Can you provide written responses to the Scottish Government showing how and when Scottish Enterprise will implement any such changes?

You may wish to contact Scottish Enterprise directly to identify whether they hold this information.

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested in the format you asked for.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some the information you have requested because an exemption under section:

• S38(1)(b) personal information

of FOISA applies to that information. The reasons why these exemption apply is explained below.

S38(1)(b) Personal Information

In this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because an exemption under section 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to a some of the information, being the personal data of a third party, i.e. the names and personal information of officials from bands A-C have been removed. Disclosing such 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 exemption.

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 202500493351 - Information released - Annex A

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