Ardrossan Harbour purchase costs: EIR release

Information requested

You asked for the following information regarding the recent acquisition of Ardrossan Harbour by Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) on behalf of the Scottish Ministers:

1. The total purchase price paid to the Peel Ports Group (or any associated subsidiary) for the harbour assets.

2. A breakdown of any additional legal or consultancy fees incurred by the Scottish Government or CMAL in relation to this specific transaction.

3. Any internal assessments or "Value for Money" reports produced prior to the purchase.

Response

As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (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.

1. All of the information you have requested is available from The letter issued and published by the NZET committee Letter from Cabinet Secretary for Transport Ardrossan Harbour – Provision of Cost Information 25 March 2026 (Letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Transport on Ardrossan Harbour). 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 please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

2. All of the information you have requested is available from The letter issued and published by the NZET committee Letter from Cabinet Secretary for Transport Ardrossan Harbour – Provision of Cost Information 25 March 2026 (Letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Transport on Ardrossan Harbour). 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 please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

3. I enclose a copy of the Accountable Officer Assessment in the format you asked for. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because an exception(s) under regulation(s) Regulation 10(5)(e) - Confidentiality of commercial or industrial information of the EIRs applies to that information.

The reasons why that exception(s) applies are explained in the Annex to this letter.

Annexes to the Standard Response- Reasons for not providing information

An exception applies

An exception under regulation 10(5)(e) - Confidentiality of commercial or industrial information, of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested. Regulation 10(5)(e) of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (the EIRs) allows a Scottish public authority to withhold information to the extent that its disclosure would adversely affect the confidentiality of commercial or industrial information where such confidentiality is provided by law to protect a legitimate economic interest. In this case, it regards commercially sensitive information about a private business.

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. We recognise that there is some public interest in release as part of open, transparent and accountable government. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in maintaining the right to restrict commercially sensitive information.

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 202600512471 - Information Released - Accountable Officer Assessment

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