Contact with the UK Government regarding marine energy policy and innovation funding: EIR release

Information requested

This request concerns public statements made by the Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy (and formerly Acting Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy) in which she indicates that the UK Government should assist the Scottish Government in the commercialisation of emerging pre-commercial marine energy technologies, specifically tidal stream and wave energy technologies.

I am seeking information recorded between the 1 April 2025 and 20 May 2026 inclusive.

Specifically, I request the following information:

• A list of the dates, locations, and the events/occasions at which the Cabinet Secretary made a public statement described in the scope above.
• Copies of final transcripts, official recordings, or final speeches delivered by the Cabinet Secretary at these specific events/occasions.
• Copies of final briefing notes, submissions, background papers, and speech drafts provided to the Cabinet Secretary by officials in preparation for these specific public statements and events.

If any of this information is already available in the public domain, please provide the relevant links. If you consider any part of this request to be exempt from disclosure, please provide the non-exempt portions and cite the specific exemptions for any redacted sections.

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.

I have included copies of the information you have requested in the attached Annex B.

On reviewing materials within the scope of your request, exceptions have been applied in line with the EIRs. The exceptions applied can be found in the attached Annex A.

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 202600517470 - Information released - Annex A and Annex B

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