Report on due diligence undertaken on funding provided to Ferguson Marine shipyard: FOI release

Information requested

1. The report on due diligence undertaken on funding provided to Ferguson Marine shipyard.
2. Any communications, both internal and external, referencing the report on due diligence undertaken on funding provided to Ferguson Marine shipyard since June 2022 to date.

Response

1. The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 gives everyone the right to ask Scottish public authorities for the information they hold, subject to various provisions and exemptions. It's important to note that the right applies to information, not to documents.

While our aim is to provide you information wherever we can, on this occasion after reviewing the information on a line by line basis, we are unable to provide you with the information you have requested. An exemption under section 33(1)(b) of FOISA applies to the information you have requested because it is likely to prejudice substantially the commercial interests of the company and the Scottish Government as an interested party.

Releasing this information will likely put the future viability of commercial operations of the companies involved at substantial risk. There is also a contractual agreement between the businesses providing the advice to Government that the information provided is commercially sensitive, whilst considering the public interest tests it would be inappropriate to publish the information at this time.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking into 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. We recognise that there is some public interest in release to ensure full transparency. However, this is outweighed by the public interest as there is a risk to the companies’ commercial interests and those of the Scottish Government and the taxpayer.

2. The information held by the Scottish Government that falls within the scope of your request has been attached separately.

For your awareness, we have interpreted “Any communications” as referring to methods of communication to avoid exceeding the upper cost limit. The material has been narrowed to emails and comms lines. You may wish to consider submitting a further request in the future with an alternative scope.

While our aim is to provide you information wherever we can, on this occasion we are unable to provide you with some of the information you have requested as statutory exemptions under FOISA apply. Details on what exemptions apply and why can be found in the annex attached.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

Financial Review Report - 202300354092

File type

35 page PDF

File size

1.3 MB

Annex - 202300354092

File type

1 page PDF

File size

100.9 kB