Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands' internal ferry service: FOI release

FOI reference: FOI/18/03033
Date received: 15 December 2017
Date responded: 9 March 2018

Information requested

a) All correspondence with Orkney Islands Council and Shetland Islands Council regarding the funding of their respective internal ferry service.

b) Minutes of all meetings – including where, when and attendance - between Scottish Ministers/Officials and Orkney Islands Council and Shetland Islands Council regarding the funding of their respective internal ferry service.

c) All correspondence between/from Scottish Government Ministers/officials regarding funding of internal ferry services in Orkney and Shetland.

d) All representations made by Maree Todd MSP to the Scottish Government, including but not limited to minutes of meetings and correspondence, regarding funding of internal ferry services in Orkney and Shetland. - Please provide a breakdown of the above information as a) between Ms Todd was first elected in May 2016 and appointed as minister for childcare and early years and b) since Ms Todd was appointed as minister for childcare and early years.

e) All representations made by Green MSPs to the Scottish Government, including but not limited to minutes of meetings and correspondence, regarding funding of internal ferry services in Orkney and Shetland.

Response

a) All correspondence with Orkney Islands Council and Shetland Islands Council regarding the funding of their respective internal ferry service.

Please find in Annex 1.

b) Minutes of all meetings – including where, when and attendance - between Scottish Ministers/Officials and Orkney Islands Council and Shetland Islands Council regarding the funding of their respective internal ferry service.

I enclose a summary table of meetings held – minutes are in Annex 2. A section on page 44 has been redacted due to being out of scope of your request.

Date	Name	Location	Minutes	Attendees
23/02/2016	Minister met with Council Leaders	Scottish Parliament	N	Cllr Stockan, Cllr Heddle, Gavin Barr, Derek Mackay, Graham Laidlaw, Brian Gordon & Darren Dickson
15/04/2016	Shetland & Orkney Inter Islands Fair Funding Workshop	Teleconference	Y	Attached
25/04/2016	Shetland & Orkney Inter Islands Fair funding Workshop	Saughton House	Y	Attached
15/08/2016	Shetland & Orkney Inter Islands Working Group	Saughton House	Y	Attached
24/01/2017	Orkney & Shetland Inter – Island Transport studies	Victoria Quay	Y	Attached
20/02/2017	Meeting with OIC/SIC Internal Ferries	Mareel Centre, Lerwick	Y	Attached
20/03/2017	Shetland & Orkney Inter Islands Fair Funding Workshop	Saughton House	Y	Attached
02/05/2017	Shetland & Orkney Inter Islands Fair Funding Working Group	Saughton House	Y	Attached
11/07/2017	Minister met with Council Leaders	Shetland	Y	Mr Yousaf, Cllr Smith & Cllr Stockan
03/08/2017	Meeting with Orkney & Shetland Islands Councils	Saughton House	Y	Attached
26/10/2017	Minister met with Council Leaders	Scottish Parliament	Y	Mr Yousaf, Cllr Smith, Cllr Stockan, Mark Boden, Alistair Buchan, Terry Holmes & Graham Laidlaw
16/11/2017	Mr MacKay and Mr Yousaf met with Council Leaders	Scottish Parliament	Y	Attached

c) All correspondence between/from Scottish Government Ministers/officials regarding funding of internal ferry services in Orkney and Shetland.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the costs of locating, retrieving and providing the information requested would exceed the upper cost limit of £600. This is because of the wide range of this part of your request. Under section 12 of FOISA public authorities are not required to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying would exceed the upper cost limit, which is currently set at £600 by Regulations made under section 12.

It may be possible to narrow down the scope of your request to bring it within the upper cost limit. For example, reducing the timeframe of the request, specifying the Ministers and/or Scottish Government departments, or the subject of the correspondence i.e. funding for vessel maintenance, fares, etc.

d) All representations made by Maree Todd MSP to the Scottish Government, including but not limited to minutes of meetings and correspondence, regarding funding of internal ferry services in Orkney and Shetland. - Please provide a breakdown of the above information as a) between Ms Todd was first elected in May 2016 and appointed as minister for childcare and early years and b) since Ms Todd was appointed as minister for childcare and early years.

Ms Todd met with the Minister for Transport and the Islands, Humza Yousaf MSP, partly to discuss Orkney and Shetland internal ferries on 16 May 2017. No minutes or correspondence related to this meeting are held.

Ms Todd met again with the Minister for Transport and the Islands, Humza Yousaf MSP, on 14 September 2017. Please find minutes attached at Annex 3.

Please find attached Ministerial correspondence from Ms Todd dated 25 June 2017 in Annex 3. Although we hold this paper, no formal response was issued with ministerial discussion held instead. Due to a member of the public issuing the initial E-mail in the chain this information has been redacted under Section 38 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) which is personal data relating to a third party.

e) All representations made by Green MSPs to the Scottish Government, including but not limited to minutes of meetings and correspondence, regarding funding of internal ferry services in Orkney and Shetland John Finnie met with the Minister for Transport and the Islands, Humza Yousaf MSP, on 10 May 2017. No minutes or correspondence in relation to this meeting are held.

Please find attached Ministerial correspondence from Mr Finnie dated 8 February 2017 and the reply from the Minister for Transport and the Islands, Humza Yousaf MSP, on 20 April 2017 in Annex 4.

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FOI-17-03033 - Annexes 1 to 4 - related documents.pdf

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