MS Ambition and MS Victoria usage costs: FOI release

Information requested

1. “Any and all communications from the government regarding”… “MS Ambition and MS Victoria”.

2. “Any documents relating to the cost of using the ships”… “broken down into categories including the cost to hire the ships and the operating costs while refugees stayed”.

3. “Any documents relating to housing refugees after the ships were no longer used”… focusing “on specific planning documents/briefing papers/meeting minutes relating to the refugees on the boats”.

Response

Question 1
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. The reason for this is that to locate and retrieve that information we would need to conduct a search of all of the records of the Scottish Government. 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.

Further, the Scottish Government has regular and ongoing communication with an array of partners, including local authorities and COSLA, which has included discussions on M/S Ambition and M/S Victoria.

You may, however, wish to consider reducing the scope of your request in order that the costs can be brought below £600. For example, you could specify more precisely the subject matter(s) of the information you are interested in or restrict your request to a specific business area of the Scottish Government, as this would allow us to limit the searches that would require to be conducted. You may also find it helpful to look at the Scottish Information Commissioner's 'Tips for requesting information under FOI and the EIRs' on his website at: http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourRights/Tipsforrequesters.aspx.

Question 2
Three Contracts for the Provision of Displaced Persons Crisis Management have been put in place with Corporate Travel Management (CTM) (North) Ltd, valuing £180,700,000.00. The contracts account for a start date of 08 July 2022 and an end date of 12 December 2024.

CTM are the single source supplier on the Crown Commercial Services (CCS) framework (Travel and Venue Solutions). CCS provide the Scottish Government with access to the procurement framework to contract services which the Scottish Government pays for.

The contract notices with CTM are all in the public domain, are to source and provide travel-related services for displaced people from Ukraine which includes accommodation in hotels and on the M/S Ambition and M/S Victoria.

The contract notices are available:

• Contract Notice 1 - View Notice - Public Contracts Scotland dated 13th May 2022
• Contract Notice 2 - View Notice - Public Contracts Scotland dated 9th August 2022
• Contract Notice 3 - View Notice - Public Contracts Scotland dated 19th December 2022

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 exemption(s) under section(s) 33(1)(b) – Substantial prejudice to commercial interests of FOISA applies to that information. The reasons why that exemption(s) applies are explained in the Annex.

However, the costs of the M/S Ambition and the M/S Victoria are £24,569,954 this year and £60,203,383 in 2022-23 for a total of £84,773,337.

Question 3
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. The reason for this is that to locate and retrieve that information we would need to conduct a search of all of the records of the Scottish Government. 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.

Further, the Scottish Government has regular and ongoing communication documentation with an array of partners, including local authorities and COSLA, which has included discussions on the disembarkation of M/S Ambition and M/S Victoria.

You may, however, wish to consider reducing the scope of your request in order that the costs can be brought below £600. For example, you could specify more precisely the subject matter(s) of the information you are interested in or restrict your request to a specific business area of the Scottish Government, as this would allow us to limit the searches that would require to be conducted. You may also find it helpful to look at the Scottish Information Commissioner's 'Tips for requesting information under FOI and the EIRs' on his website at: http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourRights/Tipsforrequesters.aspx.

ANNEX A
REASONS FOR NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION
An exemption applies, subject to the public interest test

An exemption under section 33(1)(b) – Substantial prejudice to commercial interests of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested.

Section 33(1)(b) – Substantial prejudice to commercial interests - Information is exempt under section 33(1)(b) if its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the commercial interests of any person. “Person” includes a public authority, company and partnership. 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.

The Scottish Government is continuing to look at all accommodation options for displaced people from Ukraine, which could include negotiations with multiple suppliers. It would therefore not be in the interest of the Scottish Government and public finances to reveal details in relation to the costs negotiated with the supplier of the M/S Ambition and M/S Victoria.

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.