Seaweed Energy application to the Just Transition Fund: EIR release

Information requested

In Year 1 of the Just Transition Fund, £100,100 was allocated to a company called ‘Seaweed Energy’. Please provide the following related information:

1) Application materials sent by Seaweed Energy to apply for funding.

2) Review criteria used by the Just Transition fund and how Seaweed Energy was assessed under these.

3) Communication between Seaweed Energy and the Scottish Government/SG subsidiaries, from 2020 to present date.

4) Summary of work done to track progress of Just Transition fund awards.

Response

Please find attached all the information/documents you are asking for.

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information, Names of stakeholders engaged in the project) applies to all of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception is not subject to the 'public interest test', so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.

An exception under regulation 10(5)(e) of the EIRs (substantial prejudice to confidentiality of commercial information) applies to some of the information you have requested. This exception applies because disclosure of this particular information would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the confidentiality of commercial information provided by Seaweed Energy and thus cause substantial harm to their commercial interests. Disclosing this information would be likely to give competitors an advantage in future similar tendering exercises, which would substantially prejudice Seaweed Energy’s ability to submit competitive tenders and so could significantly harm their commercial 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 a public interest in disclosing information as part of open and transparent government, and to help account for the expenditure of public money. However, there is a greater public interest in protecting the commercial interests of companies which enter into Scottish Government contracts, to ensure that we are always able to obtain the best value for public money.

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.

EIR 202300386341 - Information released - Annex

File type

185 page PDF

File size

10.0 MB