Information pertaining to Ferguson Marine: FOI release

Information requested

1. All correspondence (emails, text, whatsapps) mentioning a public inquiry into Ferguson Marine received and sent by the Scottish Government/Transport Scotland sent between February 1 and June 1.

2. Could you supply a copy of the value for money report written for the unnamed Hull 802 which Neil Gray used to give his ministerial directive on? If not, why?

3. Have the vacuum sensors for the Glen Sannox arrived and have the LNG bunkers been built yet?

Response

1. We have interpreted the scope of this part of your request to include relevant officials within core Scottish Government and Transport Scotland whose work is likely to include Ferguson Marine.

The results of our searches for all correspondence, including emails, text and WhatsApp messages has yielded nil returns for this date parameter. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

A public inquiry is a legal process which can be set up and funded by government to investigate matters of public concern. Public inquiries maintain their independence from government through being led and managed through an independent body. Scotland enjoys inherent public scrutiny as part of its parliamentary processes and procedures. These take the form of Parliamentary Questions, First Ministers Questions and debates within the Parliamentary Chamber. Activities and practices at Ferguson Marine are further scrutinised by Parliamentary Committees, including the Public Audit Committee and the Finance and Public Administration Committee. Furthermore, Audit Scotland, led by the Auditor General for Scotland, provides additional scrutiny through its appraisal and reporting of public bodies, which includes Ferguson Marine. These are just some examples to illustrate the strict nature of public administration in Scotland, which offers robust safeguards and exercises robust public scrutiny.

2. The information you requested here was recently published in another FoI request that you can access at the following link;  Ferguson Marine Due Diligence Assessment: FOI release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we are not obligated to provide you with information which is already accessible to you.

3. Scottish Government have been informed that installation of the vacuum sensors for the MV Glen Sannox is complete. If you would like further information on this, please contact Ferguson Marine (Port Glasgow) (Holdings) Ltd.

Scottish Government have been informed that the works relating to the LNG bunker are not completed. If you would like further information on this, please contact Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited.

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.