EIR/202500452451 · FOI/EIR · partially withheld
Decommissioning of HMS Vulcan in Caithness documentation: EIR release
Information requested
Copies of any unpublished correspondence, emails, memos, reports and other recorded information since 1 January 2024 relating to discussions between Ministry of Defence and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority about decommissioning HMS Vulcan in Caithness.
I am not interested in personal information, or purely administrative information. If the information is voluminous or otherwise difficult to extract, I would be happy to discuss ways of reducing the costs.
Response
As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.
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, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.
I have included copies of the information you have requested below in Annex A.
On reviewing materials within scope of your request, an exception has been applied in line with the EIRs.
Some information has been withheld under Regulation 10(5)(f) (third party interests).
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 some public interest in releasing the information as part of an open, transparent and accountable government. However, disclosure of this information would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the confidentiality of said information and the interests of those providing information to the Scottish Government in confidence.
About FOI
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Detected exemption language
We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA. 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, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. Some information has been withheld under Regulation 10(5)(f) (third party interests).