FOISA Section 6 - Wholly owned companies

Wholly owned companies - Scotland

• Companies that are wholly owned by the Scottish Ministers (ie the Scottish Government) or other Scottish public authorities are subject to the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 by virtue of Section 6[1]:

• 6 Publicly-owned companies

(1) A company is a “publicly-owned company” for the purposes of section 3(1)(b) if it is wholly owned—

(a) by the Scottish Ministers; or

(b) by any other Scottish public authority listed in schedule 1, other than an authority so listed only in relation to information of a specified description.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), a company is wholly owned—

(a) by the Scottish Ministers if it has no members except—

(i) the Scottish Ministers or companies wholly owned by the Scottish Ministers; or

(ii) persons acting on behalf of the Scottish Ministers or of such companies; and

(b) by any other Scottish public authority if it has no members except—

(i) the authority or companies wholly owned by the authority; or

(ii) persons acting on behalf of the authority or of such companies.

(3) In subsections (1) and (2), “company” includes any body corporate

• Links are provided to the authorities on WhatDoTheyKnow.com where available

Companies owned by the Scottish Ministers

• The Scottish Government is responsible for the following Public Corporations [2][3]:

• Architecture & Design Scotland
• Caledonian Marine Assets Ltd (CMAL)
• David MacBrayne Ltd
• Highlands & Islands Airports Ltd
• Learning and Teaching Scotland
• Scottish Futures Trust
• Scottish Water
• Skills Development Scotland

Companies owned by other Scottish public authorities

• Other wholly-owned companies will be listed here:

• Heriot-Watt Trading Ltd is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Heriot-Watt University
• National Museums Scotland Enterprises Limited is a wholly-owned subsidiary of National Museums Scotland