FOISA Section 6 - Wholly owned companies

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For England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, see FOIA Section 6

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

Jointly-owned companies

There seems to be some uncertainty over whether companies jointly owned by several public authorities qualify under this section. A literal reading of the Act suggests not, but it's possible that the provisions of section 6 of the Interpretation Act 1978 are relevant here. In any case, the Scottish Information Commissioner says[2]:

If the company from which you require information is wholly owned by one or more public authorities, then you should approach the company rather than the authority for the information.

At least two jointly-owned companies (Lothian Buses plc and Scottish Intellectual Asset Management Limited) consider themselved to be subject to FOISA.

Companies owned by the Scottish Ministers

The Scottish Government is responsible for the following Public Corporations [3][4]:

Companies owned by other Scottish public authorities

Other wholly-owned companies will be listed here

Local Government

East Dunbartonshire Council

City of Edinburgh Council

[5]

  • Capital Development Trust
  • CEC Holdings Ltd
  • Edinburgh City Centre Management Company Limited
  • Edinburgh, Lothian and Scottish Borders Screen Industries Office Limited
  • International Conference Centre Expenditure Trust
  • International Conference Centre Income Trust
  • Lothian Investment Fund for Enterprise Limited
  • Pacific Shelf 825 Limited
  • Projects (Edinburgh) Limited
  • South East Scotland Regional Transport Partnership (SESTRAN)
  • tie Limited
  • Lothian Buses plc (SC096849) [jointly with West Lothian, Midlothian, and East Lothian Councils]

Glasgow City Council

[6]

  • City Building (Glasgow) Limited Liability Partnership - 99.99% held direct by GCC, the other 0.01% is held by GCC LLP Investments Limited a 100% subsidiary of GCC
  • City Building (Contracts) Limited Liability Partnership - 99.99% held direct by GCC, the other 0.01% is held by GCC LLP Investments Limited a 100% subsidiary of GCC
  • GCC LLP Investments Limited
  • Glasgow City Marketing Bureau Limited
  • Glasgow Clyde Regeneration Limited
  • Culture and Sport Glasgow (SC313851)

North Ayrshire Council

Educational institutions

University of Edinburgh

Heriot-Watt University

  • Heriot-Watt Trading Ltd

The Robert Gordon University

  • Univation Limited (SC158742)
  • The Aberdeen Business School Limited (SC140355) [dormant]
  • The Aberdeen Management Centre Limited (SC140995) [dormant]
  • Aberdeen Virtual Campus Limited (SC185213) [dormant]
  • The Robert Gordon University - The Energy University Limited (SC221180) [dormant]

Others

Highlands and Islands Enterprise

National Museums Scotland

  • National Museums Scotland Enterprises Limited
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