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The negotiation and agreements are commercially sensitive information.

There is no liability in relation to the facilitation of the sale of the Dalzell steelwork.

Initial advice was provided to Ministers of concern on the grounds of potentially non-compliant State aid on 17 August 2021 and Officials were asked to undertake further investigation including obtaining additional specialist advice.

I was provided with a further update on a potential issue concerning non-compliant State aid on 25 October 2021 following further investigation.

Final advice was provided to Ministers on 8 December 2021.

The original FOI request and the subsequent review were handled by the Scottish Government in compliance with its statutory obligations under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA). Where any requester is dissatisfied with the outcome of a review, there is a clear statutory route by which they may appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner, within six months. Any new request received by the Scottish Government would be considered afresh, in compliance with our obligations under FOISA.

The Scottish Government does not assert that Tata Steel has liabilities relating to the environmental remediation costs for the site of the Dalzell steelworks. In the majority of cases potential contaminated land is dealt with routinely through the development planning system or voluntary remediation with the responsibility and costs for carrying out site investigation and any required remediation resting with the site owner / developer.

I am unable to confirm on the basis of Section 2.38 of the Ministerial code. Ministers must not divulge either who provided the advice or its contents (whether it is from the Law Officers or from anyone else). This applies to all forms of legal advice, including advice on a particular subject or advice associated with clearance of a document.

The Scottish Government is not liable for environmental remediation costs.

The original FOI request and the subsequent review were handled by the Scottish Government in compliance with its statutory obligations under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA). Where any requester is dissatisfied with the outcome of a review, there is a clear statutory route by which they may appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner, within six months. Any new request received by the Scottish Government would be considered afresh, in compliance with our obligations under FOISA.

In relation to measures taken before the end of transition, under Articles 93(1) and 95(1) of the Withdrawal Agreement, the European Commission remains competent until 31 December 2024 to open a State aid investigation in relation to any such measure, and the results of any such investigation are binding on the United Kingdom (and have direct effect in UK law by virtue of Article 4 of the Withdrawal Agreement and section 7A of the EU Withdrawal Act 2018 (“the 2018 Act”)).

We are currently engaged in ongoing discussions with TATA Steel and cannot share any further information due to the commercially sensitive nature of the discussions.

In facilitating the sale and purchase of the plants, officials sought external advice as the guidance of the Scottish Public Finance Manual recommends. The decision to support the transfer of ownership between the businesses considered this external advice and this intervention acted to effectively ensure that steel production and employment resumed.