FOI 228_Due Diligence checks on CES Investments

Request

1. Please give me a list of human rights due diligence checks your organisation has conducted since the publication of the Scottish Government document, Guidance on due diligence: human rights, detailing in each case whether or not you proceeded with an investment relationship or business agreement following the undertaking of these checks.
2. Please also detail any instances of non-compliance with the guidance that have been reported.
3. If unable to provide such a list, please confirm for me whether your organisation was previously aware of or has ever given consideration to this guidance, including whether you are aware of having been notified of it by a representative of the Scottish Government or other public body.
4. Please also tell me how many investment relationships or agreements your organisation has engaged in since June 2018. This request relates to the types of relationship outlined in the aforementioned guidance as meriting a due diligence check: “any activity which could lead to an investment relationship or agreement with a third party” (source: Guidance on due diligence: human rights - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)).

Response

Crown Estate Scotland is required by legislation to manage the Scottish Crown Estate as an estate in land and can therefore only invest in land and property which do form part of the Scottish Crown Estate. This restricts the nature of the investment activity which the organisation can undertake and our investments have therefore been focused on maintaining or upgrading property and equipment on the Estate.

1. Information not held (17(1)(b) under FOISA).  Please refer to previous responses through FOISA published on our website (FOI 216 – ScotWind Assurance Checks, FOI 203 – Further Due Diligence, FOI 199 – ScotWind Due Diligence)
2. In relation to other Crown Estate Scotland activity, we have not carried out any activity of the type referred to in the guidance. Information not held (17(1)(b) under FOISA)
3.  After conducting a thorough search of our systems, we found a draft email dated July 2018 which references the guidance. Our records indicate that this draft email was not sent to anyone. We found no other mention of the guidance in our records until January 2022.
   Our search did not find any evidence of the Scottish Government or any other public body notifying Crown Estate Scotland of the guidance, aside from correspondence about the guidance following the ScotWind announcement in January 2022.
4.  Information not held (17(1)(b) under FOISA). Crown Estate Scotland has not made any investment relationships or agreements since June 2018 that falls within the defined scope set out within Guidance on due diligence: human rights.