Breakdown of spending on the visit of Scottish Government officials to New York in April 2023: FOI release

Information requested

A breakdown of spending on the visit of Scottish Government officials to New York in April 2023? Specifically:

• In addition to the Cabinet Secretary Angus Robertson, how many Scottish Government officials were present on the trip?
• Can you provide an itinerary for the trip?
• How many return tickets were purchased for travel between the UK and the US?
• What was the total cost on travel for this trip?
• How many hotel bookings were made for the duration of the trip?
• What was the total spending on hotels during this trip and a breakdown?
• Can you provide a list of expenses claims made by Scottish Government officials during this trip?'

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested. You can find this information in the below and attached Annexes:

Annex A: Official support travel and accommodation costs

Annex B: Other costs associated with Tartan Week

Annex C: Cabinet Secretary programme for Tartan Week 2023

Annex A: Official support travel and accommodation costs

Official	Transport	Accommodation costs (converted to GBP)	Total Cost (pp)	Total nights at Westin Hotel, Times Square (New York)
Deputy Director	£1,476.00 (return flight)	£846.99	£2,322.99	3
Policy Official	£586.21 (return flight)	£1,169.44	£1,755.65	5
Comms Official	£921.41 (return flight)	£935.55	£1,856.96	4
Policy Official	£862.71 (return flight)	£1,169.44	£2,032.15	5
Private Secretary	£922.21 (return flight)	£1,169.44	£2,091.65	5
US Office - Policy Official	N/A	£701.66	£701.66	3
US Office - Policy Official	£51.67 (parking)	£1,169.44	£1,221.11	5
US Office - Policy Official	£151.55 (train)	£701.66	£853.21	3
US Office - Policy Official	£106.94 (train)	£701.66	£808.60	3
US Office - Head of Scottish Government Office	£286.65 (train)	£1,169.44	£1,456.09	5
Total cost	£5,365.35	£9,734.72	£15,100.07

The Scottish Government does not hold some have the information you have asked for because information relating to the subsistence expenses of support officials were not held on the date of your request.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested regarding the travel of the Cabinet Secretary for External Affairs because an exemption under section 27(1) Information intended for future publication of FOISA applies to that information.

This exemption applies as details of ministerial engagements, travel and gifts will be published within the next 12 weeks and will be available when published at the link below. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

Ministerial engagements, travel and gifts - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

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. We recognise that there is some public interest in release because of interest in Ministerial travel. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in minimising the resource implications of the duplication of work.

Annex B: Other costs associated with Tartan Week - 2023

	Cost (converted to GBP)
Higher Education event held at HM Trade Commissioner Residences	£4,077.07
Diaspora Breakfast/Launch of Scottish Connections Framework	£4,831.99
Car hire	£2,403.91
Taxi travel	£83.26
Total	£11,396.23

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

Annex C - Tartan Week programme

File type

2 page PDF

File size

72.7 kB