Hunter Charity Foundation event costs and attendance: FOI release

FOI reference: FOI/17/01234
Date received: 30 May 2017
Date responded: 11 July 2017

Information requested

1. In what capacity the First Minister attended the dinner.

2. Were the costs of the First Minister's attendance at the dinner met by the Scottish Government? If so, how much was the cost of the First Minister's attendance?

3. Did the Scottish Government pay the costs of any ministers or officials attendance at the dinner? If so, how much was the cost?

4. Were any Scottish Ministers or officials (including the First Minster) hosted by private individuals, and if so what are the costs of the declared gift of tickets? (Or at least, where and when can the public view the declarations of these gifts?)

Response

1. The First Minister attended the dinner in her capacity as the First Minister of Scotland;

2. The First Minister was a guest of Sir Tom Hunter and therefore no costs were associated with the First Ministers attendance;

3. The Scottish Government paid £7.65 to cover the costs of officials travel;

4. No invitations were received from private individuals for Scottish Government officials. Information regarding gifts and hospitality received by members of Executive Board and Special Advisers is published quarterly on the Scottish Government website. Information relating to Executive Board and Special Adviser attendance at the Hunter Foundation Event is expected to be published in August 2017. This information is not published routinely for staff who are not members of Executive Board or Special Advisers. This information can be found at the following link;

/publications/executive-board-gifts-and-hospitality-january-to-march-2017/

An exemption under section 27(1) of FOISA applies to the information requested in respect of costs of declared gifts for the event in question because we intend to publish that information within 12 weeks of the date of your request. We consider that it is reasonable to withhold the information until that date, rather than release this routinely published information before the planned publication date. I have included links to the relevant page for when this information is updated.

http://www.parliament.scot/msps/register-of-interests.aspx

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