Innovation and Investment Hubs hosting Foreign Representatives: FOI release
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
FOI reference: FOI/17/02945
Date received: 28 November 2017
Date responded: 18 January 2018
Information requested
I would like to submit an FOI for a full list of representatives of foreign governments that have been hosted on the premises of or have met with staff from each of the Innovation and Investment hubs to the date of this request.
On 18 December, you confirmed you would like the request to be dated from the opening of each of the hubs, and on 21 December you asked that the request focuses on all staff of foreign governments unless it breaches the cost limit in which case you asked that the request focuses on Government Ministers.
Response
Please see attached at Annex A the information held in respect of representatives of foreign governments who have accepted invitations to/been hosted by Scottish Government Hub staff on the premises of the operational Innovation and Investment Hubs in London and Dublin, or have met with Scottish Government staff from each of these Hubs.
Innovation and Investment Hubs provide a platform that brings together Scottish Government and its agencies, with partners and businesses to promote Scotland's interests, increase exports and attract investment to Scotland. There may, therefore, be instances where officials from other areas of government, or external partners, have hosted meetings on Hub premises. No central list of such instances is currently held and locating, retrieving and providing that information would exceed the upper cost limit of £600. The reason for this is that to identify any meetings which might fall within the scope of this request would require a search across all business areas of the Scottish Government, and stakeholders who may have used meeting spaces. Under section 12 of FOISA, public authorities are not required to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying would exceed the upper cost limit, which is currently set at £600 by Regulations made under section 12.
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Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Enquiry Unit
Email: ceu@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG
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