Publication - FOI/EIR release

Ministerial diary: Shirley-Anne Somerville's trip to Belgium: FOI release

Published: 26 July 2018
Directorate: Communications and Ministerial Support Directorate
Topic: International, Public sector

Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

FOI reference: FOI/1/01735
Date received: 21 June 2018
Date responded: 23 July 2018

Information requested

The ministerial diary for Shirley-Anne Somerville for when she was in Belgium on 26 March including engagements and who she met with; I would also like to ask for her personal costs associated with the visit and for any staff who accompanied her; for correspondence on the trip and for the job titles of the staff that accompanied her.

Response

Information about Ministerial engagements (including overseas engagements) are published on the Scottish Government website. They can be found in first tab of each monthly spread sheet:

/publications/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts-march-2018/

Ministerial overseas visits are also published on the Scottish Government website. Details include all Ministerial costs associated with the visit.

They can be found in the second tab of each monthly spread sheet:

/publications/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts-march-2018/

Job Title	Total Cost for Accompanying Officials
Private Secretary	£592.15
Chief Scientific Adviser for Scotland	£711.27

Please find attached all correspondence relating to the Minister's visit to Brussels in the attachments to this letter.

The Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science, Ms Shirley-Anne Somerville MSP, visited the Scottish Government EU office on 26 March 2018. During the visit, the Minister set out Scotland's response to the Framework Programme 9 consultation and promoted the Scottish Government's analysis and key messages set out in Scotland's Place in Europe: People, Jobs and Investment.

The Minister met the Swiss Ambassador to the EU, Urs Bucher and a number of people from the Representation of the State of Baden-Wuerttemberg to the EU.

Ms Somerville also held a round-table discussion with the Principals from the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow and a number of stakeholders from the research and innovation community. The Minister hosted an evening event on 'Scotland's collaborative place in Europe' at Scotland House and delivered a key note speech, which set out Scotland's FP9 position.

This information has been published on the Scottish Government website:

/publications/ministerial-visits-europe-2018/

Reasons for not providing information

An exemption applies.

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) (personal data) of FOISA applies to a very small part of the information you have requested which has been redacted. This relates to individuals' names. It is exempt from release because it is personal data and its release would contravene the data protection principles in Schedule 1 to the Data Protection Act 1998.

This exemption is not subject to the 'public interest test', so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

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