Scottish Government delegation to property event MIPIM in Cannes: FOI release

Information requested

All information related to a Scottish Government delegation to MIPIM 2019 in Cannes in March. This should include all travel and hotel information, whether business class seats were booked and which hotels were used, by whom, at what cost.

It would also be appreciated if you could include individual claims for expenses, showing where the (public) money was expended. In the case of hotels, bars or restaurants, this should be fully itemised, showing what food and drink is being claimed for.

Response

The travel costs and personal expenses information you requested is set out in Table A below. The information provided is for the officials present for the MIPIM 2019 Scottish Government delegation.  All beverage claims are for non-alcoholic beverages, in line with Scottish Government’s expenses policy.

	Flights	Food	Soft Drinks	Hotel Tax	Taxi	Rail	Hotel
Stephen Pathirana – Deputy Director	£444.96	£48.35	£11.56	£15.07	£29.81	£30.08	£478.39
Kevin Quinlan – Director of International Trade and Investment	£875.17	£20.70	£17.34		£111.38		£253.58
Person C	£410.00	£17.20	£5.50	£7.54		£23.77	£478.39
Person D	£265.34	£39.42	£13.90	£15.13		£29.24	£478.39
Person E	£265.34	£25.73	£12.80	£15.14	£120.40	£14.62	£478.39

Table A – Travel and subsistence for Scottish Government officials at the MIPIM Cannes conference 2019.

All officials and the Cabinet Secretary Stayed in  Hotel Splendid in Nice priced at €133 per person per night. The location was selected due to value for money considerations and is considerably lower cost than similar hotels in Cannes.  All flights to and from Cannes were in economy class apart from one flight where one leg was in business class due no availability of economy seats. The other legs were in economy class.  The following airlines were used by officials and the Cabinet Secretary:  Air France, KLM, Easy Jet and Jet 2. Officials used public transport which included SNCF rail and a free shuttle bus to the event. Taxis were booked for the use of the Cabinet Secretary, with officials accompanying.

The information that has been provided is for Scottish Government officials.  We have not provided you with the details requested in terms of cost breakdown for the Cabinet Secretary’s office. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because under section 27(1), the information that you have requested will be published within the next 12 weeks on the Scottish Government website at https://www.gov.scot/search/?q=ministerial+engagements.

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