Questions concerning Scottish Minister mobile phones and resignation salaries: FOI release

Information requested

You asked for: 
"1. Do yours Ministers use taxpayer funded mobile phones, social media accounts and traffic. Or do they use for those uses their personal and personally paid for accounts.
2. Will Mr McKay pick up a £12 k or more tax free bonus for resigning. Aye or No."

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested.

In regards to question 1 the answer to your question is that 3 Ministers have Scottish Government funded mobile phones. When appointed Ministers are given the option of having a Scottish Government funded phone for government business, however most do opt to use their own or devices provided by the Scottish Parliament.

These are Smartphones so Ministers would be able to access their social media accounts with these devices. It costs nothing to access social media accounts. However, any costs for personal use of government supplied smartphones must be reimbursed to the Scottish Government, so there is no cost to the taxpayer.

In regards to question 2 the Scottish Government has been notified by the Scottish Parliament that Mr McKay will receive a resettlement grant. Under Schedule 2, Rule 4 of the Scottish Parliamentary Pensions Act 2009 Ministers are entitled to an office-holder resettlement grant of 25% of their final office-holder salary, providing that they do not again become a holder of a pensionable office within 90 days of leaving office. Ministerial salaries and payments are the responsibility of the ScottishParliament.

For more information on both your questions, you may wish to contact the Scottish Parliament at:
Head of Information Governance
Scottish Parliament
Edinburgh
EH99 1SP

or by email to foi.officer@parliament.scot who may be able to help you.

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.