Replacement of European Structural Funds In Scotland Post EU-Exit Consultation: FOI release

Information requested

“The online consultation was a success with 155 responses and around 200 citizens, businesses and communities attended one of the regional or thematic events.
Not really a success was it, there are around 5.4 million people in Scotland.
What would be a success is if you told the public how much the consultation cost the taxpayer.”

Response

A total of £25,762.07 was spent to carry out the Replacement for the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) Post-EU Exit in Scotland Consultation which was open between 5 November 2019 – 12 February 2020. This amount included costs for:

• the physical and online publication of the consultation
• facilitation and logistical costs for 8 regional events held across Scotland
• an external consultant to produce an analysis of received responses
• the online publication of the consultation analysis

The majority of the 155 online responses received and contributions from the various regional events were provided from a wide range of organisations and representatives acting on behalf of larger collective groups of communities and businesses across Scotland, with organisations making up 81% of all online responses received. Voicing a wide range of viewpoints, each of Scotland’s 32 Local Authorities were all represented during the consultation process engaging either: through individual attendance at regional events, providing their own online response, or through collaboration with wider bodies such as the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) and The Scottish Local Authorities Economic Development Group (SLAED).

Additional information regarding online respondents who wished their names published is available within Annex C of the consultation report at:
https://www.gov.scot/publications/consultation-replacement-european-structural-investmentfunds-esif-post-eu-exit-scotland-consultation-report/pages/14/

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