Christmas card sent from First Minister 2019-2020: FOI release
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002
Information requested
You asked for all information on the First Minister's Christmas card this year and 2019.
This should include the full list of recipients for each year and any standard message within.
Response
From 2007 to 2019, the First Minister has asked renowned Scottish artists to design the official Scottish Government Christmas card. On each occasion, the chosen artist has agreed to donate the original artwork for sale to raise money for good causes and charities operating in Scotland.
The 2019 Christmas card was designed by Annie Lennox OBE, the production cost of this card, including printing is £1988.47 including VAT. 2500 cards were produced.
The chosen charities for 2019 were Glasgow Rape Crisis, Marine Conservation Society and Friends of Victoria & Whyteman's Brae Hospitals.
In 2020, the First Minister's Christmas card was designed by a child, following a competition placed on social media. The winning design was by Sophie Blackett, production costs of this card, including printing, is £1806.07 including VAT. 2500 cards were produced.
There were no charities chosen for 2020 given the design was not the work of a renowned artist.
Attached is a copy of both the 2019 and 2020 Christmas cards which contain the standard greeting on each occasion. There is also a list of the organisations and foreign leaders who received a Christmas Card from the First Minister on behalf of the Scottish Government for both 2019 and 2020. In addition to those organisations listed, the First Minister typically sends a Christmas card to Members of the Scottish Parliament, other politicians and dignitaries.
An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to your request for the names of all the people who were sent a 2019 and 2020 Christmas card from Nicola Sturgeon in her capacity as First Minister because some of the information requested is personal data of a third party, ie names/contact details of individuals, and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. 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.
Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Enquiry Unit
Email: ceu@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrews House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG
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