Details of Scotland House in London: FOI release

Information requested

1. What is the physical address for the Scottish Embassy in London?

2. Who is the Scottish Ambassador in London?, if you do not recognise the term Ambassador – who is the most senior government official solely linked to the Scottish Embassy? Who runs the office? What are the roles within the office?

3. What is the Charter, (or constitional purpose) for the mission? Please share reports, meeting note, minutes of how the ‘purpose’ (e.g. mission/charter/constitution) was approved.

4. How are the appointments made? Where are the roles advertised?

Response

Each point of your request has been responded to below.

1. Scotland House London, 58 Victoria Embankment, Temple, London, EC4Y 0DS

2. The most senior government official is the Head of Scotland House London - Mr John Webster. You may find it useful to see a previous FOI where we released the job descriptions for each member of staff for all our international offices. You can find this at Scottish Government international offices: FOI release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) (pages 22-31 for ease of reference).

3. Scotland House London is a hub in an important city for Scotland, helping to build relationships and strengthen our links both within the UK and internationally. Scotland House London is a unique collaboration between the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise (including Scottish Development International), VisitScotland and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

4. The facility provides a platform to develop trade and investment links, strengthen government to government relations and facilitate collaboration on economic, academic and innovation projects.

5. Through Scotland House we are enhancing the range and depth of engagement with international partners across areas of shared ambition and common challenge, in order to inform and support the delivery of the Scottish Government policy agenda.

6. The further information you requested on Scotland House London and its establishment can be found in the attached link – a previously published FOI from 2017. Cost of establishing the London Hub, Scotland House: FOI release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

7. Civil Servants are appointed to represent Scotland in our international offices by a recruitment panel including the post’s line manager. Appointees can be recruited from existing Scottish Government roles or to within the Scottish Government from wider UK Government departments. These roles are advertised through the internal recruitment system for Scottish Government staff and through the Civil Service Jobs website for wider UK Government staff.

8. You may also find the following links useful.

• International relations: International offices: London - gov.scot (www.gov.scot);
• Scotland House London - Home (nexudus.com).

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.