Spending for Bute House décor: FOI release

Information requested

I would like to know details of any spending at Bute House on furnishings, carpets and flooring, from January 2018 to date. I would like the information broken down on a monthly basis with a brief summary of the items purchased.

Response

Bute House is owned by the National Trust for Scotland and under the terms of the lease, Scottish Government is liable for all repairs and maintenance. The conservation and care of Bute House is delivered through partnership and collaboration between the Scottish Government, Historic Environment Scotland (HES), National Galleries of Scotland, and National Trust for Scotland (NTS). These stakeholders are the current custodians of Bute House and all stand ready to deal with scheduled, and unscheduled, repairs which are not uncommon for buildings of this age.

Spending on new furnishings, carpets and flooring for the period between 01 January 2018 and 03 March 2022 are shown in the table below.

Month	Furnishing, Carpet or Flooring Type	Description	Cost
Feb-18	Non-slip linoleum*	Replacement of linoleum flooring in staff toilet/shower room.	£573.50
Feb-18	Non-slip linoleum*	Replacement of linoleum in visitor and disabled toilets	£938.45
Feb-18	Non-slip linoleum*	Replacement of aged domestic kitchen linoleum removed for asbestos survey work.	£516
Feb-18	Non-slip linoleum*	Replacement of linoleum in bathroom necessitated by floorboard removal for ceiling repairs.	£279.07
Feb-18	Non-slip linoleum*	Replacement of linoleum in bathroom necessitated by extension of central heating to third floor and basement.	£439.49
Mar-18	Carpet*	Carpet costs: lifting, storing and replacement of carpets as a result of works	£9,930.25
Mar-18	Event Sofas	Large Event Sofas for Drawing Room to increase seating capacity at official events.	£5,880.00
May-18	Curtains	Replacement curtains for spare room (not currently used) including VAT	£1,615.67
Dec-20	Carpet	Replacement of carpet removed to provide access from above for Cabinet Room ceiling repairs.	£3,326.76
Dec-20	Carpet tiles	Replacement of carpet tiles covering floor in office area following essential works (radiator removal and replacement) to provide access to windows for essential ventilation.	£792.29

Expenditure in March 2018 (shown with an aseterisk) was incurred during extensive repairs and associated works carried out in Bute House during the winter of 2017/2018 and has already been published see: Bute House repairs 2017 to 2018: cost breakdown - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Costs shown include VAT.

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.