Scottish International Offices costs: FOI release

Information requested

To request costs for Scottish International Offices for each of the past three years (eg. 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23). Please break down costs for each of the offices and provide further breakdown as follows for each office: staff costs, number of staff (ie diplomatic staff/locally-engaged staff), travel and expenses, office costs including rent.

Response

1. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. The reason we don't have the information is explained below at paragraph 6.

2. Please see the table below which details annual expenditure for each of the International Offices for years 2020/2021, 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 including the headcount as at April 2023. Salary costs currently equate to 29.6% of the overall international network budget. The remaining budget is spent on day to day running costs and supports a wider programme of programme of policy, trade and cultural engagements in respective locations.

	2020-21 £000s	2021-22 £000s	2022-23 £000s	staff headcount April 2023
				Diplomatic/non- diplomatic
Beijing, China	554	550	567	1/3
Washington DC, United States	811	805	794	3/2
Ottawa, Canada	575	570	634	2/1
Paris, France	558	556	659	2/1
Dublin, Ireland	572	596	593	2/1
Berlin, Germany	549	555	572	2/1
Brussels, Belgium	2,088	2,310	2,467	11/6
London, England	2,041	2,197	2,180	0/14
Copenhagen, Denmark	0	0	598	2/1

3. Seven of the Scottish Government International offices overseas, namely Berlin, China, Copenhagen, Dublin, Ottawa, Paris and Washington, are located within an Embassy or High Commission and use the FCDO overseas property and associated corporate services (the Platform). The Scottish Government pay an annual charge to the FCDO for the use of office space (Common Platform Charge). It is not broken down by location and I am therefore unable to provide you with the detailed breakdown of rent that you have requested. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. The platform charge for the office space in 2020-21, for 6 of the offices (Berlin, China, Dublin, Ottawa, Paris and Washington) was £47,609. For financial years 2021-22 and 2022-23 the annual Common Platform Charge (excluding Copenhagen which opened in May 2022) was £67,519. As a new office, and therefore an addition to the Platform, the charges for Copenhagen for the first two years on Platform have been calculated separately and are £47,048.

4. The two further International offices, Scotland House London and Scotland House Brussels are independently located offices working in partnership with other Scottish organisations.

5. Scotland House London is a joint initiative of the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and VisitScotland. An exemption under section 33(1)(b) of FOISA (commercial interests) applies to some of the information you have requested. This exemption applies because disclosure of this particular information would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the commercial interests of individuals/company providing services, in this instance a lease agreement containing commercially sensitive information. I can advise however that the Scottish Government’s contribution to the rent and utilities costs of Scotland House in London is 55% with the remaining 45% funded by the others.

6. The Scottish Government is one of the core partners of Scotland House Brussels and pays a contribution to the annual running costs. For financial year 2020-21 and 2021-22, Scottish Government's contributions were €272,160 and €288,000 respectively. The Scottish Government's contribution to overall costs are calculated following an end-year audit process that is usually completed in late May or early June. A final figure for financial year 2022-23 is therefore not yet available and therefore this is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested.

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