Scottish Government staff and representatives costs to attend Tartan Week: FOI release

Information requested

1. Please can you confirm how much money was spent sending Scottish Government staff and representatives to the Tartan Day Parade in New York, in April 2023?
2. How much money did Scottish Government spend in April 2023 on helping homelessness in those under 18 in Scotland, and those over 18?
3. How much money has the Scottish Government spent on assisting the police investigate allegations of fraudulent accounting in the SNP, and how many resources have been reallocated to this and from where?

Response

The answer to your questions are below.

1. Scottish Government spend on Tartan Week, 2023
Please see below a table outlining spend for Scottish Government official support at Tartan Week 2023. 

Official	Transport	Accommodation costs (converted to GBP)	Total Cost (pp)
Deputy Director	£1,476.00	£846.99	£2,322.99
Policy Official	£586.21	£1,169.44	£1,755.65
Comms Official	£921.41	£935.55	£1,856.96
Policy Official	£862.71	£1,169.44	£2,032.15
Private Secretary	£922.21	£1,169.44	£2,091.65
US Office - Policy Official	N/A	£701.66	£701.66
US Office - Policy Official	£51.67	£1,169.44	£1,221.11
US Office - Policy Official	£151.55	£701.66	£853.21
US Office - Policy Official	£106.94	£701.66	£808.60
US Office - Head of Scottish Government Office	£286.65	£1,169.44	£1,456.09
Total cost	£5,365.35	£9,734.72	£15,100.07

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested regarding the travel of the Cabinet Secretary for External Affairs because an exemption under section 27(1) Information intended for future publication of FOISA applies to that information.

This exemption applies as details of ministerial engagements, travel and gifts will be published within the next 12 weeks and will be available when published at the link below. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

Ministerial engagements, travel and gifts - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. We recognise that there is some public interest in release because of interest in Ministerial travel. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in minimising the resource implications of the duplication of work.

2.  Scottish Government spend to address homelessness, April 2023
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance, the Scottish Government does not have the specific information you have requested. The reasons for this are explained below.

The Scottish Government works with a wide range of partners, including third sector organisations, local authorities and other public sector bodies, towards realisation of our shared ambition to end homelessness in Scotland. Some of this work is directly funded by the Scottish Government, which is provided on an annual basis. It is therefore not possible to state specifically how much was spent by each funded partner in one particular month.

However, it may be helpful to know that the majority of homelessness funding is provided to local authorities through the annual Local Government Finance Settlement, which is £13.2 billion in 2023-24. The Scottish Government’s policy towards local authorities’ spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently. As such, it is not possible to determine how much of the Local Government Finance Settlement each year supports work to tackle homelessness in any year.

In addition, the Scottish Government provides local authorities with an annual share of £30.5 million for homelessness prevention and response measures and an annual share of £8 million to support the implementation of rapid rehousing transition plans. This funding is transferred to local government over the course of the year, and it is at each local authority’s discretion as to how they use this resource in relation to homelessness prevention and rapid rehousing.

Furthermore, in 2023-24, the Scottish Government has made £83.7 million available to local authorities to spend on Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs). DHPs are an important tool for local authorities to help households who are struggling with housing costs. This funding includes £69.7 million to fully mitigate the bedroom tax, which will help over 91,000 households in Scotland to sustain their tenancies. It also includes £6.2 million to mitigate the UK Government’s benefit cap as fully as possible within devolved powers and £7.9 million to mitigate against the impact of other UK Government welfare cuts, including the ongoing freeze to Local Housing Allowance rates.

Funding is also provided to third sector homelessness partners through our £100 million Ending Homelessness Together Fund, which commenced in 2018. Awards for 2023 are in the process of being finalised and will, on the whole, be made on an annual basis.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested on how much money the Scottish Government spent in April 2023.

The Scottish Government does not hold a breakdown of the resource it provides which is used to assist people experiencing homelessness by age. However, you may find the information on the ages of people experiencing homelessness in Scotland useful, which can be found in the Scottish Government’s statistical publications[1]. You may also wish to contact individual organisations in the Scottish homelessness sector directly who may be able to provide you with more detail on how their resource is allocated or the age profiles of people experiencing homelessness they assist.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested on how much money the Scottish Government spent on helping homelessness in those under 18 in Scotland, and those over 18.

[1] Equalities tables for Homelessness in Scotland 2021-22

3. Scottish Government spend on police investigation

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested.

Investigations by the police, and the resources required, are operational decisions for the Chief Constable, acting under the oversight of the Scottish Police Authority (SPA).

As outlined in the Budget (Scotland) Act 2023, the Scottish Government will provide funding of £1.45 billion to the SPA. It is for the SPA and the Chief Constable to allocate this budget to meet their priorities.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

About FOI

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