Information regarding the Independence Prospectus, Constitutional Futures Division and the Minister for Independence: FOI release

Information requested

1. Full breakdown of the costs of the Scottish Government producing all three independence papers so far.

2. How many independence papers are going to be produced within the next 12 months?

3. How many civil servants will be working on these papers/how many civil servants are now working in the Constitutional Futures Division team or/and referendum bills team, if those teams still exist? If not, please specify this.

4. What is the cumulative salary for the civil servants working in the above divisions?

5. What other preparation work is being undertaken for a referendum?

6. Full list of meetings independence minister Jamie Hepburn has held since taking on the role and any briefing notes from these meetings?

Response

1. Information on the publication costs for the previous papers in the Building a New Scotland series can be found on the Scottish Parliament’s website at the following links:

• Written question and answer: s6w-11001 | Scottish Parliament Website
• Written question and answer: s6w-11002 | Scottish Parliament Website
• Written question and answer: S6W-13303 | Scottish Parliament Website (parlamaid-alba.scot)

It is not possible to provide information on staffing costs for this work because in line with usual practice, details of individual tasks carried out by civil servants, including the number of hours spent on them, are not routinely recorded as there is no business need to do that. This is a formal notice under S.17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested.

2. At 3 May 2023, no final decisions on the number of future publications in the Building a New Scotland prospectus series had been taken. This is a formal notice under S.17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

3. The work to prepare the publications in the Building a New Scotland series is being coordinated by the Scottish Government’s Constitutional Futures Division but will also draw upon civil servants across a range of different portfolios who will contribute to this work in varying degrees as part of their normal duties supporting the Scottish Government. The Scottish Government does not have a centrally held record of the number of staff involved with this work because in line with usual practice, details of individual tasks carried out by civil servants, including the number of hours spent on them, are not routinely recorded as there is no business need to do that. This is a formal notice under S.17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested.

You may wish to note that at 3 May 2023, Constitutional Futures Division, which coordinates work on the prospectus and other matters, consisted of 24 civil servants.

The Referendums Scotland Bill team is no longer operational and the civil servants who worked in this team have since moved onto other roles.

4. The salary costs for Constitutional Futures Division for the 2022/23 Financial Year was £1,393,090.24.

5. The Scottish Government’s recently published policy prospectus, set out that by 2026 the Scottish Government will have:

• Built the case for a socially just, independent Scotland within the European Union; and
• Given the people of Scotland the information they need to make an informed choice about whether Scotland should become and independent country.

The First Minister has also reaffirmed to the Prime Minister that the Scottish Government continues to seek the transfer of powers from the UK Parliament to enable another lawful referendum, consistent with the judgment of the Supreme Court.

6. A list of information held on meetings the Minister for Independence had from his appointment to the date of your request is below. You may wish to note that the meetings highlighted in bold were attended by Mr Hepburn in his Ministerial capacity. The other information relates to meetings that were noted in the Minister's Scottish Government calendar for diary planning purposes only, and were not attended or supported in a Ministerial capacity.

Any briefings produced for these meetings are enclosed with this letter. Exemptions under Section 38(1)(b) (Personal Information) and Section 30(c) (Prejudice to the Effective Conduct of Public Affairs) of FOISA apply to some of the information requested. The reasons why these exemptions apply are explained in the Annex of this letter.

Date	Meeting information
30/03/2023	Meeting with Senior Officials – Constitutional Futures Division
12/04/2023	Meeting with First Minister
18/04/2023	Meeting with Officials – Security
18/04/2023	Meeting with Comms
19/04/2023	Meeting with Constitutional Futures Division
19/04/2023	Catch up with SpAd
19/04/2023	Catch up with Mr Robertson
25/04/2023	Catch up with Officials
25/04/2023	Meeting with Officials – ‘Building a New Scotland Series’
26/04/2023	Catch up with Mr Robertson
26/04/2023	Meeting with Comms
27/04/2023	Briefing on Public Attitudes to the UK’s Democratic System Report - Professor Alan Renwick, UCL
27/04/2023	Meeting with Officials – ‘Building a New Scotland Series’
28/04/2023	Business for Scotland Event
02/05/2023	Catch up with SpAds
02/05/2023	Meeting with Officials – ‘Building a New Scotland Series’
03/05/2023	Call with Dominic Munro
03/04/2023	Meeting with Officials – ‘Building a New Scotland Series’
03/05/2023	Catch up with SpAd

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.

FOI 202300354789 - Information Released - Annex A

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PDF

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FOI 202300354789 - Information Released - Annex B

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