Towards a robust, resilient wellbeing economy for Scotland - Report of the Advisory Group on Economic Recovery: FOI release

Information requested

In 2020 the Scottish Government published “Towards a robust, resilient wellbeing economy for Scotland- Report of the Advisory Group on Economic Recovery”

Under freedom of information I request the following:

• the total cost for the publication of the report ie all costs associated with the advisory group, its work and payments to members of it
• The report made 25 recommendations to the Scottish Government. How many recommendations have been implemented? Please list which recommendations have been implemented and the cost of implementing each recommendation if applicable.

Response

a) the total cost for the publication of the report ie all costs associated with the advisory group, its work and payments to members of it.

The Advisory Group on Economic Recovery (AGER) was a short life group which effectively ended on publication of its report in June 2020. All meetings since the group’s initiation in April 2020 were held online at no cost. AGER group members received no remuneration fees for the services they provided. Costs were incurred in relation to the publication of the final AGER report: Towards a Robust, Resilient Wellbeing Economy for Scotland: Report of the Advisory Group on Economic Recovery. This amounted to £1,432.68 (inc VAT).

b) The report made 25 recommendations to the Scottish Government. How many recommendations have been implemented? Please list which recommendations have been implemented and the cost of implementing each recommendation if applicable.

As part of our search, I have identified that the last update provided specifically on the implementation of the AGER recommendations was to the Cabinet Secretary in November 2021. I have attached this update in full. As you will see a number of these recommendations had already been actioned by the time of the update, with the remaining ones being underway.

The work to deliver these recommendations continued to be taken forward through the relevant recovery plans as well as through our overarching work such as the Climate Change Plan and our National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET). You can find more information on NSET, including the most recent delivery plans at Economy strategy - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold some of the information you have requested, specifically in relation to the cost of implementing each recommendation. This is formal notice under section 17(1) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act. The Scottish Government does have the information you have asked for because we do not gather that level of detail of work assignments for Scottish Government employees or members. The Scottish Government does not ask our employees or members to record their workloads on an hourly basis therefore we cannot identify the cost of contributing to the groups.

Further information on the Advisory Group on Economic Recovery can be found at Advisory Group on Economic Recovery - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

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 202300384427 - Information Released - AGER - Summary Paper

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