Unoccupied rooms held for Ukrainian refugees as welcome accommodation: FOI release

Information requested

• Please provide me with a breakdown of the number of vacant hotel rooms which were held for Ukrainian refugees as well as the cost of these vacant rooms.
• Please also provide me with the names of hotel companies or agencies that this money was paid to.

Response

Question 1

While we strive to provide information wherever possible, in this case an exemption under section 27(1) of FOISA applies to the information requested because we intend to publish that information within 12 weeks of the date of your request. We consider that it is reasonable to withhold the information until that date, rather than release this information before the planned publication date. We intend to publish the number of unoccupied rooms used as welcome accommodation for displaced people from Ukraine over time for the time period that is available. In addition, the Scottish Government publish the latest Scotland-level data and information on people displaced by the war in Ukraine coming to Scotland through the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme. This data can be found on our website via: Ukraine: analysis and statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Question 2

All welcome accommodation costs are in the first instance paid to our travel contractors Corporate Travel Management (North).

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.