Former First Minister's tweet on the 35th anniversary of the Lockerbie air disaster: FOI release

Information requested

1. Could you provide all receipts and expenses claims from Humza Yousaf's trip to New York for Climate Week from September 17 to 21.

2. Could you provide all drafts of Humza Yousaf's official FM account's tweet on the 35th anniversary of the Lockerbie bombing, plus any notes held about why the wording changed etc: https://x.com/ScotGovFM/status/1737776819938419189

3. All correspondence sent and received by the Scottish Government about Humza Yousaf attending the Dundee United Community Trust on Christmas Eve, plus briefings prepared for him ahead of his attendance.

4. All correspondence sent and received by the Scottish Government from Scottish councils and Cosla regarding the council tax freeze, including internal correspondence, and briefings between December 1 2023 and the date of this FOI (16 January 2024).

Response

1. This is a formal notice under Section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold the information you have requested as the First Minister covered his incidental expenses personally during his visit to New York from September 17 to 21. Please note that the overall costs for the First Minister’s engagement at Climate Week NYC was published proactively by the Scottish Government on gov.scot, here: First Minister at Climate Week NYC: overview, outcomes and costs - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

2. Please find the requested information in the attached document.

3. In terms of Question 3, providing the information requested would exceed the upper cost limit of £600 as it requires an extensive review of documents to ensure personal details and commercially sensitive information is redacted. Under section 12 of FOISA public authorities are not required to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying would exceed the upper cost limit, which is currently set at £600 by Regulations made under section 12.

You may, however, wish to consider reducing the scope of your request in order that the costs can be brought below £600. For example, this could be achieved by framing the request with more specificity or narrowing the terms of your request, including date ranges. You may also find it helpful to look at the Scottish Information Commissioner’s ‘Tips for requesting information under FOI and the EIRs’ at: http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourRights/Tipsforrequesters.aspx.

4. In terms of Question 4, providing the information requested would exceed the upper cost limit of £600 as it requires an extensive review of documents to ensure personal details and commercially sensitive information is redacted. Under section 12 of FOISA public authorities are not required to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying would exceed the upper cost limit, which is currently set at £600 by Regulations made under section 12.

You may, however, wish to consider reducing the scope of your request in order that the costs can be brought below £600. For example, this could be achieved by framing any request with more specificity, such as adding further detail around the type of correspondence requested. You may also find it helpful to look at the Scottish Information Commissioner’s ‘Tips for requesting information under FOI and the EIRs’ at: http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourRights/Tipsforrequesters.aspx.

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 202400393771 - Information released - Attachment

File type

11 page PDF

File size

1.1 MB