Constitutional futures, Independence and Scottish Child Payment: FOI release

Information requested

1. All analysis undertaken by the Scottish Government about how much the Scottish Child Payment would be paid in an independent Scotland and how much it would cost/how much kids would get?

2. All correspondence, minutes, notes and briefings, received and sent by the Scottish Government mentioning or from George Foulkes, from between October 1 2023 and the date of this FOI.

3. All correspondence sent and received by the Scottish Government from the UK Government, including internally, about Scottish independence, between September 1 2023 and the date of this FOI.

4. All correspondence, minutes, notes and briefings, received and sent by Scottish Government mentioning or from Tim Rideout, from between September 1 2023 and the date of this FOI.

5. How many civil servants are in the constitutional futures division at the time of this FOI and how many have been in it at the end of 2021, 2022 and 2023?

6. Could you supply all analysis on how much Scottish passport offices would cost in an independent Scotland and how this would be paid for?

Response

Part 1 - All analysis undertaken by the Scottish Government about how much the Scottish Child Payment would be paid in an independent Scotland and how much it would cost/how much kids would get?

There has been no analysis undertaken by the Scottish Government on changes to the Scottish Child Payment in an independent Scotland. Forecast spend on the Scottish Child Payment is available in the Scottish Fiscal Commission’s most recent publication from December 2023 - Scotland’s Economic and Fiscal Forecasts – December 2023 – Scottish Fiscal Commission. Scottish Child Payment is only available to families in Scotland and it is delivered under the Scottish Parliament’s existing powers.

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

Part 2 - All correspondence, minutes, notes and briefings, received and sent by the Scottish Government mentioning or from George Foulkes, from between October 1 2023 and the date of this FOI.

Searches were conducted across the email records of certain Scottish Government officials, who would be most likely to hold relevant information, along with searches of the Scottish Government’s internal system for records management. Various items of information were identified as a result of these searches, some of which is enclosed in Annex A.

We narrowed the searches of email records to key individuals as in order to fully comply with your request we would have had to conduct searches across the email records of every Scottish Government civil servant, which would not be possible to do within the upper cost limit of £600.

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (Personal Information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exemption is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

An exemption under Section 29(1)(b), 30(b)(i), 30(b)(ii) and 36(1) applies to some of the information requested. The reason why this exemption applies is explained in Annex C of this letter.

Part 3 - All correspondence sent and received by the Scottish Government from the UK Government, including internally, about Scottish independence, between September 1 2023 and the date of this FOI.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the costs of locating and reviewing every item of correspondence between the Scottish Government and the UK Government to determine whether relevant information is held would exceed the upper cost limit of £600.

While you have limited your request to one topic, it is a very broad topic of relevance to a very wide range of policy areas, and a search would need to be carried out by every civil servant to establish if any correspondence has been issued or received on this topic.

You may, however, wish to consider reducing the scope of your request in order that the costs can be brought below £600. For example, you could specify a particular Division or Directorate, as this would allow us to limit the searches that would require to be conducted. You may also find it helpful to look at the Scottish Information Commissioner’s ‘Tips for requesting information under FOI and the EIRs’ on his website at: http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourRights/Tipsforrequesters.aspx.

Part 4 - All correspondence, minutes, notes and briefings, received and sent by Scottish Government mentioning or from Tim Rideout, from between September 1 2023 and the date of this FOI.

Relevant materials can be located at Annex B of this document.

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (Personal Information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exemption is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

Part 5 - How many civil servants are in the constitutional futures division at the time of this FOI and how many have been in it at the end of 2021, 2022 and 2023?

We have interpreted the end of each year as being the position on 31 December.

The number of civil servants working for the Constitutional Futures Division (CFD), at the end of each requested year, are as follow:

• 31st December 2021 – 10
• 31st December 2022 – 25
• 31st December 2023 – 21*
• 1st March 2024 – 20**

The numbers provided above are taken from the payroll reports at the end of the relevant month.

Outwith FOISA, staff from other areas of Scottish Government have contributed to the work of the CFD in developing the Building a New Scotland series. The exact number of officials contributing as part of their wider responsibilities cannot be set out as the Scottish Government has no need to record this information.

*Figure includes 3 civil servants in CFD’s headcount who were at that time working elsewhere within SG.

** Figure includes 1 civil servant in CFD’s headcount who was at that time working elsewhere within SG. Staff across the SG are at times deployed to different business areas to manage overall business priorities.

Part 6 - Could you supply all analysis on how much Scottish passport offices would cost in an independent Scotland and how this would be paid for?

Following a search of our records, I can confirm that no information is held. This is a formal notice under Section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested.

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 202400402341 - Information Released - Annex

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