Ministerial overseas travel expenses: FOI release

Information requested

1. Could you supply a full breakdown of expenses from Angus Robertson's trip to China from November 22 2023, including hotel costs, food costs, travel costs?

-Include a breakdown of all money spent on this trip, including his officials spend as well, as well as full details of what hotels he stayed in, whether the flight was business or economy class for him and his officials, what were the names and titles of the officials who accompanied him?

-If possible, include all the receipts filed from the trip as well?

2. Could you supply full breakdown of expenses from both Humza Yousaf and Mairi McAllan's trip to Cop28 last year, including hotel costs, food costs and travels costs?

-Include a breakdown of all money spent on this trip, including their officials spend, full details of the hotel they stayed in, whether their flights were business or economy for him and her, and their officials, what were the names and titles of the officials who accompanied them, how much did a space at Cop28 cost, etc.

-If possible, include all the receipts filed from the trip as well?

Response

Question 1, Please see the table below for a full breakdown of the information you requested.

	Mr Robertson	Private Secretary	Policy Office
Hotel Costs	£703.98	£703.98	£868.91
Food Costs	£57.95	£57.95	£57.95
Travel Costs	£3,794.69	£3,794.69	£973.89
Phones/Data for Trip	£146.00	£146.00	£146.00
Visa Cost	£0.00	£85.00	£85.00
Class of Travel	Business	Business	Economy
Hotels Stayed In	China World Hotel, Beijing	China World Hotel, Beijing	China World Hotel, Beijing
	Green Lake Hotel, Kunming	Green Lake Hotel, Kunming	Green Lake Hotel, Kunming
	St Regis Hotel, Shanghai	St Regis Hotel, Shanghai	St Regis Hotel, Shanghai
Total Cost	£4,702.62	£4,787.62	£2,131.75

Relevant receipts have been attached, however some of the information has been redacted under Section 38 of the FOISA.

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, including the names/contact details of individuals, and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Schedule 1 to the Data Protection Act 1998. 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.

Question 2, Most of the information you have requested is available from COP28: outcomes, achievements, and costs - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

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FOI 202400407525 - Information released - Attachments

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32 page PDF

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3.2 MB