Water Industry Commission Scotland training expenses: FOI release

Information requested

Information related to the Water Industry Commission for Scotland's training expenses.

1. Am looking for all correspondence, including internal correspondence between WICS, Audit Scotland and/or the Scottish Government about the costs of training built up by WICS since 2016 amounting to nearly £500,000 that were not covered by the Audit Scotland's 2022/23 report. This would cover a period between January 1, 2023 and now.

2. When did officials of the Scottish Government know about the past training expenses and when were they they approved? Did they ever get retrospective approval, if so, when, and if not why not?

3. When was Mairi McAllan or any other senior member of the Scottish Government cabinet informed about these training expenses?

4. When did WICS share the details of that FOI about the training expenses with Scottish Government officials?

5. Which if any of the training expenses outline in the FOI were approved by the SG officials, before the money was spent and when?

6. Which if any of the training expenses outline in the FOI were approved by the SG officials, retrospectively?

7. Which of the training expenses should have been approved by the sponsor according to the rules?

8. When did the Scottish Government officials find out about the expenses submitted by WICs of £77,350 for the Harvard Business School course attended by chief operating officer Michelle Ashford?

9. When was Mairi McAllan or any other senior member of the Scottish Government cabinet informed about the Harvard expenses?

10. How much money has been spent on WICS by the Scottish Government in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 and 2024 with a breakdown of these costs?

Response

I have responded to each of your questions below:

1. Am looking for all correspondence, including internal correspondence between WICS, Audit Scotland and/or the Scottish Government about the costs of training built up by WICS since 2016 amounting to nearly £500,000 that were not covered by the Audit Scotland's 2022/23 report. This would cover a period between January 1, 2023 and now.

I enclose a copy of most of the information you requested.

Some of the information you have requested is available from https://wics.scot/publications/transparency/disclosure-log/2024/foi-staff-training and https://www.parliament.scot/-/media/files/committees/public-auditcommittee/ correspondence/2024/wics-dg-net-zero-to-pac-10-june-2024.pdf. 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 listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) (personal information) applies to all 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 exception 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 exception.

2. When did officials of the Scottish Government know about the past training expenses and when were they they approved? Did they ever get retrospective approval, if so, when, and if not why not?

I can confirm that the Harvard Business School Course formed part of the costs referred to in the recent FOI release by WICS. In respect of the additional expenses, the answer to your question is 3 June 2024. Approval was neither asked for, nor granted, retrospectively for these additional courses.

3. When was Mairi McAllan or any other senior member of the Scottish Government cabinet informed about these training expenses?

The answer to your question is 5 June 2024.

4. When did WICS share the details of that FOI about the training expenses with Scottish Government officials?

The answer to your question is 3 June 2024.

5. Which if any of the training expenses outline in the FOI were approved by the SG officials, before the money was spent and when?

The answer to your question is that there is no record of prior approval by SG officials before the money was spent.

6. Which if any of the training expenses outline in the FOI were approved by the SG officials, retrospectively.

The answer to your question is that costs for the Harvard Business School were approved retrospectively.

7. Which of the training expenses should have been approved by the sponsor according to the rules.

The answer to your question is that the Governance Framework agreed by Scottish Government and WICS sets out that the Scottish Government is required to approve single-tender contracts with a value greater than £20,000 (£10,000 prior to 2019). As all training courses were above this threshold, the Scottish Government should have been approached to grant approval.

8. When did the Scottish Government officials find out about the expenses submitted by WICs of £77,350 for the Harvard Business School course attended by chief operating officer Michelle Ashford.

All of the information you have requested is available from https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202300391054/. 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.

9. When was Mairi McAllan or any other senior member of the Scottish Government cabinet informed about the Harvard expenses.

As detailed at https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202300391054/, the answer is 14 December 2023. 

10. How much money has been spent on WICS by the Scottish Government in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 and 2024 with a breakdown of these costs?

All of the information you have requested is available from https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202300391054/. 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.

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 202400418787 - information released - Annex

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