Costs relating to John Swinney's trip to Germany: FOI release

Information requested

A breakdown of costs relating to John Siwnney's [sic] trip to Germany in June 2024.

A full list of SG staff in attendance and associated costs.

Any correspondence held by the Government in relation to the trip.

Notes of the meeting that took place between Mr Swinney and the Bavarian Minister of State for Europe and International Affairs.

Response

Costs

The First Minister travelled to Germany on official business and was supported by a team of Officials and a Special Adviser. Please find a breakdown of the costs of the visit below:

Travel (flights / trains): £7,324.17
Accommodation: £3,657.49
Ground transport: £1,007.46
Subsistence/incremental expenses (inc food and non-alcoholic drinks): £425.96
Total: £12,415.08

An exemption under section 39(1) of FOISA (health & safety) applies to some of the information you have requested. The Scottish Government does not provide information in relation to the First Minister’s security matters. This is because disclosure would, or would be likely to, endanger the physical or mental health or safety of an individual. This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test.’ Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. We recognise that there is some public interest in the arrangements for the First Minister’s travel, however, this is outweighed by the public interest in the safety of the First Minister.

Staff/costs

The First Minister was supported by a C1 Private Secretary, C2 Policy Officer, C1 Policy Officer, B2 Visits & Events Officer, B2 Communications Officer, and a Special Adviser. Please find below their associated costs:

Travel (flights / trains): £5,454.87
Accommodation: £3,187.49
Subsistence/incremental expenses (inc food and non-alcoholic drinks): £425.96
Total: £9,068.32

The staff costs total (£9,068.32) is part of the overall cost of the First Minister’s visit (£12,415.08).

Correspondence

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the costs of locating, retrieving and providing the information requested would exceed the upper cost limit of £600. The reason for this is that to locate and retrieve that information we would need to conduct a search of all of the records of the Scottish Government. It may help if I explain that we file our information according to the subject matter, not by reference to names of individuals/organisations with whom we have corresponded. Your request generated a search result of over 3000 emails and over 3000 potential items from the Scottish Government central filing system.

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, you could specify the subject matter relates to a specific engagement or meeting, 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: https://www.itspublicknowledge.info/how-do-i-ask.

Meeting note

I enclose a copy of the meeting note in Annex A. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance some of the material is being withheld under exemptions outlined in the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA).

Section s.32(1)(a) – International Relations

Some of the information you have requested has been withheld under S.32(1)(a) because this relates to international relations and would likely prejudice substantially relations between the UK and another state. This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. We recognise that there is some public interest in release because of interest in open and transparent government and current heightened media interest in the Scottish Government’s international activity. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in the Scottish Government and UK Government building relationships with other countries.

Section 38(1)(b) – Personal data

Some information has been withheld as an exemption under section 38(1)(b) (personal data) of FOISA applies to that information. This is because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the UK GDPR (or 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.

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