Reimbursement of funding to the arts and culture sector: FOI release

Information requested

1. Any correspondence between the Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Europe and External Affairs and his officials in relation to the promised 6.6milion reimbursement to Creative Scotland.

2. Any correspondence between the Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Europe and External Affairs and his officials, and the Cabinet Secretary for Finance in relation to the promised 6.6milion reimbursement to Creative Scotland.

3. Any correspondence between the Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Europe and External Affairs and his officials in relation to the promised £100million uplift to the arts and culture sector by 2028.

4. Any correspondence between the Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Europe and External Affairs and his officials, and the Cabinet Secretary for Finance in relation to the promised £100million uplift to the arts and culture sector by 2028.

5. Any minutes of meetings that the Cabinet Secretary or his officials attended in which the promised £100million uplift to the arts and culture sector by 2028 was discussed.

6. Any minutes of meetings that the Cabinet Secretary or his officials attended in which the promised £6.6million reimbursement to Creative Scotland was discussed.

7. Any correspondence between the Scottish Government and Creative Scotland on funding for the organisation in the 2023/24 and 24/2025 budget.

Response

For clarity, we have numbered each part of your request 1 to 7.

We have also interpreted parts 1 to 6 of your request to mean any correspondence and any minutes of meetings of which the focus was specifically the £6.6 million reimbursement to Creative Scotland, or the £100 million uplift to the arts and culture sector respectively, rather than any passing mentions of these subjects.

Some of the information you have requested is publicly available at:

• Youth Music Initiative, Education, Young People and Children Committee and Creative Scotland funding: FOI release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
• Creative Scotland budget: FOI release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
• Cabinet Secretary for Culture correspondence on culture budgets: FOI release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
• Correspondence between SG and Creative Scotland regarding the Scottish Budget 2023-24 funding settlement: FOI release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
• Festivals and cultural funding: FOI release - 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.

Regarding parts 1 and 3 of your request, please see the attached document.

An exemption under sections 38(1)(b) of FOISA applies to the information you have requested. 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 30(b)(ii) of FOISA applies to some of the information requested because disclosure would, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation. The exemption recognises the need for officials to have a private space within which to exchange views and fully consider issues arising. Disclosing the content of free and frank exchange of views will substantially inhibit the space within which officials are able to freely consider matters arising in future. 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.

Regarding parts 2 and 4 of your request, the Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for because there has been no correspondence recorded between the Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Europe and External Affairs and his officials, and the Cabinet Secretary for Finance in relation to the £6.6 million reimbursement or the £100 million uplift.

Regarding parts 5 and 6 of your request, the Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for because there have been no minutes recorded for meetings of which the focus was the £6.6 million reimbursement or the £100 million uplift.

Regarding part 7 of your request, 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. 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 a timeframe for your request or restrict your request to a specific business area of the Scottish Government, 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.foi.scot/how-do-i-ask

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 202400427455 - Information released - Annex

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