Specific Scottish Government electronic purchasing cards (ePC) charges: FOI release

Information requested

1) All the purchases on the Scottish Government electronic purchasing cards from September 2023 onwards which relates to expenditure directly for Scottish Ministers. For example, expenditure related to their personal travel, accommodation, food, items for their ministerial office etc. Please provide every single purchase (including those under £500) that has occurred on these cards from September 2023 onwards for every single Scottish Minister in that time.

2) What tickets were purchased on the electronic purchasing cards on 05/06/2024 for £1,854.30, who the tickets were purchased for (please state the job title’s if they’re in government including whether any ministers were in attendance) and what the reason for purchasing them was.

3) What tickets were purchased on the electronic purchasing cards on 11/06/2024 for £1,024.50, who the tickets were purchased for (please state the job title’s if they’re in government including whether any ministers were in attendance) and what the reason for purchasing them was.

4) Who attended the dinner at Howies Waterloo Place on 16/05/2024 which cost £713.44 on the Scottish Government’s purchasing cards (please state the job title’s if they’re in government including whether any ministers were in attendance) and what the reason for the dinner was.

5) Who attended the dinner at Howies Victoria Street on 21/05/2024 which cost £1,415.50 on the Scottish Government’s purchasing cards (please state the job title’s if they’re in government including whether any ministers were in attendance) and what the reason for the dinner was.

6) What was the reason for spending £712.80 for the services of Kldiscovery Ontrack on 22/05/2024.

Response

1) I enclose a document which provides all expenditure made on the Scottish Government electronic purchasing cards from 01/09/2023 to 19/09/2024 for Scottish Ministers as requested on query one. This expenditure has been supplied from the Scottish Government's Travel and Subsistence team and confirmed by Ministerial Private Office.

2) The second request has been answered on a previous Freedom of Information request. Please see the attached link which answers this request. Directorate for Agriculture & Rural Economy information on specified expenditure: FOI release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

3) The tickets purchased on the electronic purchasing card on 11/06/2024 for £1,024.50 were for 21 Royal Highland Show tickets and 8 parking tickets over the 4 day event. A Chief veterinary officer within the Scottish Government attended this event and presented to farming audiences at the show. The remaining tickets were for Scottish Government employees and no tickets were purchased for Ministers. These tickets were purchased to support the First Minister and other Minister's (Mairi Gougeon and Jim Fairlie). Policy development meetings were also held with stakeholders. Please see the below table which breaks down the spend;

Tickets	Number of Tickets	Cost
Royal Highland Show	21	£882.00
1 Day Parking	6	£90.00
2 Day Parking	1	£22.50
4 Day Parking	1	£30.00
	Grand Total	£1,024.50

4) The dinner at Howies Waterloo place on 16/05/2024 which cost £713.44 on the Scottish Government’s electronic purchasing cards was attended by the Veterinary Head of the Scottish Government’s Animal Welfare Team, 18 visitors from the European Forum for Animal Welfare Council and the chair of The Scottish Animal Welfare Commission. This dinner was part of a two day hosting of the European Forum for Animal Welfare Council. There were no Minsters in attendance at this dinner.

5) The dinner at Howies Victoria Street on 21/05/2024 which cost £1,415.50 was attended by 5 Scottish Government staff (Head of Building Standards Division, Head of Technical Unit, Head of Practice Unit, Head of Development Unit and Digital Strategy Team Leader) with 45 members of the Consortium of European Building Control (CEBC) and other delegates. There were no Ministers in attendance at this event. The dinner was held as part of the May 2024 CEBC business meeting which was hosted by the Scottish Government in Edinburgh between 19/05/2024 and 21/05/2024. A formal dinner is part of the standard format for the CEBC conference programme with the hosting member organisation receiving a contribution of up to €6,000 from CEBC towards the confirmed costs of the event.

6) The transaction for £712.80 for Kldiscovery Ontrack on 22/05/2024 was an annual software license to allow exchange email recovery. This is used as in some circumstances deleted emails cannot be retrieved online therefore this software allows access to backup database copies.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI 202400432845 - Information Released - Annex

File type

2 page PDF

File size

202.8 kB