Costs for production and analysis for specific consultations: FOI release

Information requested

The total cost to produce and analysis the following consultations?

• (4) Consultation on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024: Statutory Guidance on Part 2 and 3, section 18
• (8) Care Leaver Payment: Consultation on policy proposals
• (11) Reforming the criminal law to address misogyny
• (13) Addition of trade union nominees to the boards of college institutions
• (16) Prevention of Homelessness Duties - A Joint Scottish Government and COSLA Consultation

Response

We have set out the answer to your request in the tables below. The total cost for each consultation includes a range of smaller costs associated with the development and analysis of a consultation including where relevant the:

• publication of the consultation document;
• costs in relation to consultation events, including consultation with children;
• analysis of the responses received and the publication of that analysis; and
• any other costs involved.

Two of the consultations for which information has been requested are not yet fully concluded. For these consultations, the cost provided is the cost to date, rather than the total cost, and may subsequently change. We have highlighted below where this is the case. All costs are inclusive of VAT.

Completed Consultations

No	Consultation	Total Cost
8	Care Leaver Payment: Consultation on Policy Proposals	£17,187.70
13	Addition of Trade Union Nominees to the Boards of College Institutions	£910.27 (Analysis for this consultation was undertaken in-house by Scottish Government staff.)
16	Prevention of Homelessness Duties - A Joint Scottish Government and COSLA Consultation	£32,971.77

Ongoing Consultations

No	Consultation	Total Cost To Date
4	Consultation on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024: Statutory Guidance on Part 2 and 3, section 18	Total cost to date: £22,659.52
11	Reforming the Criminal Law to Address Misogyny.	Total cost to date: £24,464.24

As civil servants are not required to record the time spent on individual tasks, we cannot provide an exact figure for the internal staffing costs associated with the above consultations. Every member of staff who contributed to the development of the consultations did so as part of their wider duties. Therefore, under Section 17(1) of the FOISA, the Scottish Government does not hold information on Scottish Government staff costs related to these consultations.

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.