Costs for visit to Climate Week NYC by Acting Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy: FOI Review

Information requested

Original request 202400435508

• A breakdown of the costs incurred - whether paid or yet to be paid - by the Scottish Government in respect of the visit to Climate Week NYC by Acting Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy, Gillian Martin, and her accompanying officials and special advisers.
• This should include a person-by-person breakdown of the travel, hotel, subsistence, incidental expenses and other costs for the entirety of the trip.
• It should also include all information in all invoices, bills and receipts held by the Scottish Government in respect of the trip.

Response

I have now completed my review of our response to your request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) for:

• A breakdown of the costs incurred - whether paid or yet to be paid - by the Scottish Government in respect of the visit to Climate Week NYC by Acting Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy, Gillian Martin, and her accompanying officials and special advisers.
• This should include a person-by-person breakdown of the travel, hotel, subsistence, incidental expenses and other costs for the entirety of the trip.
• It should also include all information in all invoices, bills and receipts held by the Scottish Government in respect of the trip.

I have concluded that the original decision should be confirmed, with modifications. I am therefore providing a person-by-person breakdown of subsistence and incidental expenses costs for the entirety of the trip (Annex A).

Section 27(1) applies to rest of the information you have requested. This information will be published on the Scottish Government's website, under 'publications'.

Section 27(1) – information intended for future publication

An exemption under section 27(1) of FOISA applies to some of the information requested because we intend to publish that information by 20 December 2024, which is within 12 weeks of the date of your request. We consider that it is reasonable to withhold the information until that date, rather than release this information before the planned publication date.

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 due to public interest in New York Climate Week and this will be met by our planned publication. In the meantime, there is a greater public interest in taking the time necessary to ensure the information has been properly collated and checked before it is published as planned. Also, we see no public interest in disrupting our programme of work to release the information ahead of the intended publication date.

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 202400439353 - Information released - ANNEX A

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