Health Secretary's visits to Aberdeen football matches: FOI release

Information requested

All emails sent from

(i) Neil Gray’s email address
(ii) anyone from Neil Gray’s team in the last two weeks that relate to him attending football matches.

Any record of correspondence to the First Minister that relates to the Health Secretary attending the football matches.

Any briefings, emails or other forms of info that was sent to the First Minister to make him aware of the issue.

The total cost of the last six football matches Neil Gray attended.

A list of

(i) all games Neil Gray was invited to as Health Secretary in 2024
(ii) list of all the games he officially declined to attend after being invited in his capacity as Health Secretary in 2024.

If you have you any record of correspondence which expresses his wish to decline then include it please.

Response

I enclose a copy of the information relating to Mr Gray attending football matches which was sent by Officials to the First Minister in advance of First Minister's Questions.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. We have completed searches but there are no messages or emails sent from Mr Gray's address about him attending football matches.

Requests for the use of the Ministerial cars are issued to the Government Car Service from Ministerial Private Offices but these are not routinely kept. In terms of the routes taken, the Drivers do not follow pre-determined routes due to possible traffic build up and road closures, nor are the vehicles tracked. Government Car Service vehicles and drivers are operated as shared resources, and as a consequence frequently cover multiple customers throughout that day. We therefore we do not record costs for individual journeys.

In terms of how the visits were arranged and who accompanied Mr Gray, the Scottish FA regularly invites Ministers to international matches and domestic cup finals and semi-finals. These provide a good opportunity to engage with a number of football stakeholders on current key issues. Invitations are sent to the Scottish Government by the organising body, either the Scottish Football Association or the Scottish Professional Football League, and, as with any engagement invitation, officials provide advice to Ministers on potential attendance. We do not hold information relating to how many games Mr Gray was invited to and how many he declined.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

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 202400441446 - Information Released - Annex

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