Costs for Funeral Support Payment roadshow events: FOI release

Information requested

You asked for a full breakdown of the cost of each of the Funeral Support Payment roadshow events (including roadshows, webinars and teleconferences) that took place in August and September 2019 (broken down by costings for each of the fourteen events).

Response

In our work to ensure the take-up of Scottish social security benefits reflects the ambitions of the Social Security Scotland Act it is essential to raise awareness of the benefits Social Security Scotland is delivering. To help achieve this we run a number of roadshows across Scotland ahead of a new benefit being introduced. These provide an opportunity for organisations to hear first-hand on the eligibility to the benefit, how people can apply and to ask questions. This is helping equip support and advice organisations with the information they need so they can advise people on the new benefits and encourage them to apply.
Information on most of the costs incurred in delivering the Funeral Support Payment roadshows, that took place in August and September 2019, are shown in the table at Annex B. However, 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. The reasons why we don’t have the information are explained in Annex A to this letter.

ANNEX A
REASONS FOR NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION
The Scottish Government does not have the information
Section 17(1) of FOISA (information not held) requires the Scottish Government to notify you if it does not have the information you requested. The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for because as the roadshows only took place in August and September costs for all of the sessions have not yet been received. Additionally for the teleconferences and webinar sessions costs aren’t available as due to the sessions being held in-house, with delegates attending via the phone and the internet, the costs incurred are indistinguishable from normal running costs.
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

ANNEX B
Social Security Scotland - Funeral Support Payment Roadshows Costs
 

Date	Location	Costs		Comments
01-Aug-19	Hamilton	Venue hire	£84.00
		Equipment hire	£83.64
		Refreshments	£374.40
		eNotetaker	£126.75
		Total	£668.79
06-Aug-19	Edinburgh	Venue hire	£660.00
		Refreshments	£60.00
		Total	£720.00
08-Aug-19	Perth	Venue hire	£120.00
		Refreshments	£177.00
		Total	£297.00
09-Aug-19	Teleconference			Information not provided under Section 17(1) of FOISA (information not held) as costs incurred are indistinguishable from normal running costs.
12-Aug-19	Glasgow	Venue hire	£168.00
		Refreshments	£108.00
		Total	£276.00
13-Aug-19	Aberdeen			Information not provided under Section 17(1) of FOISA (information not held)
16-Aug-19	Webinar			Information not provided under Section 17(1) of FOISA (information not held) as costs incurred are indistinguishable from normal running costs.
19-Aug-19	Falkirk	Venue hire	£168.00
		Refreshments	£227.50
		Total	£395.50
20-Aug-19	Teleconference			Information not provided under Section 17(1) of FOISA (information not held) as costs incurred are indistinguishable from normal running costs.
22-Aug-19	Inverness	Venue hire	£67.50
		Equipment hire	£36.00
		Refreshments	£88.00
		Total	£191.50
27-Aug-19	Kilmarnock	Venue hire	£72.00
		Refreshments	£81.00
		Total	£153.00
28-Aug-19	Paisley	Venue hire	£72.00
		Refreshments	£108.00
		Total	£180.00
29-Aug-19	Dumfries			Information not provided under Section 17(1) of FOISA (information not held)
02-Sep-19	Glasgow	Venue hire	£156.00
		Refreshments	£55.00
		Total	£211.00
Total costs			£3,092.79

Note: costs for refreshments are based on cost per head.

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