Cost of preparing Building a New Scotland publication: FOI release

Information requested

1. How much money was spent on writing and developing the Building a New Scotland- A stronger economy with independence prospectus? Breakdown of these costs.

2. How much money was spent on writing and developing the second independence and first independence prospectuses in the series and breakdown of these costs?

3. How many civil servants worked on the third prospectus in question 1 and what were their salary bands?

4. How long did it take to write each of the three prospectuses from the beginning to when they got published?

5. How many copies of the third prospectus were printed out and how many were handed out/sent out?

6. Did the Scottish Government take economic advice from any experts in currency, borders or the EU or other academics in writing the third prospectus and if so who were they/what field were they in?

Response

1. & 2. It is not possible to provide a figure on costs of writing and developing the three publications from the Building a New Scotland series published so far. A range of civil servants across the Scottish Government have contributed to the work as part of their normal duties supporting the Scottish Government and in line with usual practice, details of individual tasks carried out by civil servants, including the number of hours spent on them, are not routinely recorded as there is no business need to do this.

The Scottish Government has published details of the publication costs of the first two papers in the Building a New Scotland series and they can be found at the links below:

Written question and answer: S6W-11001 | Scottish Parliament Website

Written question and answer: S6W-11002 | Scottish Parliament Website

At 17 October 2022, we had not received details of the publication costs of ‘A stronger economy with independence’ from our contracted publishing, print and design agency taking this work forward on behalf of the Scottish Government. Similar to the first two publications, we will publish details of these costs in due course.

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

3. The work on ‘A stronger economy with independence’ was co-ordinated by some officials from the Scottish Government’s Constitutional Futures Division, but also drew on other officials across a the Scottish Government who contributed to varying extents as part of their wider responsibilities in supporting the Scottish Government.

I am unable to provide you with information on the total number of staff involved in this work because in line with usual practice, details of individual tasks carried out by civil servants, including the number of hours spent on them, are not routinely recorded because there is no business need to do this.

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

4. It is not possible to provide a figure of long it took to write each of the three prospectuses from the beginning to when they got published. This is because in line with usual practice, details of individual tasks carried out by civil servants, including the number of hours spent on them, are not routinely recorded as there is no business need to do this.

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

5. 200 copies of ‘A stronger economy with independence’ were printed in total. On 17 November 2022, a small number of copies were handed out at the publication’s launch event at Bute House, but the exact number was not recorded at the time. Most of the 200 printed copies were sent to members of the public who requested them.

6. Some of the information you have requested has been published previously:

Policy meetings regarding potential Independence Referendum: FOI release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Scottish Government officials and Ministers have discussions with a wide range of people outside government that touch on the matters covered by 'Building a New Scotland - A stronger economy with independence'. As the publication draws on policy development work over a wide range of topics over many years it is not possible to give a definitive list of such discussions. However, there has been recent contact with the following people listed below, in addition to the people mentioned in the previous FOI response. This has often involved discussion on the broader themes in the paper as opposed to providing specific advice.

• David Eiser – Fraser of Allander Institute – Strathclyde University
• Mairi Spowage - Fraser of Allander Institute – Strathclyde University
• Dr Gemma Tetlow – Institute for Government
• Thomas Pope – Institute for Government
• Mark Blyth – Watson Institute – Brown University
• David Phillips – Institute for Fiscal Studies
• Professor Graeme Roy – University of Glasgow
• Graeme Blackett – BiGGAR Economics

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