Creation and maintenance cost of the budget.scot website: FOI review

FOI reference: FOI/17/03046
Date received: 23 January 2018
Date responded: 20 February 2018

Information requested

The total cost of the creation and maintenance of the website: https://www.budget.scot/

1. The cost (initial and annual) of the domain name.

2. The cost of the design and creation of the website (including components such as Graphical User Interface, items on the page, background etc., as well as the creator and their associated costs).

3. The time taken to create the website from start to finish.

4. The name of the person who requested the website be created in the first place.

Response

I have concluded that the original decision should be confirmed, with modifications. I have detailed my reasons for my response to each part of your request below.

1. The cost (initial and annual) of the domain name.

2. The cost of the design and creation of the website (including components such as Graphical User Interface, items on the page, background etc., as well as the creator and their associated costs).

An exception under section 27(1) of FOISA was applied in the original response of 22 January, 2018 because the Scottish Government intends to publish that information on 28 February, which is within 12 weeks of the date of your request. On reviewing your request I have concluded that it was appropriate to apply section 27(1) of FOISA to some of the information requested.

I have also considered the public interest test. You state that 'it is in the public's interest to release this information, which the attached document heavily implies is readily available, before the budget process. If the information is released after the budget votes, then it will be too late, and our elected representatives will not be able to hold the whole draft budget to budget process to account.'

It should be noted that any costs related to the development of https://www.budget.scot/ would have been incurred during the 2017-18 budget, and not the 2018-19 draft budget to which you refer. Furthermore, as stated in the original response, work is underway to ensure the information is collated and checked before publication. The public's right to know must also be balanced against the need for effective government, and I would therefore conclude that it is in the public interest to complete these checks before publication.

3. The time taken to create the website from start to finish.

The creation and maintenance of https://www.budget.scot/ was carried out by Scottish Government staff and completed as part of civil servants' normal duties, and the time spent doing so was not recorded. Therefore under section 17(1) we cannot provide this information because it is not held. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

4. The name of the person who requested the website be created in the first place.

No single individual requested that the https://www.budget.scot/ be created; rather, it was a decision taken by a group of civil servants as part of a discussion.Therefore under section 17(1) we cannot provide this information because it is not held. 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

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