Air travel by Scottish Government officials: FOI release
- Published
- 13 June 2019
- Part of
- Public sector
- FOI reference
- FOI/19/01391
- Date received
- 1 June 2019
- Date responded
- 12 June 2019
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
Information requested
You asked:
With our First Ministers past and present taking quite a few flights for Scottish Assembly business. I would like to know the following:
1: What class of cabin do they and their companions use on those flights?
2: Do they use the same airlines for the trips to the United States?
3: Has the Scottish Government joined a loyalty programme with those airlines?
4: if they have joined a loyalty programme, I assume those points will be used solely for business use and not personal use?
5: Did their partners join them on those trips and if so at whose expense?
Response
The answer to your questions are as follows:
1. All ministerial travel, including air travel class, is proactively published by the Scottish Government. The information you have requested can be accessed using the links below:
https://www.gov.scot/publications/?term=ministerial&publicationTypes=transparency-data&page=1
https://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20170401072519/http:/www.gov.scot/About/People/14944/travel
2. There are various airlines used when travelling to the United States as the Scottish Government wishes to show leadership in getting best value for money, and prudent use of the public purse.
3 & 4. The Scottish Government has not joined a loyalty scheme with any airline.
5. As set out in the Scottish Ministerial Code, partners may accompany Ministers on official duties when appropriate and expenses incurred may occasionally be paid from public funds.
Further information you requested is available from https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-17-01329/ and https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-ministerial-code-2016-edition/.
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Enquiry Unit
Email: ceu@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrews House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG
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