Information pertaining to overseas facilitates: FOI release

Information requested

1. List of overseas location facilities (offices, etc.) the Scottish Government has established since 2010
2. List of overseas location facilities (offices, etc.) currently in operation and funded by the Scottish Government
3. For each location currently being funded, please provide the following information:
(a) Country
(b) City or town
(c) Primary function of the facility
(d) Capital cost in establishing the facility
(e) Annual running costs, including rent, rates, local and government taxes, staff wages, office and staff expenses
(f) Number of UK domiciles working at the facility
(g) Number of local residents employed at the facility
(h) Total number of full time equivalent staff employed at the facility
(i) Annual wage bill, including pensions, local and government taxes
(j) Value of the highest individual salary
4. List of overseas location facilities planned to be opened within the next five years
5. For each location planned to be opened in the next five years, please provide the following information:
(a) Country
(b) City or town
(c) Primary function of the facility
(d) Planned capital cost in establishing the facility
(e) Planned annual running costs
(f) Planned number of full time equivalent staff at the facility 

Response

Each point of your request has been responded to below.

List of overseas location facilities (offices, etc.) the Scottish Government has established since 2010. 
Since 2010 the Scottish Government opened offices in Dublin, London, Berlin, Ottawa and Paris.

List of overseas location facilities (offices, etc.) currently in operation and funded by the Scottish Government and additional information for each location A-J
The table below details staff headcount including the current annual budget allocation for the Scottish Government’s overseas offices, including salary costings, upkeep, day-today running and hospitality costs. There were no capital costs for establishing our international offices, all costs associated with running these offices are included within the figures. 

OFFICE	BUDGET FOR (2021-22)	STAFF HEADCOUNT	NUMBER OF UK DOMICILES	NUMBER OF LOCAL RESIDENTS EMPLOYED
Beijing, China	550,000	4	1	3
Berlin, Germany	555,000	3	2	1
Brussels, Belgium	2,310,000	18*	11	7
Dublin, Ireland	596,000	3	2	1
London, England	2,197,000	16	16	N/A
Ottawa, Canada	570,000	4	2	2
Paris, France	556,000	3	2	1
Washington DC, United States	805,000	4	2	2

* 2 of these posts are funded by a combination of Ministerial Portfolios due to the nature of their roles.

The international offices deliver and support our activity, agencies and public and private partners in key locations outside Scotland, building on established expertise. The network provides a focus for Scottish partners needing presence in a country, capital or continent and play a critical role in supporting international collaboration which delivers economic benefits and helps address societal and global challenges.

The scale, scope and focus of this activity varies depending on the specific opportunities in a particular location. However, as a whole, the network will make connections in the development of policy priorities for us to exchange good practice.

Specifically the network is tasked with:

• improving Scotland’s international profile
• attracting investment to Scotland
• helping businesses to trade internationally
• promoting and securing Scottish research and innovation capability, partnerships and funding
• protecting and enhancing Scotland’s interests in the EU and beyond

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide a small amount of the information you have requested because an exemption under section 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information. This is because it is personal data of a third party, specifically the salaries of individuals, and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018.

This exemption is not subject to the 'public interest test', so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

Staff salaries have been included in the total running costs of each office in the table above. As part of our commitment to be an open and transparent government we do disclose salary details of senior civil servants, salaries for those in our overseas offices are below.

Director of Brussels	£95,930 - £103,495
Deputy Director of Brussels	£77,340 - £83,233
Deputy Director – Head of Scotland House, London	£77,340 - £83,233

List of overseas location facilities planned to be opened within the next five years and for each location planned to be opened in the next five years A-F

As was announced in the programme for government, we will open a Scottish Government office in Copenhagen next year to increase Scotland’s economic and cultural visibility in the Nordic region. In this parliamentary session, we will also open an office in Warsaw, as part of our continued commitment to
enhancing our external reach and voice. We anticipate that the new offices will be similar in budget and staffing numbers to existing Scottish Government overseas offices. The budget for these additional offices will be established as part of ongoing planning processes and upcoming budget considerations.

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.