Costs incurred and engagement with South of Scotland Enterprise Agency from 2014: FOI release

Information requested

1. Total costs incurred by South of Scotland Enterprise from 2014 to the present day. This includes all secretariat staffing costs, daily board member fees and expenses, events, publications and office-running costs.

2. I would also like a record of all engagement between board members and Scottish Government ministers and Cabinet Secretaries from 2014 to the present day.

We required clarification in order to identify information within the scope of your request. You responded with the following:

I can confirm that I am requesting any written correspondence between board members in their capacity as board members and a member of the Scottish Government, as well as minutes of any meetings where Scottish Cabinet Secretaries or Ministers were present.

Response

I will answer each of your questions in turn:

1. South of Scotland Enterprise was established on 1 April 2020. They have one set of published accounts available at the following website link:

• https://www.southofscotlandenterprise.com/media/1307/sose_annualreport_21.pdf

The information you require forms part of the overall operating costs, financial statements are available from page 83 of the published accounts onwards. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the websites listed, then please contact me again and I will arrange for you to be sent a paper copy.

With regard to information for the current year, we are unable to provide this as this information is not currently held. As such, this is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not hold this information that would fall within the scope of your request. This information will be published, via the same publication route as earlier years, in due course.

2. We have conducted a search of our systems and have identified material that is within scope of your request. These are included as separate documents in the response email.

Certain information has been redacted under a section of FOISA. Further information regarding this section can be found in the Annex of this letter.

Board meeting notes and minutes, including where Ministers attended, are made publicly available via the South of Scotland Enterprise website at:

• Our board (southofscotlandenterprise.com)

In addition to the documents that we have released, it may be helpful to note that Ministers engage with the Enterprise Agencies through a number of formal structures, including the Enterprise and Skills Strategic Board (ESSB) and the Convention of the South of Scotland (COSS). Minutes/transcripts of those meetings are available on the Scottish Government’s website:

• Enterprise and Skills Strategic Board - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
• Convention of the South of Scotland - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

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.

FOI - 202100246176 - Information Released - Annex

File type

71 page PDF

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5.7 MB