Cost of Christmas cards to people on Highest Risk List: FOI release
- Published
- 22 February 2022
- Directorate
- Population Health Directorate
- FOI reference
- FOI/202200270636
- Date received
- 29 December 2021
- Date responded
- 11 February 2022
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002
Information requested
Why are you wasting tax payers money sending out Christmas cards to people simply because they are on the high risk register? Under the freedom of information legislation I require to know how much this has cost.
Response
The total cost of sending a Christmas Cards to people on the Highest Risk List was £182,549.07 ex VAT.
It is important to note that the primary function of the cards was to provide urgent public safety advice around meeting others over the festive period. This need was heightened with the emergence of the Omicron variant. The decision was made to create them in a ‘Christmas card’ style to provide context for the mailing, and the First Minister was asked to provide a note to the recipients to recognise that there were still continuing challenges for those at Highest Risk.
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