Scottish Government international offices: FOI release

Information requested

Each of the international offices following information:

1. What has been the total set up costs of these embassies to date?

2. What are the annual running costs of the embassies?

3. How many staff are employed at each embassy?

4. How many embassies are there?

5. How many more are planned?

6. What is their remit?

7. What have they achieved to date?

8. How is their performance measured?

9. What is their return on investment?

Response

Each point of your request has been responded to below.

The total set up costs for these offices to date.

There were no capital costs for establishing our international offices, all costs associated with running these offices are included within the figures below.

	2016-17  £000	2017-18 £000	2018-19 £000	2019-20 £000	2020-21 £000	2021-22 £000	2022-23 £000
Beijing, China	395	395	395	553	554	550	567
Washington DC, United States	700	700	700	807	811	805	794
Ottawa, Canada			500	575	575	570	634
Paris, France			500	545	558	556	659
Dublin, Ireland			350	541	572	596	593
Berlin, Germany			300	549	549	555	572
Brussels, Belgium		1,139	1,639	2,079	2,088	2,310	2,467
London, England			1,650	1,995	2,041	2,197	2,180
Copenhagen, Denmark							598

Note

• In 2019-20 the Scottish Government moved to a Total Operating Cost model of accounting, this means from that year on each budget includes a contribution to Corporate Running Costs that is set each year.
• The Canada and France Offices became operational in the course of 2018-19. Prior to this, the United States budget (which was called the North America Budget at that time) included the costs for a post based in Toronto.
• Prior to 2018-19 the budgets for London, Dublin and Berlin (while these offices were being established) were not identified separately. They were funded from within a larger budget line and were not accounted for separately.
• 2017-18 was the first year in which the Brussels Office had a separate budget line, it was previously funded from within a larger budget and was not accounted for separately.
• 2016-17 was the first year in which the United States and China Offices had separate budget lines. Prior to this they were funded from within budgets that contained other elements and were not accounted for separately.

The number of international offices, annual running costs and number of staff employed

The table below details where our international offices are situated including number of staff in each office and annual budget allocation. The budget covers staffing, running costs and all activities of each office as well as a wider programme of policy, trade and cultural events. 

OFFICE	BUDGET FOR (2022-23)	STAFF HEADCOUNT
Beijing, China	567,000	4
Berlin, Germany	572,000	3
Brussels, Belgium	2,467,000	17
Copenhagen, Denmark	598,000	3
Dublin, Ireland	593,000	3
London, England	2,180,000	16
Ottawa, Canada	634,000	4
Paris, France	659,000	3
Washington DC, United States	794,000	5

How many international offices are planned

The Scottish Government has committed to opening an office in Warsaw by the end of this parliamentary session as part of our continued commitment to enhancing our external reach and voice.

The remit of our international offices

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

How is their performance measured, what they have achieved to date and their return on investment

Each Scottish Government International Office submits a monitoring and evaluation report for each financial year in order to monitor the offices’ effectiveness; to ensure they are achieving their objectives; and that they provide value for money. You can find the most recent Monitoring and Evaluation report here.

The Scottish Government does not estimate the economic benefit of each of our individual overseas offices. The Scottish Government overseas offices measure activities, output and successes using a range of qualitative data, such as feedback provided by stakeholders, media articles or case studies, and quantitative data such as social media performance, event statistics and investment data. This data allows offices to report against the five shared strategic outcomes (Reputation, International Trade, Research and Innovation, Investment, Scotland’s interests).

Additionally, colleagues both in Scotland and in our overseas offices across Scottish Government and Scottish Development International contribute together towards trade and investment measures for international sales and jobs. Our offices work across geographies and on a sectoral basis to engage in the wide range of activities which contribute to trade and inward successes. The work to attract investment by the Scottish Government offices both at home and overseas has helped increase foreign direct investment into Scotland by 14% in 2021, compared to 5.4% across Europe, and just 1.4% across the UK as a whole, according to Ernst and Young Scotland Attractiveness Survey 2022.

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.