Independence paper launch event 19 June 2023: FOI release

Information requested

• How many members of the First Minister’s Visits and Events team were present at the latest independence paper launch in Atlantic Quay in Glasgow on 19th June?
• What are their grades and respective salaries?
• What was each of their specific roles on the day?
   

• How many members of the First Minister’s private secretary team were present at the latest independence paper launch in Atlantic Quay in Glasgow on 19th June?
• What are their grades and respective salaries?
• What was each of their specific roles on the day?
   

• How many of the First Minister’s special advisors were present at the latest independence paper launch in Atlantic Quay in Glasgow on 19th June?
• What are their grades and respective salaries?
• What was each of their specific roles on the day?
   
• How many Communications officers were present at the latest independence paper launch in Atlantic Quay in Glasgow on 19th June?
• What are their grades and respective salaries?
• What was each of their specific roles on the day?
   
• How many other Scottish government employees were present at the latest independence paper launch in Atlantic Quay in Glasgow on 19th June?
• What are their grades and respective salaries?
• What was each of their specific roles on the day?
   
• How many journalists were invited? Not including camera, photographer or equipment workers, just journalists.
• How many journalists attended? Not including camera, photographer or equipment workers, just journalists.

Response

Some of the information you have requested is enclosed in the table below.

Business Area	Number of Staff	Grades
First Minister’s Visits and Events Team	4	1 x B3, 2 x B2, 1 x B1
First Minister’s Private Office	1	C2
Special Advisers	6	N/A
Communications (including photographers and audio- visual support)	8	2 x C1, 2 x B3, 3 x B2, 1 x B1
Other	8	1 x SCS Director, 1 x SCS Deputy Director, 3 x C2, 1 x C1, 2 x B2

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some 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.

As part of our commitment to be an open and transparent government we do disclose salary details of Senior Civil Servants and Special Advisers, and details of the salary bands for these roles can be found in the links below.

• Preparations for a second independence referendum: FOI release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
• Senior Civil Service pay: March 2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
• Written question and answer: S6W-00255 | Scottish Parliament Website

The role of all civil servants in attendance at the event cited in your request was to support the Scottish Government in the launch of its publication, Creating a modern constitution for an independent Scotland. I’m afraid it is not possible for me to provide you with more specific details because in line with usual practice, details of individual tasks carried out by civil servants, including the number of hours spent on them, are not routinely recorded as there is no business need to do this. This is a formal notice under S.17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested.

Turning to your final query, 66 journalists were invited to this event and 18 journalists attended this event.

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.