Temporary prepaid mobile phones purchased by Scottish Government: FOI release

Information requested

1. The number of burner phones purchased by the Scottish Government since 2014-15, with a breakdown by fiscal year.

2. How many of these burner phones were used by Scottish Government Ministers and how many were used by civil servants and special advisors.

3. The total cost of burner phones purchased by the Scottish Government since 2014-15, with a breakdown by fiscal year.

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested.

We understand “burner phones” to be mobile phones that are purchased for anonymous use. The Scottish Government does not purchase “burner phones”. As such this is a formal notice under Section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

In the interests of providing reasonable advice and assistance to your request for information, under Section 15 of FOISA, we have provided information below regarding the use of temporary prepaid mobile phones.

Mobile phones used by the Scottish Government over the period you have inquired about would largely be provided as part of established contracts. In the minority of cases, 9 in total over the period in question, temporary prepaid mobile phones have been identified as being bought and used.

1. The number of burner phones purchased by the Scottish Government since 2014-15, with a breakdown by fiscal year.

Year	Prepaid Phones
2019	2
2020	7

2. How many of these burner phones were used by Scottish Government Ministers and how many were used by civil servants and special advisors.

All 9 of the prepaid phones purchased were used by Civil Servants. These were used (1) to support safe and secure travel of officials working in Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture and (2) to provide continuity of critical services in Marine Scotland at the start of the 2020 COVID lockdown when buildings were initially closed.

3. The total cost of burner phones purchased by the Scottish Government since 2014-15, with a breakdown by fiscal year.

Year	Prepaid Phone Costs
2019	£204
2020	£419.92

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