Alcohol spend for Scottish Government hosted events: FOI release

Information requested

1. How much has the Scottish Government spent on alcohol for drinks receptions and parties in the last three years (2021, 2022, 2023) and breakdown of these costs per year (i.e what kind of alcohol was purchased and for what purpose)?

2. How much has the Scottish Government spent on drinks receptions and parties in the last three years (2021, 2022, 2023) and breakdown of these costs?

3. Does the Scottish Government operate a media briefing room and if so how much has this cost? Breakdown of cost.

4. How much has the Scottish Government spent on wine and whisky in the last three years (2021, 2022, 2023), for events and breakdown of type of wine and whisky and per year and costs?

5. How many shredders does the Scottish Government own? How many have been purchased in the last three years (2021, 2022 and 2023), and overall costs of these, with a breakdown of these costs per year?

Response

Response to questions 1, 2 & 4 – Spend on alcohol

In questions 1 & 2 you have asked about spend on alcohol at drinks receptions and parties. These are not terms that have been used to describe any events in the period under question. We are therefore reporting spend on alcohol at events hosted by The Scottish Government such as, a reception in connection with the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Providing alcohol at Government expense is allowed when official hospitality is at a restaurant or at a reception, where a modest amount can be provided in line with the Scottish Government policy. Alcohol can be purchased though catering contractors (including The Scottish Government’s catering supplier) and via electronic purchasing cards (ePC) where this has been previously approved at Director level as per new ePC policy (2024).Scottish Government staff are not permitted to seek reimbursement for alcohol under Travel and Subsistence (T&S) claims rules.

Question 1

How much has the Scottish Government spent on alcohol for drinks receptions and parties in the last three years (2021, 2022, 2023) and breakdown of these costs per year (i.e what kind of alcohol was purchased and for what purpose)?

Response to question 1

The table below sets out spend on alcohol at all events hosted by The Scottish Government during 2021, 2022 and 2023. Only wine and/or whisky was served at these events. No further details on the type of alcohol are available.

Product	Jan 21 - Dec 21	Jan 22 - Dec 22	Jan 23 - Dec 23
Wine - Red	£50.40	£731.00	£285.60
Wine - White	£33.60	£869.40	£357.00
Wine - Not Specified	£5,001.67	£4,692.00	£3,126.00
Whisky	£3,268.88	£2,018.57	£2,081.95

Question 2

How much has the Scottish Government spent on drinks receptions and parties in the last three years (2021, 2022, 2023) and breakdown of these costs?

Response to question 2

The table below sets out total spend on all events hosted by The Scottish Government during 2021, 2022 and 2023 and is made up of spend on alcohol, food, labour, transport, entertainment, AV, photography, Invitations and equipment. No further details on the type of alcohol served at these events is available.

Product	Jan 21 - Dec 21	Jan 22 - Dec 22	Jan 23 - Dec 23
Wine	£5,085.67	£6,292.40	£3,768.60
Whisky	£3,268.88	£2,018.57	£2,081.85
Food	£11,924.50	£15,717.13	£8,149.76
Labour	£1,073.90	£4,349.23	£1,588.12
Transport/ Equipment	£2,345.00	£3,917.50	£2,440.00
Entertainment/ Piper	£2,899.40	£2,236.88	£1,262.45
Audio Visual	£3,306.35	£0.00	£916.20
Photographer	£731.00	£375.00	£192.50
Invitations	£163.97	£0.00	£0.00

Question 4

How much has the Scottish Government spent on wine and whisky in the last three years (2021, 2022,2023), for events and breakdown of type of wine and whisky and per year and costs?

Response to question 4

The table below sets out spend on wine and whisky at all events hosted by The Scottish government during 2021, 2022 and 2023. No further details on the type of alcohol is available.

Product	Jan 21 - Dec 21	Jan 22 - Dec 22	Jan 23 - Dec 23
Wine - Red	£50.40	£731.00	£285.60
Wine - White	£33.60	£869.40	£357.00
Wine - Not Specified	£5,001.67	£4,692.00	£3,126.00
Whisky	£3,268.88	£2,018.57	£2,081.95

Question 3 – Media Centre

Does the Scottish Government operate a media briefing room and if so how much has this cost? Breakdown of cost.

Response to question 3

The Scottish Government has a Media Centre in St Andrews House, Edinburgh - The Media Centre is not solely a ‘media briefing room’. The media centre is used by Ministers and core Scottish Government colleagues.

The Media Centre is used to provide the First Minister and other Ministers support with briefings and press conferences to the public, as well as a bookable space for Scottish Government colleagues.

£20K per year is the full media centre contract. The maintenance/service contract is £7,977.44pa with the remaining for improvement works with our contractor.

Question 5 - Shredders

How many shredders does the Scottish Government own? How many have been purchased in the last three years (2021, 2022 and 2023), and overall costs of these, with a breakdown of these costs per year?

Response to question 5

The Scottish Government does not purchase shredders centrally. They are purchased, as required, by individual Directorates. This type of purchase could be made either using the contract for the supply of ‘stationery items’ or directly with other suppliers and could be paid for using electronic purchasing cards (ePC) or, the Scottish Government’s electronic purchase to pay system (EASEbuy).

As our finance system does not have an account code specifically for shredders, any search would rely on a review of all purchases made against Office Equipment. After a line-by-line search, the following
information has been retrieved from the electronic purchasing card (ePC) transaction database in relation to shredders in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

Product	Jan 21 - Dec 21	Jan 22 - Dec 22	Jan 23 - Dec 23
Shredder Spend	£475.37	£491.66	£382.51
Number of Shredders	4	6	4

The figures in the above table relate to ePC purchases only, they do not include any shredders purchased through EASEbuy as identifying any shredders purchased by these means would require a manual search of every transaction made during the periods specified.

Therefore, while our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the costs of locating, retrieving and providing the information requested would exceed the upper cost limit of £600. Under section 12 of FOISA public authorities are not required to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying would exceed the upper cost limit, which is currently set at £600 by Regulations made under section 12.

You may, however, wish to consider reducing the scope of your request in order that the costs can  be brought below £600. You may also find it helpful to look at the Scottish Information  Commissioner's 'Tips for requesting information under FOI and the EIRs' on his website at: https://www.itspublicknowledge.info/how-do-i-ask

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