Public Relations (PR) spend by the Scottish Government: FOI release

Information requested

1. Total annual expenditure, from 2015 to present, annually, on public relations firms by:

a. The Scottish Government

b. All public bodies (broken down by public body)

2. Total annual expenditure, from 2015 to present, annually, on public relations firms by the Scottish Government, broken down by PR firm hired.

3. Total annual expenditure, from 2015 to present, annually, on public relations firms by all public bodies, broken down by PR firm hired.

4. Value of each contract, from 2015 to present, awarded to public relations firms by the Scottish Government public bodies with the name of each PR firm for each contract.

Response

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. The Scottish Government does not hold information on all public relations expenditure by all public bodies and you would need to approach each public body for details on their expenditure. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested in relation to question 1b, 3 and part of 4.

Question 1a and 2
There is no classification in the Scottish Government system that can be used to identify whether a supplier is a public relations firm. Therefore, the list of companies that have been appointed by Scottish Government Communications to provide public relations services through the Scottish Government Marketing Services Framework has been used and there is a Scottish Government Purchase Order to that firm.

Year	Total Expenditure (excld VAT)	Split by PR Agency (excld VAT)
2015	£458,211.79	3X1: £45,575.62 The Big Partnership: £120,655.26 Weber Shandwick: £50,802.80 Consolidated PR: £68,547.06 Smarts: £158,600.49 LDPR*: £14,030.56
2016	£1,251,429.59	3X1: £88,598.28 The Big Partnership: £141,014.65 Weber Shandwick: £72,496.48 Consolidated PR: £559,058.13 Smarts: £355,770.25 LDPR*: £34,491.80
2017	£1,180,425.51	3X1: £373,773.92 The Big Partnership: £150,000.98 Consolidated PR: £353,341.00 Pagoda: £12,228.00 Smarts: £208,957.04  LDPR*: £82,124.57
2018	£752,829.00	3X1: £208,209.11 The Big Partnership: £141,598.09 Consolidated PR: £9,600.00 Pagoda: £14,193.60 Smarts: £313,234.20  Stripe: £65,994.00
2019	£896,884.97	3X1: £201,526.88 The Big Partnership: £114,537.11 Pagoda: £16,815.60 Smarts: £283,553.38  Stripe: £280,452.00
2020	£1,182,837.17	3X1: £310,041.83 Smarts: £364,058.06 Stripe: £508,737.28
2021	£953,629.23	3X1: £205,432.83 Smarts: £353,324.40 Stripe: £394,872.00
2022	£906,483.05	3X1: £248,312.82 Smarts: £395,893.80 Stripe: £262,276.43
2023	£741,144.91	3X1: £155,413.28 Smarts: £285,709.32 Stripe: £280,683.02 LDPR*: £24,339.29
2024 (up to 8/10/24)	£472,900.65	3X1: £118,089.19 The Big Partnership: £15,767.66 Smarts: £119,764.80 Stripe: £219,279.00

* LDPR was not commissioned through the Scottish Government Marketing Services Framework. This was via a contractual arrangement set up by VisitScotland which names the Scottish Government as a potential user of the contract covering international public relations activity.

Question 4

There is no central register of contracts awarded to public relations agencies by the Scottish Government. Therefore, various searches have been undertaken to gather as much of the information as possible.

The following table sets out the value of the contracts for public relations since 2015 through the Scottish Government Marketing Services Framework where the public relations agency was commissioned by the Scottish Government Communications Division as that team has a register of all contracts placed by them. Please note that the values quoted for these contracts sets the upper limit of value in each case but does not represent the actual value of the work commissioned.

Contract Name	Supplier Name	Contract Value (Excld VAT)
Tram Inquiry - PR	3x1	£150,000
International - PR	3x1	£175,000
Citizens Assembly - PR	3x1	£100,000
CEPH - PR	Consolidated	£300,000
Tobacco Control - PR	Consolidated	£60,000
Safer Communities - PR	Consolidated	£450,000
Healthier Scotland 2016 - PR	Consolidated	£300,000
Migration - PR	Pagoda	£150,000
International - PR	Smarts	£120,000
Safer Roads - PR	Smarts	£125,000
WW100 - PR	Smarts	£120,000
Healthier Scotland - PR	Smarts	£300,000
Safer 2018 - PR	Smarts	£175,000
Safer - PR	Smarts	£750,000
Healthier Scotland - PR	Smarts	£1,200,000
Parental Audience - PR	Smarts	£450,000
Safer - PR	Smarts	£350,000
Parental Audience - PR	Smarts	£50,000
Greener - PR	Stripe	£159,000
Safer - PR	Stripe	£300,000
Parental Audience - PR	Stripe	£200,000
Greener - PR	Stripe	£9,995
Greener - PR	Stripe	£225,000
Smarter Wealthier Fairer - PR	Stripe	£750,000
Scotland - PR	Stripe	£525,000
Greener - PR	Stripe	£600,000
Smarter Wealthier Fairer - PR	Stripe	£1,200,000
Brand Scotland - PR	Stripe	£350,000
Healthier Scotland - PR	Stripe	£350,000
Net Zero - PR	Stripe	£150,000
Smarter, Wealthier and Fairer - PR	The BIG Partnership	£60,000
Smarter, Wealthier and Fairer - PR	The BIG Partnership	£200,000
Supporting Healthy Choices - PR	Weber Shandwick	£50,000
Alcohol - PR	Weber Shandwick	£50,000

The following contracts have been identified from a search of the Scottish Government document management system using a search based on public relations agency name and keyword “contract”.

Poverty & Inequality Commission	3x1	Value based on hourly rate
Commission on Local Tax Reform	3x1	£9,160
Independent Review of Qualifications & Assessment	3x1	£14,959
Just Transition Commission	3x1	£14,000

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