Government Car Service fleet mileage statistics: FOI release

Information requested

Information and data held on the actual use made of the ministerial car service by government ministers over the last 10 calendar years, up to and including 2024.

Can you please provide, for each of the last 10 years, a record of:

• The total mileage travelled and aggregated for all government ministers using the car service
• The total mileage travelled by each government minister using the car service
• The total number of journeys travelled and aggregated for all government ministers using the carservice
• The total number of journeys travelled by each government minister using the car service
• The total mileage travelled when the car service was used to transport files and material other than government ministers
• The total number of journeys travelled when the car service was used to transport files and material other than government ministers
• The total mileage travelled and aggregated for all government ministers using the car service when the ministers were accompanied by a relative or family member, including a head count of all such relatives or family members
• The total number of journeys travelled and aggregated for all government ministers using the car service when the ministers were accompanied by a relative or family member
• The total mileage travelled by each government minister using the car service when the minister was accompanied by a relative or family member, including a head count of all such relatives or family members
• The total number of journeys travelled by each government minister using the car service where the minister was accompanied by a relative of family member.

Response

The total mileage travelled and aggregated for all government ministers using the car service.

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 have the information you have asked for regarding total mileage travelled and aggregated for all Government Ministers using the Government Car Service (GCS), for the periods covering 2014 to 2022 as this information has been routinely destroyed prior to the date of your request.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

Government Car Service fleet mileage for years 2023 and 2024.

Year	Total mileage of GCS fleet
2023	542,914
2024	418,593

The total mileage travelled by each government minister using the car service

We do not hold a breakdown of mileage per Minister in the GCS, as vehicles and drivers are operated as shared resources, and as a consequence frequently cover multiple customers throughout that day. We therefore we do not record mileages for individual customers or journeys.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

The total number of journeys travelled and aggregated for all government ministers using the car service

The total number of journeys travelled by each government minister using the car service

An exemption applies to the information you have requested in relation to the total number of journeys travelled both aggregated and individually by each government minister using the GCS.

Some of the information you have requested is already available. All Ministerial car journeys are routinely and proactively published and can be found via the following link: Ministerial engagements, travel and gifts - gov.scot 

Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

Exemption 27(1) applies to the information requested regarding Ministers car journeys from 01 September 2024 to 06 January 2025, as this information will be published in the next 12 weeks.

You will be able to access the information via the link above.

This is a formal notice under section 27(1) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested. This exemption allows public authorities to refuse to disclose information if they already plan to publish it within the next 12 weeks.

Our application of this exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information now outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have concluded that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, since providing this information at this point, given that it will shortly be published, would not be a responsible use of public resources and therefore not be in the public interest.

The total mileage travelled when the car service was used to transport files and material other than government ministers

An exemption applies to the information you have requested for the total mileage travelled when the car service was used to transport files and other material other than government ministers.

We do not hold a breakdown of mileage per Minister in the GCS, as vehicles and drivers are operated as shared resources, and as a consequence frequently cover multiple customers throughout that day. We therefore we do not record mileages for individual journeys.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

The total number of journeys travelled when the car service was used to transport files and material other than government ministers.

An exemption applies to the information you have asked for regarding the total number of journeys travelled when the car service was used to transport files and materials other than government ministers.

The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for, for the period covering 2014 to 2019, as this information has been routinely destroyed prior to the date of your request.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

The number of occasions GCS has been used to transport files and materials other than government ministers for calendar years 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 are provided in the table below.

Year	Number of deliveries
2020	231
2021	96
2022	55
2023	58
2024	59

The total mileage travelled and aggregated for all government ministers using the car service when the ministers were accompanied by a relative or family member, including a head count of all such relatives or family members

An exemption applies to the information you have asked for regarding the total mileage travelled and aggregated for all government ministers using the car service when the ministers were accompanied by a relative or family member, including a head count of all such relatives or family members.

We do not hold a breakdown of mileage per journey in the GCS, as vehicles and drivers are operated as shared resources,and as  a consequence frequently cover multiple customers throughout that day. We therefore we do not record mileages for individual journeys.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

The total number of journeys travelled and aggregated for all government ministers using the car service when the ministers were accompanied by a relative or family member

An exemption applies to the information you have asked for regarding the total number of journeys travelled and aggregated for all government ministers using the car service when the ministers were accompanied by a relative or family member.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information you have asked for, for the period 2014 to 2021, as this information has been routinely destroyed prior to the date of your request.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

Where the Scottish Government holds information on whether a relative or family member accompanied the Minister in the GCS, this has been included in the table below. It is important to note that this information is not recorded for all journeys.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested.

Year	Number of journeys
2022	1
2023	Information not held
2024	4

The total mileage travelled by each government minister using the car service when the minister was accompanied by a relative or family member, including a head count of all such relatives or family members

An exemption applies to the information you have requested regarding the total mileage travelled by each government minister using the car service when the minister was accompanied by a relative or family member, including a head count of all such relatives or family members

We do not hold a breakdown of mileage per journey in the GCS, as vehicles and drivers are operated as shared resources, and as a consequence frequently cover multiple customers throughout that day. We therefore we do not record mileages for individual journeys.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

The total number of journeys travelled by each government minister using the car service where the minister was accompanied by a relative of family member.

An exemption also applies to the information you have requested regarding the total number of journeys travelled by each government minister using the car service where the minister was accompanied by a relative of family member.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information you have asked for, for the period 2014 to 2021, as this information has been routinely destroyed prior to the date of your request.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

Where the Scottish Government holds information on whether a relative or family member accompanied the Minister in the GCS, this has been included in the tables below. It is important to note that this information is not recorded for all journeys.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested.

2022

Minister	Number of journeys
Maree Todd MSP (Minister for Public Health, Women’s Health and Sport	1

2024

Minister	Number of journeys
Angus Robertson MSP (Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs, and Culture)	2
Neil Gray MSP (Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care)	1
Angela Constance MSP (Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs)	1

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