Specific Scottish Government electronic purchasing cards (ePC) charges: FOI Review

Information requested

Original request: 202400437794

1) All the purchases on the Scottish Government electronic purchasing cards from September 2023 onwards which relates to expenditure directly for Scottish Ministers. For example, expenditure related to their personal travel, accommodation, food, items for their ministerial office etc. Please provide every single purchase (including those under £500) that has occurred on these cards from September 2023 onwards for every single Scottish Minister in that time.

2) What tickets were purchased on the electronic purchasing cards on 05/06/2024 for £1,854.30, who the tickets were purchased for (please state the job title’s if they’re in government including whether any ministers were in attendance) and what the reason for purchasing them was.

3) What tickets were purchased on the electronic purchasing cards on 11/06/2024 for £1,024.50, who the tickets were purchased for (please state the job title’s if they’re in government including whether any ministers were in attendance) and what the reason for purchasing them was.

4) Who attended the dinner at Howies Waterloo Place on 16/05/2024 which cost £713.44 on the Scottish Government’s purchasing cards (please state the job title’s if they’re in government including whether any ministers were in attendance) and what the reason for the dinner was.

5) Who attended the dinner at Howies Victoria Street on 21/05/2024 which cost £1,415.50 on the Scottish Government’s purchasing cards (please state the job title’s if they’re in government including whether any ministers were in attendance) and what the reason for the dinner was.

6) What was the reason for spending £712.80 for the services of Kldiscovery Ontrack on 22/05/2024.

Response

Further to my letter of 28 January 2025, I have now completed my review of our failure to respond to your request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) In accordance with section 21(4) of FOISA, I have also reached a decision on your request and please accept my apologies for not responding to your initial request.

I can now provide our response to your original request.

Your request

Your review request asked “May I request an update on the freedom of information request given the reference number 202400437795. I cannot find any update in my inbox since being given the reference number so apologies if I have missed the response but if I have not been given a response could I please get an update on when I can expect one? I have pasted the original request below with an attachment I provided to the request.”

Your original request asked for:

“The receipts for all transactions made by Mairi Gougeon that are set out in the attached freedom of information response and the reasons for each transaction”.

Following on from your initial request with reference 202400432845, I enclose a copy of some of the information you have requested in Annex A. I have numbered each transaction sequentially for ease of reading and have excluded the transaction against Angela Constance MSP as your request relates to Mairi Gougeon MSP.

The Scottish Government does not hold some of the information you have requested, and I therefore formally notify you that this information is exempt under FOISA Section 17(1). This exemption has been applied to transactions 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 15, 17 and 18. In accordance with FOISA although I have had to apply this exemption as some receipts are not held, it may be useful for you to know that, in cases where receipts were not provided or retained, in line with the Scottish Government’s Travel and Subsistence policies, the cardholder has reimbursed the Scottish Government for the cost of the full transaction.

Engagements and expenses incurred while on Government business are proactively published and is available here: Ministerial engagements, travel and gifts ‐ gov.scot

Some of the information is exempt under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party, for example credit card details and names, 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. The information has been redacted.

Certain information has been redacted pursuant to Section 39(1) FOISA, which pertains to health, safety, and the environment. The redacted content includes sensitive details concerning a high-profile public official. Disclosure of this information could reasonably be expected to endanger the physical and cyber safety of the individual and exacerbate the security threats they face. Additionally, a pattern has been identified regarding the information and therefore given the high-profile nature of the individual, the release of such information could significantly increase the likelihood of targeted threats.

In applying the public interest test, we have carefully considered the balance between transparency and the potential harm that could arise from disclosure. While there is a public interest in promoting openness and accountability, this must be weighed against the risk to the individual's safety and security. On balance, we believe it is in the public interest to withhold the information to prevent any potential endangerment to the individual.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI 202500450004 - Information Released - Annex A

File type

PDF

File size

176.5 kB