Burns Night event costs: FOI release
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
Information requested
Could you supply full costs to the Scottish Government of putting on Burns Nights events and promoting the night for all international offices and quangos and the government itself in 2025, with a full breakdown of costs?
Response
I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested in 'ANNEX A'.
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, this is notice that under Section 17 of FOISA the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. The reasons why we don't have the information are explained below.
The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for on the cost of Burns Night events and promotion in other public bodies and non-governmental organisations, because the Scottish Government is not responsible for those bodies or organisations. However, you may wish to directly contact specific public bodies or other organisations subject to Freedom of Information laws if you wish to request this information from them.
The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for on the cost to the Scottish Government of putting on Burns Nights events and promoting of the night for "the government itself". The Scottish Government provided money for a coordinated programme of Burns Night celebrations through the previous Scotland's Winter Festivals fund which ended in 2022, however, since then the Scottish Government has not directly funded a programme supporting domestic Burns celebrations.
Please note, there is neither a specific team nor budget line attached to all the activities related to Burns – either events celebrating Burns in general, his legacy or marketing/PR within other policy programmes, which makes use of Burns as one of a number of Scottish topics.
As such, it is possible that there have been programmes, events and expenditure which, whilst involving Robert Burns, were not flagged specifically as celebrations and not tracked specifically by the Scottish Government.
About FOI
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Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Correspondence Unit
Email: contactus@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG