Scottish Government Civic Gathering attendance and costs: FOI release

Information requested

Thank you for your two requests dated 25th April 2025 under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA). Your requests:

• reference 202500462997 - asked for names of all delegates who attended the Civic Gathering of 23rd April 2025; and
• 202500463129 – asked for cost of organising and holding the gathering broken down by categories of costs, including (but not limited to):

a) Room hire

b) Any catering provided

c) Transport for Ministers and attendees to and from the summit

d) Materials purchased for the summit

The number of civil servants involved in organising the summit, broken down by salary banding.

Response

In response to 202500462997, on the delegates that attended the meeting, I am advising you that an exemption under Section 27(1) of FOISA applies to this information. This exemption allows public authorities to refuse to disclose information if they already plan to publish it within the next 12 weeks.

This exemption is subject to the public interest test. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. We recognise that there is some public interest in release because of the hight profile of this event and this will be met by our planned publication. In the meantime, there is a greater public interest in taking the time necessary to ensure the information has been properly collated and checked before it is published as planned. Also, we see no public interest in disrupting our programme of work to release the information ahead of the intended publication date. Each invitee is issued the same information in their invitation - "It is the practice of the Scottish Government to routinely publish the names of guests who have accepted an invitation to attend events hosted by Scottish Ministers." There are no plans to bring forward the release of this information.

Detail on Ministerial engagements proactively published in line with the Scottish Ministerial Code 3 months in arrears. The information will be available at: Ministerial engagements,travel and gifts - gov.scot . If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

In response to 202500463129, I can confirm the costs (incl tax) were £10,213.98 and as follows:

• Room Hire costs of £4080
• Catering costs of £2028
• Materials cost for AV equipment and technical support of £4014.36
• Associated handling costs of £91.62

On the cost of transport for Ministers and attendees to and from the summit, I can confirm formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. Government Car Service vehicles are operated as a shared resource and often cover multiple Ministers and journeys each day, therefore we do not record individual costs of transport for Ministers.

On the number of civil servants involved in organising the summit, broken down by salary banding, I can confirm also under section 17(1) of FOISA that we do not hold this information. Civil servants work on a wide range of events, issues and areas of work simultaneously and intermittently. It is therefore not possible to identify and define the specific numbers, grades and salary time of civil servants involved in the various stages of organising the summit.

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.