Programme for Government production costs: FOI release
- Published
- 23 July 2025
- Directorate
- Performance, Delivery and Resilience Directorate
- FOI reference
- FOI/202500465431
- Date received
- 9 May 2025
- Date responded
- 29 May 2025
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
Information requested
How much does it cost to produce the Programme for Government including staff time in a dedicated team including pay grades and publishing costs?
Response
I enclose a copy of most of the information you requested.
The cost of producing the 2025-2026 Programme for Government is set out in the following table:
|
|
Gross price |
|
Programme for Government – main document publication cost |
10,510.46 |
|
Programme for Government – impact assessments publication cost |
568.13 |
|
Programme for Government – sources document publication costs |
465.40 |
|
Total |
11,543.99 |
Our aim is to provide information whenever possible. With regard to "staff time...including pay grades", I can confirm 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. While the coordination of the Programme for Government was led by officials within the First Minister's Strategic Policy Unit, they did so as part of broader roles and responsibilities. At the same time, the process of developing the Programme for Government relies on contributions from officials across the Scottish Government. In either case, it is not the practice of Scottish Government - nor would it be efficient to - itemise staff time across such varied roles. 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 developing the Programme for Government.
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.
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