Costs for the recent visit by President of the United States of America: FOI Review

Information requested

Original request: 202500478004

1. Cost to the Scottish Government for the recent visit by Donald Trump amd his entourage.

2. Cost of the above visit for police and security.

3. Did the USA contribute anything towards the above costs?

4. Did the UK government contribute anything to the above costs.

Response

Further to my email of 5 September 2025, I have now completed my review of the original Scottish Government response to your request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) (original case number 202500478004) where you requested information on:

“1. Cost to the Scottish Government for the recent visit by Donald Trump and his entourage.
2. Cost of the above visit for police and security.
3. Did the USA contribute anything towards the above costs?
4. Did the UK government contribute anything to the above costs.”

I have reviewed the case and discussed this with the relevant policy teams within Scottish Government. I have set out my response to this below. The original response to requests 1 and 2, was: “An exemption under section s.27(1) of FOISA applies to the information you have requested because we intend to publish that information within 12 weeks of the date of your request. The Scottish Government is working with partners to identify their final costs, and in the interests of openness and transparency the Scottish Government has committed to making details of the costs publicly available, once they are known”.

In regard to the response to request 1 and 2, I have concluded that the original decision is correct and should stand – that section s.27(1) of FOISA can be applied to the information you have requested at the time of request. Officials have confirmed that Scottish Government is still working with partners to identify final costs and also intends to publish that information within 12 weeks of the date of your request which is no later than 22nd October 2025. We will complete a review of the gov.scot website on 23rd October 2025 to confirm if this has been undertaken and we will provide you with a further response under separate cover. Officials have confirmed that at the time of the request, they had some initial, estimate costs however, they did not reflect the actual costs incurred but committed to publishing the information once known and correct. I am therefore upholding the decision to apply section 27(1) to that information at the time of request.

The original response to requests 3 and 4 was: “An exemption under section 28(1) of FOISA (relations within the UK) applies to some of the information requested. This exemption applies because disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially relations between the Scottish Government and the UK Government. It is essential for the effective administration of the UK as a whole that there should be regular, and often private, communications between the Scottish Government, the UK Government and the other devolved administrations. Disclosure of this information will mean that the UK Government will likely to be more reluctant to communicate as frequently and openly with the Scottish Government in future”.

I note that in the original response to you, there is no mention to request number 3 regarding whether the USA contributed anything towards the above costs that you have requested. I view this to have been an oversight within the original response to you and I have outlined this oversight to the relevant officials and Line Management structure to ensure this issue does not happen again.

In response to request 3, I have spoken to officials involved in this matter who have outlined that no discussions have taken place with the United States government regarding the reimbursement of costs for this visit.

In regard to the response to request 4, I have concluded that the original decision is correct and should stand – that section s.28(1) of FOISA has been correctly applied to the information you have requested because disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially, relations between the Scottish Government and the UK Government. This also includes discussions regarding the costs of this visit and whether reimbursement of costs is discussed.

I have spoken to officials relevant to this policy area, and sensitive cost recovery discussions continue with the UK Government. Once final decisions are made between both governments and the relevant costs are made public, as outlined above, I have been informed that this information will also be made public as part of the overall costs of this visit.

Therefore, an exemption under section 28(1) of FOISA (relations within the UK) applies to some of the information at the time this was requested. This exemption applies because disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially, relations between the Scottish Government and the UK Government. This is due to the fact the information relates to UK Government contributions to the total costs of the recent visit by Donald Trump and discussions regarding reimbursements are still ongoing. It is essential for the effective administration of the UK as a whole that there should be regular, and often private, communications between the Scottish Government, the UK Government and the other devolved administrations. Disclosure of this information will mean that the UK Government are likely to be more reluctant to communicate as frequently and openly with the Scottish Government in future.

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 a public interest in disclosing information as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, there is a greater public interest in maintaining close working relationships between the Scottish Government and the UK Government and while discussions about visit reimbursement are ongoing, there is no public interest in disclosing information when that will damage relationships and disrupt future communications.

Finally, I am also aware that, as part of the original response to you, it did not include an acknowledgement email to you, to let you know that your FOI request had been picked up and was under review. This is an action that all officials undertaking an FOI should do and this was missed. Therefore, I have highlighted this oversight to the relevant officials and Line Management structure to ensure this oversight does not happen again.

We will write to you again on, or before, the 22 October 2025 to inform you that the information you requested has now been published.

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.