Scottish Government spend on Seagull summit: EIR release

Information requested

1. “The total amount spent by the Scottish Government on anything related to their ‘seagull summit.’

2. The total spend on any planned travel for the First Minister or Scottish Government Ministers to allow them to attend the ‘seagull summit.’

3. A list of attendees to the planned seagull summit.

4. Any briefing prepared for the First Minister or Scottish Government Ministers relating to the ‘seagull summit.’”

Response

As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the Purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

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, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

Question 1

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold the specific information you have requested as we do not hold a total figure for expenditure incurred by the Scottish Government in relation to the recent summit regarding seagulls that took place on 23 September 2025. Therefore, with respect to your request this is a formal notice under Regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs confirming that the Scottish Government does not hold this information.

It may help if I explain that Scottish Government Civil Servants operate flexibly across a range of policies and programmes according to the specific requirements of their work at any given time. They do not, as a matter of course, record the proportion of their time spent working on particular matters. It is therefore not possible to provide a total expenditure figure regarding how much the Scottish Government has spent on work by Civil Servants in relation to the above noted summit.

I can confirm, however, that a total of £281.90 was spent by the Scottish Government in relation the Summit. These costs were for travel and accommodation for Scottish Government Civil Servants attending the summit.

This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. It is important to note that although we do not hold the information and have applied Regulation 10(4)(a) – information not held, it is a requirement that we have to apply the public interest test.

Wider guidance on the Environmental Information regime can be found in the Key Concepts section under ‘Information Not Held’ and ‘The Public Interest Test’ in the attached Scottish Information Commissioner Briefings and Guidance document. Further guidance on the public interest test can also be found on page 8 of the Scottish Information Commissioner guidance.

Question 2

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold the specific information you have requested as we do not hold a total figure for expenditure incurred by the Scottish Government in relation to travel arrangements for Ministers attending the recent summit regarding seagulls that took place on 23 September 2025. Therefore, with respect to your request this is a formal notice under Regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs confirming that the Scottish Government does not hold this information.

It may help if I explain that the Minister for Agriculture & Connectivity, Jim Fairlie, travelled to the summit via the Government Car Service (GCS). The GCS operates its vehicles and drivers as a shared resource. As a result, they frequently cover multiple customers throughout the day, consequently individual journey costs are not recorded.

This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. It is important to note that although we do not hold the information and have applied Regulation 10(4)(a) – information not held, it is a requirement that we have to apply the public interest test.

Wider guidance on the Environmental Information regime can be found in the Key Concepts section under ‘Information Not Held’ and ‘The Public Interest Test’ in the attached Scottish Information Commissioner Briefings and Guidance document. Further guidance on the public interest test can also be found on page 8 of the Scottish Information Commissioner guidance.

Question 3

I have included copies of the information you have requested in .

On reviewing the materials within the scope of your request, a small amount of information has been withheld from the document provided under Regulation 11 – Personal Data as it contains personal information and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and in Section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception is not subject to the ‘public interest test’.

Question 4

I have included copies of the information you have requested in Annex C.

On reviewing materials within the scope of your request, exceptions have been applied in line with the EIRs. The exceptions applied can be found in Annex A.

ANNEX A

A small amount of information has been redacted under Regulation 10(4)(e) (internal communications). This exception 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 exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. We recognise that there is some public interest in releasing the information as part of an open, transparent and accountable government. However, this is outweighed by the greater public interest in allowing Scottish Government officials and ministers a private space to share free and frank views and advice for the purpose of deliberation on any given policy.

A small amount of information has been withheld from the document provided under Regulation 11 – Personal Data as it contains personal information and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and in Section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception is not subject to the ‘public interest test’.

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.

EIR 202500485195 - Information Released - Annex A to Annex D

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