Special adviser expenses: FOI release

Information requested

The details of the special adviser expenses that were published by the Scottish Government here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/special-advisers-gifts-hospitality-media-meetings-and-expenses-april-june-2025/

By details, I mean what accommodation was booked, where the accommodation was, what iExpenses refers to and where the travel was to and from.

Response

Please see the below response which includes all the information you have requested.

1) In reference to your request for “what accommodation was booked and where the accommodation was”, please see the table below.

Accommodation booked	Location
Premier Inn Birmingham	Birmingham
Hotel Indigo Barcelona Plaza Catalunya	Barcelona
Hampton By Hilton Edinburgh Airport	Edinburgh

2) You also asked “what iExpenses refers to”. iExpenses refers to the digital system used by the Scottish Government for the payment and recording of travel and subsistence expenses of employees, where these expenses cannot be booked via the corporate travel management system.

3) You also requested “where the travel was to and from”. Please see the table below.

Origin	Destination
Edinburgh	New York
Edinburgh	Lusaka
Edinburgh	Barcelona
Edinburgh	Barcelona
Lilongwe	Lusaka
London City	Edinburgh
Edinburgh	Belfast
Edinburgh	Birmingham New Street
Edinburgh	Glasgow Queen Street
Stirling	Dundee
Edinburgh	London Euston
Inverkeithing	Edinburgh
Glasgow Central	Cardonald
Edinburgh	Glasgow Central
Cairnryan(refunded)	Belfast (refunded)

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.