Baby Box information: FOI release

Information requested

1. The number of Baby Boxes handed out by the Scottish Government for each financial year since it was launched.

2. The cost to the Scottish Government for the Baby Box, broken down by financial year.

3. Any difference in cost versus budget (i.e. £1million over/underspend) for each financial year in relation to the Baby Box.

4. The amount of money spent by calendar year on promotional or marketing activities relating to the Baby Box.

Response

1. The number of Baby Boxes handed out by the Scottish Government for each financial year since it was launched.

Scottish Government only holds information on the number of Baby Boxes distributed each calendar year. Below are the details of Baby Boxes distributed since the policy began on 15 August 2017:

Time period	Baby Boxes distributed within period
Quarter 3 2017	6,171
Quarter 4 2017	11,730
2018	47,702
2019	46,266
2020	45,877
2021	43,079
2022	41,207
2023	41,117
2024	40,712

2. The cost to the Scottish Government for the Baby Box, broken down by financial year.

Since the Baby Box programme began the costs in each financial year have been:

Financial Year	Baby Box Programme Costs
2016/17	£186,493.27
2017/18	£7,527,764.49
2018/19	£8,704,115.39
2019/20	£8,500,000.00
2020/21	£8,300,000.00
2021/22	£7,900,000.00
2022/23	£6,900,000,00
2023/24	£7,977,615.71
2024/25	£6,027,000.00

3. Any difference in cost versus budget (i.e. £1million over/underspend) for each financial year in relation to the Baby Box.

Since the start of Baby Box Programme in August 2017 the Scottish Government recorded an underspend every year against the allocated budget, which is detailed below:

Financial Year	Budget	Baby Box Programme Cost	Underspend
2017/18	£8,800,000	£7,527,764.49	£1,272,235.51
2018/19	£8,800,000	£8,704,115.39	£95,884.61
2019/20	£8,800,000	£8,500,000	£300,000
2020/21	£8,800,000	£8,300,000	£500,000
2021/22	£9,040,000	£7,900,000	£1,140,000
2022/23	£9,040,000	£6,900,000	£2,140,000
2023/24	£9,040,000	£7,977,615.71	£1,062,384.29
2024/25	£9,040,000	£6,027,000	£3,013,000

4. The amount of money spent by calendar year on promotional or marketing activities relating to the Baby Box.

The Scottish Government has spent no money on promotional or marketing activities relating to the Baby Box since the Baby Box programme began on 15 August 2017.

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.