Events at Bute House costs: FOI release
- Published
- 11 February 2026
- Directorate
- Scottish Procurement and Property Directorate
- Topic
- Public sector
- FOI reference
- FOI/202500494251
- Date received
- 17 November 2025
- Date responded
- 11 December 2025
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
Information requested
In your response for FOI/202500475367 you state these are the incurred catering costs. Can you please provide all of the costs for the hosting of the event including all payment staff in attendance for serving, clearing and preparation of the rooms, planning, security, drivers, sending invitations, transport where provided for guests, any accommodation costs for guests if paid for by the Scottish government.
Response
Some of the information you have requested is unavailable as the activates carried out fall under the normal day to day duties of the teams within Bute House.
“clearing and preparation of the rooms, planning, security, sending invitations” are all part of day to day roles of staff in Bute House and we would not be able to put a cost against these activities.
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.
Accommodation
I can confirm no accommodation costs have been paid by the Scottish Government for any of the events in the date range you have requested.
Drivers and transport for guests
The Government Car Service (GCS) operates its vehicles and drivers as a shared resource. As a result, they frequently cover multiple customers throughout the day, and individual costs are not recorded. Therefore, in instances where Ministers may have used GCS to attend any event at Bute House, individual related costs are not held.
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.
Service Staff
I have included the original list of engagement sessions with the addition of labour costs for these events. The labour costs cover catering staff including chefs and service staff between 29 March 2023 to 10 July 2025: this can be found in Annex A.
ANNEX A
|
Date |
Event |
Invoice total |
Labour Costs |
|
26/10/2023 |
Lunch with Miguel Berger, German Ambassador to the UK |
£603.09 |
£341.20 |
|
31/10/2023 |
Investor Panel Presentation and Dinner |
£1,516.20 |
£631.40 |
|
07/11/2023 |
Reception for Race the World Champions |
£1,362.10 |
£563.60 |
|
16/11/2023 |
Scottish Cities Alliance Leadership Group Dinner |
£1,376.21 |
£638.36 |
|
17/11/2023 |
Meeting with Jewish Community |
£250.00 |
£93.50 |
|
22/11/2023 |
Lunch with Michelle O’Neill, FM-designate of Northern Ireland |
£449.10 |
£271.20 |
|
07/12/2023 |
Dinner with the Director of the Edinburgh International Festival, Nicola Benedetti |
£129.56 |
|
|
08/12/2023 |
Reception for care experienced young adults |
£1,376.18 |
£608.38 |
|
14/12/2023 |
Christmas Media Reception |
£2,405.37 |
£1,013.17 |
|
18/12/2023 |
Lunch with Manar Dabbas, Jordanian Ambassador to the UK |
£563.73 |
£298.38 |
|
16/01/2024 |
Institute of Directors: Director of the Year Award Winners Reception |
£1,643.47 |
£677.32 |
|
19/03/2024 |
FSB Small Business Awards Reception |
£1,497.43 |
£605.32 |
|
28/03/2024 |
Interfaith Iftar Reception |
£2,788.62 |
£677.32 |
|
15/04/2024 |
Lunch with Pedro Serrano, EU Ambassador to the UK |
£538.68 |
£303.08 |
|
29/04/2024 |
Vaisakhi Reception |
£5,362.55 |
£1,266.95 |
|
07/08/2024 |
All Festivals Reception |
£2,294.33 |
£829.23 |
|
14/08/2024 |
Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo Reception |
£1,812.14 |
£545.94 |
|
10/09/2024 |
Reception for World Schools Debating Championship winners |
£1,219.00 |
£506.80 |
|
19/09/2024 |
Sir Jim McDonald, Principal of the University of Strathclyde and Scottish Energy Advisory Board co-chair, Juergen Maier Chair of Great British Energy, and Gillian Martin MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Net-Zero and Energy |
£713.90 |
£398.00 |
|
28/09/2024 |
Dinner to mark the 25th Anniversary of the Scottish Parliament |
£2,490.40 |
£1,440.90 |
|
01/10/2024 |
Brave@Heart Awards - Edinburgh |
£1,532.80 |
£712.00 |
|
10/10/2024 |
Dinner with Eluned Morgan MS, First Minister of Wales |
£730.00 |
£433.80 |
|
23/10/2024 |
Reception for Afghan Medical Students |
£1,202.20 |
£506.80 |
|
24/10/2024 |
Young Carers Afternoon Tea |
£1,917.10 |
£603.20 |
|
11/11/2024 |
Meeting with Loig Chesnais-Girard, President of the Regional Council of Brittany |
£292.80 |
£192.80 |
|
27/11/2024 |
Bishop Conference Lunch |
£1,013.66 |
£444.66 |
|
10/12/2024 |
Christmas Card Launch with Children First |
£1,036.20 |
£398.00 |
|
16/12/2024 |
Media Reception |
£1,078.65 |
£447.75 |
|
06/01/2025 |
Dinner with Senior Culture Sector Representatives |
£1,917.25 |
£846.45 |
|
13/01/2025 |
Ministerial Code Advisors Lunch |
£448.40 |
£339.20 |
|
04/02/2025 |
Dinner with Scotland's leading Philanthropists |
£805.90 |
£398.00 |
|
05/02/2025 |
Investment Dinner in partnership with Scottish National Investment Bank |
£1,655.05 |
£692.55 |
|
17/02/2025 |
Dinner with Alan Cumming, Artistic Director, Pitlochry Festival Theatre |
£615.55 |
£325.35 |
|
18/02/2025 |
Offshore Wind Investor Dinner |
£1,426.35 |
£447.75 |
|
28/02/2025 |
Lord Justice Retirement Dinner |
£2,199.30 |
£878.13 |
|
04/03/2025 |
India Scotland Business Meet Reception |
£1,892.50 |
£769.50 |
|
14/04/2025 |
EID Reception |
£3,033.30 |
£1,092.00 |
|
22/04/2025 |
Peace Accords Reception |
£2,661.90 |
£1,847.00 |
|
08/05/2025 |
Dinner with Carole Colburn Grigor, Carnegie Medal Reception |
£3,064.02 |
£1,385.77 |
|
18/05/2025 |
Bobby Jones Scholarship Afternoon Tea |
£2,034.40 |
£888.95 |
|
20/05/2025 |
Scottish Curling Reception |
£1,376.75 |
£733.90 |
|
29/05/2025 |
Dinner with Hiroshi Suzuki, Japanese Ambassador to the UK |
£2,070.50 |
£978.75 |
|
02/06/2025 |
Investment Dinner with Martin Gilbert |
£1,029.58 |
£664.33 |
|
05/06/2025 |
Investment Dinner with Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli |
£1,031.22 |
£664.32 |
|
11/06/2025 |
EU Ambassador Roundtable |
£730.00 |
£342.95 |
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