Details of travel to Shetland by Transport Scotland officials: FOI release

Information requested

How often the (i) Director of Ferries and (ii) any other Transport Scotland ferry officials travelled to Shetland in each of the last 5 years.

Please provide the methods of transport used by Transport Scotland officials to attend the Shetland Area external transport forum meetings in Lerwick for each meeting in each of the last 5 years.

Response

I enclose a copy of most of the information you requested.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. This is because some staff no longer work in the Ferries Directorate and were unable to be contacted.

How often the (i) Director of Ferries and (ii) any other Transport Scotland ferry officials travelled to Shetland in each of the last 5 years.

	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	2026
Directors (including current Director’s tenure as Head of Ferries)	0	3	4	4	3	0
Other Transport Scotland Ferries Officials	0	3	7	10	14	3

Methods of transport used by Transport Scotland officials to attend the Shetland Area external transport forum meetings in Lerwick for each meeting in each of the last 5 years.

	March	May/June	September	December
2021	Online Attendance	Online Attendance	Online Attendance	Online Attendance
2022	Online Attendance	Official 1) Car, ferry Official 2) Bus, train, ferry Official 3) Train, ferry	Meeting cancelled due to national mourning	Official 1) Car, ferry Official 2) Bus, train, ferry
2023	Official 1) Car, ferry Official 2) Bus, train, ferry	Official 1) Train, ferry Official 2) Bus, train, ferry	Official 1) Car, ferry Official 2) Bus, train, ferry	Official 1) Car passenger, ferry Official 2) Car, ferry (with car)
2024	Official 1) Car, ferry Official 2) Train, bicycle, ferry Official 3) Train, ferry Official 4) Train, ferry	Official 1) Car, ferry Official 2) Bus, train, ferry	Official 1) Car, ferry Official 2) Bus, train, ferry	Official 1) Car, ferry Official 2) Bus, train, ferry Official 3) Train, ferry
2025	Online Attendance	Official 1) Train, ferry Official 2) Train, ferry	Official 1) Car, ferry Official 2) Bus, train, ferry	Official 1) Car, ferry Official 2) Bus, train, ferry
2026	Official 1) Train, ferry Official 2) Bus, train, ferry Official 3) Train, ferry. Return journey – Flight, bus, train.

*All ferry journeys were taken as foot passengers except on one occasion in December 2023.

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.