Governance, staffing arrangements and performance management of the Techscaler contract: FOI release

Information requested

I am writing to request information regarding the governance, staffing arrangements, and performance management of the £42 million Techscaler contract. Specifically, I am investigating the circumstances, operational discussions, and secondment arrangements involving Scottish Government personnel transitioning to the delivery partner, CodeBase.

1. Information Requested Please provide copies of all official and unofficial communications (including emails, meeting minutes, briefing notes, Microsoft Teams chats, and informal messages such as WhatsApp or Signal) sent between or copying any of the following individuals:

• [REDACTED (section 38(1)(b)] (in both his Scottish Government capacity and subsequent CodeBase capacity)
• Stephen Coleman (CEO, CodeBase)
• Steven Drost (CSO, CodeBase)
• Jon Hope (Scottish Government)

2. Scope of the Search & Keywords Please restrict the search of these specific individuals' communications to correspondence that contains any of the following topics or keywords:

• Discussions regarding the secondment of [REDACTED (section 38(1)(b)] from the Scottish Government to Techscaler/CodeBase.
• The phrase "ministerial assurance" (or discussions regarding how to assure Ministers of the programme's delivery/performance).
• Discussions regarding Techscaler KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) or performance metrics.
• The "VP Regional Engagement" role.
• Mentions of [REDACTED (section 38(1)(b)] in the context of the VP Regional Engagement role, team restructuring, or contract delivery.

3. Timeframe Please limit this search to the "Spring and Summer 2023" period: 1 March 2023 to 31 August 2023.

4. Statutory Obligations & Pre-emptive Exemption Mitigation To ensure strict compliance with FOISA and prevent unnecessary delays, please note the following:

• Section 3(2)(b) (Information held by a contractor): I politely remind the authority that communications regarding the delivery, KPIs, and staffing of the Techscaler contract held by Stephen Coleman and Steven Drost on behalf of the Scottish Ministers are fully subject to FOISA.
• Section 38(1)(b) (Personal Data): I am strictly investigating the institutional governance, public accountability, and contractual management of a £42m taxpayer-funded programme. I am entirely content for the intimate HR details of the secondment (e.g., specific salary negotiations, home addresses, or purely private employment data) to be redacted. I am solely seeking the high-level operational discussions regarding how the secondment was structured to manage KPIs, ministerial assurance, and the transition of the VP Regional Engagement role.
• Section 30 (Free and Frank Exchange of Views): If the authority considers applying Section 30 to discussions around "ministerial assurance" or KPIs, I remind you that the Public Interest Test heavily favours disclosure. The mechanics of how the Scottish Government seconds its own staff to a private contractor to manage the KPIs of a £42m public contract is a matter of profound public interest, transparency, and accountability. The public has a right to know how ministerial assurance was being actively managed between the contractor and the state.

Response

Please note that the request incorrectly states that Jon Hope is or has been employed by the Scottish Government. This is inaccurate, he does not and has not held positions in the Scottish Government. He has held Senior Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer, and Interim Chief Executive Officer roles within CodeBase, and any information held or provided here in relation to him is solely in his capacity as a CodeBase employee and in relevance to the delivery of the Techscaler programme.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the costs of locating, retrieving and providing the information requested would exceed the upper cost limit of £600. This is because the search terms specified identified a large volume of information, resulting in estimated costs above the limit set under section 12 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA).

Under section 12 of FOISA, public authorities are not required to comply with a request for information where the authority estimates that the cost of complying would exceed the £600 upper cost limit set by Regulations made under that section.

You may, however, wish to consider reducing the scope of your request in order that the costs can be brought below £600. To do this, you may wish to request information on specific KPI’s, performance metrics or assurances.

You may also find it helpful to look at the Scottish Information Commissioner's 'Tips for requesting information under FOI and the EIRs' on his website at:
http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourRights/Tipsforrequesters.aspx.

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.