Breakdown of spend on social media videos featuring First Minister since May 2024: FOI release

Information requested

1. Could you supply all correspondence sent and received (including internal), which is to/from or mentions the Scottish Information Commissioner, between February 15 2026 and March 25 2026?

2. How much has the Scottish Government spent on social media videos involving John Swinney since May 2024, with a breakdown per year and what the money was spent on?

Response

In response to the first question you have asked, we are unable to provide the information that you have requested. Section 12(1) of FOISA provides that authorities are not obliged to comply with requests for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the prescribed amount. The Freedom of Information (Fees for Required Disclosure) (Scotland) Regulations 2004 set the prescribed amount at £600.

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: After completing my searches for your requested information, I can confirm I have found a significant amount of information that falls within the scope of your request. The costs of processing this information in order to respond to your request exceed the upper cost limit of £600.

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

You may, however, wish to consider reducing the scope of your request in order that the costs can be brought below £600: Please consider whether you can specify particular topics of interest, or particular cases. I can further advise that the large volume of information caught by your request is because you have asked for correspondence that mentions the Commissioner, as well as correspondence to and from the Commissioner. This includes a large amount of standard advice on handling of FOI and EIRs requests, where case handlers are directed to the Commissioner’s guidance. 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: https://www.foi.scot/how-do-i-ask.

In response to the second question you have asked:

Breakdown per year
2024: £0
2025: £7575.06
2026: £275

What the money was spent on :
In 2024, we have no record of expenditure on social media videos featuring John Swinney. This is a formal notice under S.17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not hold that information.

In 2025, we spent £1414.40 on BSL interpretation to support the recording of speeches and press conferences delivered by the First Minister and shared on social media. Additionally, in October 2025, the Scottish Government produced two videos featuring John Swinney to promote the resources available to support young people to take climate action. The videos were produced in-house. They were promoted on social and digital channels with a total spend of £5,249.08. Finally, a videographer was contracted to cover the First Minister’s visit to Zambia at a cost of £911.58, invoiced in December 2025.

In 2026 (until 21 April 2026), we spent £275 on BSL interpretation to support the recording of speeches and press conferences delivered by the First Minister and shared on social media.

Please note that where social media videos were created in-house, this work is taken forward by civil servants as part of their normal duties supporting the Scottish Government. In line with usual practice, details of individual tasks carried out by civil servants, including the number of hours spent on them or the equivalent cost of that work, are not routinely recorded as there is no business need to do this. Additionally, there may be cases where video capture and creation was provided as part of a wider service, but in such cases we would hold no specific breakdown to determine the cost of social media video creation. This is a formal notice under S.17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not hold that information.

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.