Overall spend on Scottish Government's bonds plan: FOI release

Information requested

How much has the Scottish Government spent overall on its bonds plan, with a breakdown per costs?

Response

To date, the Scottish Government has spent a total of £455,193.71 over the financial years 2024-25 and 2025-26 on costs relating to the Scottish Government’s inaugural Bonds Programme, excluding VAT. This includes all costs incurred on external advice and fees associated with the credit rating process.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide the detailed breakdown of costs you have requested because of exemptions under section 33(1 (b) (commercial interest) of FOISA. The reasons why these exemptions are applied to the requested information is explained below.

Exemptions under section 33(1)(b) of FOISA (commercial interest) apply to some of the information requested. This exemption applies because disclosure of this particular information would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the commercial sensitivities of the Scottish Government. This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. We recognise that there is a public interest in disclosing information as part of open and transparent government, and to help account for the expenditure of public money. However, there is a greater public interest in protecting the commercial interests of the Scottish Government to ensure that we are always able to obtain the best value for public money.

For all publicly accessible information on the bonds programme more generally, please visit: Scottish Government bonds - Investment finance - gov.scot.

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.