Information regarding the ScotAccount platform: FOI release

Information requested

You requested the following information:

Could you supply all documentation held about the ScotAccount platform, including correspondence sent and received (including internal), minutes/notes from meetings, briefing and analysis, from the last two months?

• How much has been spent on this, with a breakdown of costs and how many people are on it?

Response

We have interpreted "the last two months" as the period from 29 April 2026 to 29 June 2026 and have addressed your request under the two headings below.

Request 1

Could you supply all documentation held about the ScotAccount platform, including correspondence sent and received (including internal), minutes/notes from meetings, briefing and analysis, from the last two months?

While we aim to provide information wherever possible, we are unable to provide the information requested. 

The information requested covers all documentation relating to the ScotAccount programme over a two month period, including internal and external correspondence, meeting records, briefings and analysis. We estimate that identifying, locating, retrieving and collating all information falling within the scope of your request would require searches across multiple teams, mailboxes, document repositories and collaboration systems. The volume of material generated during the period specified means that the cost of complying with this request would exceed the upper cost limit of £600 prescribed under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA).

We are therefore refusing this part of your request under section 12(1) of FOISA.

In accordance with section 15 of FOISA, we would be happy to provide advice and assistance to help you refine your request so that it may fall within the statutory cost limit. For example, you may wish to:

• restrict your request to correspondence involving specific officials or teams;
• request briefing material prepared for Ministers or senior officials;
• focus on a particular ScotAccount project, workstream or subject area; or
• reduce the time period covered by your request.

Should you wish to submit a narrowed request, we would be happy to consider it.

Request 2

How much has been spent on this, with a breakdown of costs and how many people are on it?

The total recorded spend and breakdown of resource and capital costs on the ScotAccount Programme since inception is set out below:

Year	Resource	Capital	Total Spend
2018-19	£636,562	£0	£636,562
2019-20	£1,814,297	£0	£1,814,297
2020-21	£295,204	£1,656,429	£1,951,633
2021-22	£552,959	£4,859,352	£5,412,311
2022-23	£1,075,394	£7,469,048	£8,544,442
2023-24	£1,440,186	£8,079,450	£9,519,636
2024-25	£2,234,832	£6,503,819	£8,738,651
2025-26	£3,735,747	£3,747,061	£7,482,808
Total	£11,785,181	£32,315,159	£44,100,340

Approximately 49 Scottish Government staff currently work on, or support, the ScotAccount programme, encompassing policy, delivery and technical roles.

As background information which may be of interest, the Scottish Government has previously published information about ScotAccount programme costs in response to an FOI request:

• Digital identity accounts: FOI release - gov.scot

In addition, the Scottish Government provides six-monthly updates on major ICT projects, including the ScotAccount Programme, to the Public Audit Committee:

• Major ICT Projects Spring update SG to PAC 29 June 2026
• Major ICT Projects Autumn update SG to PAC 18 November 2025

These documents are publicly available online.

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.