WAVE Trust donation offer to former Deputy First Minister: FOI release

Information requested

I am requesting the following information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), relating to the donation offer made by Mr Hosking prior to the meeting between the then Deputy First Minister and representatives of the WAVE Trust on 1 June 2022.

This request concerns matters not addressed in FOI/202400419507, FOI/202400403349, or subsequent Parliamentary Questions.

Please provide any information showing whether the then Deputy First Minister reported the donation offer to any of the following:

• the Permanent Secretary,
• the Propriety & Ethics team,
• the Cabinet Secretariat,
• any Scottish Government official,
• any Ministerial Private Office official.

Please provide all documentation relating to any such report.

Please provide any information showing whether the then Deputy First Minister reported the donation offer to Police Scotland as a potential breach of section 1 of the 2010 bribery act or to any other external oversight or regulatory body.

Please provide all documentation relating to:

• any communication with Police Scotland,
• any internal consideration of reporting the offer,
• any assessment of whether the offer engaged criminal or regulatory thresholds,
• any decision making notes explaining why reporting was or was not undertaken.

Please provide any internal communications in which officials discussed:

• whether the donation offer should be reported,
• whether the offer raised propriety concerns,
• whether the offer engaged paragraph 3.22 of the Ministerial Code,
• whether the offer engaged any statutory reporting obligations.

Please provide all documentation relating to these discussions.

Please provide any information showing whether the then Deputy First Minister or his Private Office:

• sought advice on whether the donation offer should be reported,
• received advice on reporting obligations,
• received advice on perception or propriety risks.

Please provide all documentation relating to any advice sought or received.

Response

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we do not have any of the information you have requested – this is because the then-Deputy First Minister did not engage with or accept Mr Hosking's offer of a donation to a charity of his choice. The meeting was arranged entirely independently of this offer. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

All of the information regarding the meeting between the then-Deputy First Minister and the CEO of the WAVE Trust on 1 June 2022 is already available as part of previous Freedom of Information releases 202400403349, 202400419507 and 202600531607, as well as our response to Parliamentary Question S7W-01524.

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.