Government support for the former First Minister after they leave office: FOI release

Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.


Information requested

  1. What government support does the former First Minister receive after they leave office? Full list of these, including cost and whether Nicola Sturgeon accepted it.
  2. Do they have access to any sort of car service after they leave office? If so, what service is this and how much does it cost?
  3. All correspondence received and sent by Nicola Sturgeon regarding her resignation in February and March this year?

Response

  1. A Former First Minister does not receive Private Office support after they demit office.
  2. A Former First Minister does not retain access to the Government Car Service after they demit office.
  3. 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.

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. For example, you could narrow the scope of emails you are requesting as this would limit the number of emails within the scope of the request. 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 http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

Contact

Please quote the FOI reference
Central Enquiry Unit
Email: ceu@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000

The Scottish Government
St Andrews House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

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