Request for Referendum costs: FOI release

Information requested

In your email, you requested the following information:

1. Given that the Lord Advocate had at the outset expressed her misgivings that the action would succeed, whose decision was it to proceed?
2. How much did (a) the preparation of the case, and (b) its presentation at the Supreme Court, cost?
3. Will all this expenditure require to be met by the Scottish Government?
4. If this is the case, has the Scottish National Party made, or indicated that it will make, any contribution?

Response

1. Given that the Lord Advocate had at the outset expressed her misgivings that the action would succeed, whose decision was it to proceed?
   Some of the information you have requested is available from the Scottish Government website. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. However, in the interests of being helpful, we have provided links to the relevant material below.
   
   The published reference can be viewed here: Reference to Supreme Court: whether the question for a referendum on Scottish Independence contained in the proposed referendum Bill relates to reserved matters - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
   
   This sets out that the Lord Advocate decided to make a reference.
2. How much did (a) the preparation of the case, and (b) its presentation at the Supreme Court, cost?
   Some of the information you have requested is available from the Scottish Government website. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. However, in the interests of being helpful, we have provided links to the relevant material below: Independence referendum Supreme Court referral: legal costs - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
   
   The spending on the Lord Advocate’s reference to the Supreme Court as published on 22 September 2022 was on external legal fees. An additional £350 has been spent on Supreme Court filing fees[RW1] [PC2].
   
   As set out in our responses to PQ S6W-09691 (available at S6W-09691 | Scottish Parliament Website) and PQ S6W-11576, the Scottish Government intends to proactively publish information about the costs of the litigation and will be publishing updated costs of the reference, including a breakdown of them, in December. Accordingly, an exemption under Section 27 (information intended for future publication) applies to some of the information you have requested. This exemption allows public authorities to refuse to disclose information if they already plan to publish it within the next 12 weeks. The reasons why this exemption applies are set out in Annex B.
3. Will all this expenditure require to be met by the Scottish Government?
   Some of the information you have requested is available from the Scottish Parliament website. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. However, in the interests of being helpful, we have provided links to the relevant material below: Written question and answer: S6W-11224 | Scottish Parliament Website
   
   As set out in answer to PQ S6W-11224 the costs of the Supreme Court referral are being met from the 2022-23 Government Business and Constitutional Relations budget line.
4. If this is the case, has the Scottish National Party made, or indicated that it will make, any contribution?
   This is a formal notice under Section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. The Scottish Government and the Scottish National Party are separate organisations. There are no funding arrangements between the Scottish Government and the Scottish National Party.

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.

Annex B - 202200331890

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