Scottish Government investment in business programmes: FOI release

Information requested

I wish to request the information outlined here. For each of these, I wish to get information about them and their relationship (including financials) with the Scottish Government, Scottish Development International, and their local councils:

• The Foras Programme. There is a company associated with the Foras Programme called SGS Events (SC734746) but Foras Programme activities have existed before its incorporation.
• CodeBase (SC437306), since (and possibly before) its incorporation. Include information regarding the £42 million contract from 2022
• The Turing Fest (SC533170), since (and possibly before) its incorporation.
• The Barclays Eagle Labs Glasgow. I want information from prior to a decision being made on building, any form of financial or tax incentives, any form of sponsorship and funding, contracts, and so on.
• The Techscaler network.
• StartupGrind.

Response

The Scottish Government will seek advice and support from tech sector and entrepreneurship ecosystem participants, including those listed below, for delivery of programmes designed to stimulate and accelerate the maturity of Scotland’s technology ecosystem. By this we mean the system, in its widest sense, that supports and nurtures technology businesses in Scotland, from the early start-up phase through to fully scaled maturity. Where financial support is provided, the recipient must accept the terms and conditions as set out in the funding agreement and maintain ongoing relationships with the Scottish Government on the delivery of funded activity.

Some of the information you have requested, on payments made up until March 2022 is available form https://www.gov.scot/collections/government-spend-over-gbp25000-monthly-reports/ and The successful awards page of the Scottish Technology Ecosystem Fund: FOI release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

Total Scottish Government funding for each organisation, since incorporation and under £25,000 due to payments over this amount already publicly available, is outlined below:

The Foras Programme. / SGS Events (SC734746)

• £13,195.00 for the delivery of the Techscaler Launch event.
• £49,000 for the delivery of Slush Helsinki Trip (Total of trip not disclosed in the expenditure publication due to being paid incrementally)
• £48,432 for the delivery of the Foras NYC Programme (Total of trip not disclosed in the expenditure publication due to being paid incrementally and the period to claim yet to expire)

CodeBase (SC437306)

• 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. The consideration of the number and variety of documents will require the input of a number of individuals across a range of business areas. The combination of the time required to do this and the number of copies needed would take the cost beyond the upper cost limit.
• 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.
• On this occasion your request will be closed however, you may wish to consider submitting a further request in the future with a reduced the scope in order for it not to exceed the upper cost limit of £600. You may wish to narrow the timeframe or specify particular details of the relationship outlined your request.
• If you wish to discuss any of the above, please contact me. 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.

The Turing Fest (SC533170)

• 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. The consideration of the number and variety of documents will require the input of a number of individuals across a range of business areas. The combination of the time required to do this and the number of copies needed would take the cost beyond the upper cost limit.
• 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.
• On this occasion your request will be closed however, you may wish to consider submitting a further request in the future with a reduced the scope in order for it not to exceed the upper cost limit of £600. You may wish to narrow the timeframe or specify particular details of the relationship outlined your request.
• If you wish to discuss any of the above, please contact me. 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.

The Barclays Eagle Labs Glasgow. information from prior to a decision being made on building, any form of financial or tax incentives, any form of sponsorship and funding, contracts, and so on.

• I have conducted searches and I am issuing a formal notice under section 17(1) stating the Scottish Government does not hold any information that falls within scope of your request.

The Techscaler network.

• After an open, competitive public procurement exercise CodeBase were awarded a five year £42m contract as the service provider of Techscaler. CodeBase are subject to the conditions set out in the Techscaler contract and we maintain an ongoing relationship with them to oversee management of this contract.

StartupGrind.

• I have conducted searches and I am issuing a formal notice under section 17(1) stating the Scottish Government does not hold any information that falls within scope of your request.

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.