With only 5 days left, support Talking-up Scotland's work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details or by direct bank transfer method - John Robertson, Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421

Professor John Robertson OBA

From Freedom of Information (FOI) statistics: FOI release published today:

Information requested – The total number of FOI responses issued by the Scottish Government.

We have interpreted the timeframe requested as from the 1 January 2024 to the 17 June 2025 when your request was received – 8796 FOI and EIR Requests and Reviews have been issued within this timeframe.

https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202500471350/

How much did each of these cost on average?

The government reports average response times rather than costs, as time is the main expense driver. For example:

In 2019, the average response time was about 15 working days for 3,049 requests (93% on time). https://www.gov.scot/publications/freedom-information-scotland-act-2002-information-request-handling-annual-report-2019/pages/3/

More recent data (2022) shows an average of 23 days. https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202200305116/

At £15/hour, a 15-day response (assuming ~37.5 hours/week) could theoretically equate to £200–£300 in staff time.

So, the above 8 796 cases in 18 months cost around £2.6 million.

One individual submitted 527 requests in 2024 – £15 700!!!