Dear Sir or Madam,

Since the 2007 Scottish parliament election which led to the
Scottish National Party forming the minority government please
provide me with the following information under the Freedom of
Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

Since the 16th of May 2007 has any research been done by the
Scottish executive into support or opposition to Scotland leaving
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Please
release any documentation of the findings if it has.

Has the Scottish Executive estimated how much holding a referendum
on "Scottish Independence" will cost the tax payer. Please release
any documentation on how much it is estimated to cost and how that
figure was reached.

Finally please release a full breakdown of the current total cost
of the "National Conversation" to tax payers.

I hope you can help me with the above questions i have asked,
please may i be sent an acknowledgement that this email was
received. Thankyou

Yours faithfully,

John Simpson

Dear Mr Simpson,

Thank you for your email. I will endeavour to respond to your queries
as soon as possible.

Yours,

Terry Kowal

Referendum and Elections Division
Constitution, Law and Courts Directorate
Scottish Government
G-A North
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
Tel: 0131-244-5917

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/a-nati...

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Mr Simpson,

Thank you for your email.

I am pleased to be in a position to respond to your queries.

Taking each in order:

1. Since the 16th of May 2007 has any research been done by the Scottish
executive into support or opposition to Scotland leaving the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Please release any
documentation of the findings if it has.

The Scottish Government has not commissioned or undertaken any research
specifically on this issue since May 2007. We do part fund the Scottish
Social Attitudes Survey (SSAS), a major public attitudes survey, which
includes questions on public attitudes to constitutional change. However,
these questions are developed, funded and published externally. We also
have access to other sources that are publicly available (mainly polls
commissioned by newspapers). Our analysts did recently collate some
published data from the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey and other public
opinion polls. The resulting paper is attached.

<<Public Attitudes to constitutional change in Scotland - summary - 9 Feb
2009.doc>>
2. Has the Scottish Executive estimated how much holding a referendum on
"Scottish Independence" will cost the tax payer. Please release any
documentation on how much it is estimated to cost and how that figure was
reached.

We are undertaking a process of assessing the cost of conducting a
referendum as part of the development of the Scottish Government's
referendum policy. That work is ongoing and in order to ensure a free and
frank exchange of views whilst providing advice to Ministers on developing
policy, information related to this work is exempt information by virtue
of section 29 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

The Government intends to introduce a Referendum Bill in time for a
referendum on independence to be held in autumn 2010. That Bill will be
accompanied by a detailed Financial Memorandum which will set out the
Government's best estimates of the cost of holding the referendum. The
Financial Memorandum will be available to the public on the Scottish
Parliament's website as soon as the Bill is introduced.

3. Please release a full breakdown of the current total cost of the
"National Conversation" to tax payers.

The Scottish Government published this information on 10 November 2008 in
response to a Parliamentary Question. The full text of the question and
answer is as follows-

"[1]S3W-17375 - Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD) (Date Lodged Thursday, October
30, 2008): To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent on the
National Conversation.

Answered by Nicola Sturgeon (Monday, November 10, 2008): Expenditure on
the National Conversation supports delivery of our manifesto commitment to
give the Scottish people the opportunity to debate, reflect and then
decide Scotland's constitutional future in a referendum.

The design, publication, translation and launch of Choosing Scotland's
Future cost approximately £48,000. National Conversation events organised
and paid for by the Scottish Government have so far cost approximately
£44,000, including a one-off cost for branding and staging materials
which will be used throughout the conversation. Funding of £87,000 over
two years has been made available to the Scottish Council for Voluntary
Organisations and Young Scot to facilitate the National Conversation among
the third sector and young people respectively.

All expenditure on the National Conversation has been met from existing
budgets."

Since that question was answered an additional sum of approximately £1800
has been incurred in staging two further National Conversation Events.

I hope this response is helpful.

Yours

Terry Kowal

Referendum and Elections Division
Constitution, Law and Courts Directorate
Scottish Government
2-E South
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
Tel: 0131-244-5917

[2]http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/a-nati...

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Dear Terry Kowal,

Thank you very much for the detailed reply which provided me with
all the information i was seeking. Just one further question which
you might be able to help me with, is there any information
available on how soon the bill would have to be introduced in order
to stage the referendum in Autumn 2010?

I would presume it would take several months to organise and
arrange after such a bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament and
given approval by the United Kingdom parliament or UK Government.
So have ministers been informed or is there any suggestion or
advice of when such a bill would have to be introduced or passed
for it to be possible to hold a referendum on St Andrews Day or
just Autumn 2010. Thank you again for your help.

Yours sincerely,

John Simpson

Mr Simpson,

Sorry for taking so long to reply.

The short answer is that the Scottish Government has not yet made a decision as to when the Referendum Bill will be introduced into the Parliament.

Your presumption is correct that most legislation takes a few months to complete the Parliamentary progress. Once a Bill is introduced it is a matter for the Parliamentary parties to agree on the timetable for scrutinising a Bill. Particularly when the party of government is in the minority in Parliament, this timetable is not within the gift of the Government.

You are also right to assume that there would need to be some gap between the legislation being passed and the date of the referendum; to allow for campaigning and the logistical preparations required for a nationwide vote. In 1997 the Referendums Act obtained Royal Assent on 31 July and the referendum was held on 11 September. That is actually a very short gap and we would prefer to have more time to allow the preparations to be made. But again, this will ultimately be a matter for Parliament to decide.

The First Minister has stated that the Referendum Bill would be introduced in 2010. Given what I have said above, it would be prudent to assume that the Bill would need to be introduced early in the year.

I hope this is helpful.

Yours

Terry Kowal

National Conversation, Referendum and Elections Division
Constitution, Law and Courts Directorate
Scottish Government
2-E South
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
Tel: 0131-244-5917

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/a-nati...

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Dear Terry Kowal,

Thank you very much for the reply to my further question, you have
been very helpful and provided me with a lot of useful information.

Thanks again,

John Simpson

I am out of the office until Tuesday 14 April but will be intermittently
checking emails. If the matter is urgent I can be reached on 07799
155414.

Terry

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