Scottish Steering Group of the Business Council for Sustainable Development-UK: Funding by Scottish Executive

The following is a copy of an email sent as a freedom of information request, it is dated Tuesday 20th February 2007 and was sent by John Wilson from the Sustsinability and Biodiversity Division of the Scottish Executive.

You asked for:

1) Correspondence and records of meetings between the Scottish Executive and Forum for the Future between Feb 2003-2007

2) A record of how much money the Executive has paid to the Business Council for Sustainable Development since 2003 and how much is budgeted or has been discussed for the future.

According to our records:

1) An Executive official spoke at a Forum for the Future training event in late 2004, and attended one of their degree ceremonies as a guest, in 2005. There were e-mail exchanges with the Forum about the possibility of attending one of their sustainable development training courses for public sector staff.

There was e-mail correspondence between the Scottish Executive and Forum for the Future on a one-day workshop in Scotland for senior civil servants which took place in October 2005, and e-mail correspondence in 2006 and 2007 on a similar ½ day workshop for policy makers for Feb 2007.

2) The Executive has paid £485,000 to the Business Council for Sustainable Development since 2003 for the Scottish Industrial Symbiosis Programme, i.e. during the financial years 2002-03 to 2005-06. There is information about the project at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/SustainableDevelopment/7512 and http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/SustainableDevelopment/IS The Executive supported BCSD’s Business Summit in Glasgow in May 2006 and national follow-up events with a payment of £10,000. There has been no discussion of future funding and there is none budgeted.

John Wilson

Sustainability and Biodiversity Division

Scottish Executive

0131 244 1750