Perth & Kinross Council refuse to disclose information on celebrity bookings for 2016 due to delays

Perth & Kinross Council refuse to disclose information on how much was spent on this years celebrity appearances at Perth's Winter Festival 2016 due to delays.

A Freedom of Information Request was submitted by Perth Gazette in November to obtain information on how much was spent on this years celebrity bookings. In a response to our request an FOI officer responded back and said the following;

"Section 27(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 provides that information is exempt information if it is held with a view to its being published by (i) a Scottish public authority; or (ii) any other person at a date not later than twelve weeks after that on which the request for information is made and section 27(1)(c) states it is reasonable in all circumstances that the information be withheld from disclosure until such date as is mentioned in paragraph (a). The information requested will be published no later than Thursday 26 January 2017.

Section 27 is subject to the public interest test whereby the information should still be released if the public interest in disclosing the information is greater than the public interest in withholding it. We are currently in the process of gathering all information relating to the Winter Festival and whilst the early disclosure of some information would satisfy the general right of access to information it would also provide an inaccurate representation of the event as a whole. I therefore do not consider that the public interest would be served by the disclosure of the information you have requested."

However, information should be fully available by 26th of January, 2017.

We also asked PKC a breakdown of grants and additional expenses that have been awarded to Mi Perthshire, Perth Card who are operated by parent company Miconex.

The total spend for Miconex for the period 2014 – present.

2014/15 (from 16/7/14) £1100 – Digital Tour of Perth Layar app

2015/16 Perth Card - £10831 – Initial set up costs for Perth Card scheme Marketing - £3685 – Advertising packages purchased to support events and campaigns Sundry - £215 Website and Social Media management - £18,575 – awarded after procurement exercise ‘E-commerce support grant’ 15/16. Total amount paid to them £10k (consultancy services delivered to the value of £1,000 to ten Perth independent retailers) – awarded after procurement exercise

2016/17 (as at 1st Nov 2016) Perth Card - £1880 Marketing- £6660 – Awarded after procurement exercises for various event support Website and Social Media Management - £22,330 – Extension of contract City of Culture Social Media and Promotional support for Launch - £4990

Miconex, jointly with Inspire Web Design were awarded our Invest in Perth website contract which went through a rigorous procurement process. No payment has been made yet and the contract was only awarded in September 16 and build is still underway. There are two mirco-sites also built into the scope of the contract.

Business Growth Grant - £12,000.00 Consultancy Support Grant - £275.00 Youth Employment Scheme Grant - £3,230.84