What has the Scotland Office been up to for three years under Alister Jack?

Read below to find out what the UK Government’s transparency data revealed about his tenure so far

For our full report on Jack’s tenure as opposition parties blast the Tory MP “delivering nothing for Scotland” by cosying up to big business and the oil and gas lobby, click here. 

What gifts and hospitality has Alister Jack received?

• A gift hamper from the Saudi Arabian embassy
• Rangers FC tickets
• Lunch and ticket to the Open gifted by Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews
• Lunch paid for by Sky (Joe Pike, Political Correspondent) and The Times (Henry Zeffman, Associate Political Editor)
• Dinner and tickets to Royal Edinburgh Military tattoo
• Reception and fireworks display, Virgin Money
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  Which groups has Jack had the most meetings with?
  
  

• Scotch Whisky Association - 9
• Confederation of British Industry(CBI)/CBI Scotland - 8
• Federation of Small Businesses - 5
• Scottish Chamber of Commerce, National Farmers Union Scotland and Scottish Council for Development and Industry - 4 meetings each
• Scottish Retail Consortium, Business Representative Organisations (BROs), COSLA and oil lobbyists -3 meetings each#
• Diageo and Alexander Dennis Ltd - 2 meetings each
  Jack en route to attend Cabinet in Downing Street

Which members of the media has he held meetings with?

• Steve Carson, Director, BBC Scotland
• Peter Macmahon, Political Editor, ITV Border
• Press and Journal
• Magnus Llewellin, Editor, Times Scotland
• David Dinsmore, Chief Operating Officer, News UK
• Brian Taylor, Poltical Editor (Scotland) BBC
• BBC

What other notable meetings has he had?

• Sir Ian Wood; Scottish billionaire
• The Hunter Foundation; ran by multi-millionaire businessman Sir Tom Hunter
• The Scottish National Investment bank; to discuss its work after a year of operation. 
• Earl of Kinnoull - “To discuss the Stone of Scone”
• Benny Higgins, banker and former Tesco bank chief executive. 
  
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How many meetings had Jack had in comparison to other ministers in the Scotland Office?

• Iain Stewart, MP for Milton Keynes South and parliamentary under-secretary.
  167 meetings; eight with COSLA, five with the Scottish Tourism Alliance and Scottish Financial Enterprise (SFE).
• David Duguid, Banff and Buchan MP, left Scotland Office role in September 2021 to become fisheries envoy.
  111 meetings; over 30 with the fishing industry and 10 with the oil and gas lobby. 
• Alister Jack, Scotland Secretary. 110 meetings.
• Douglas Ross, Moray MP and Scottish Tory leader, held the role of parliamentary under-secretary between December 2019 and May 2020 - 28 meetings.
• Malcolm Offord, failed to get elected as a Tory MSP so ennobled by Boris Johnson in December 2021, appointed immediately to Scotland Office.
  24 meetings; two each with the NFUS and Oil and Gas UK. 

Overall, which groups have Scotland office ministers met with the most under Jack’s tenure so far?

• Fishing firms and industry lobbyists - 33
• Oil and gas lobby - 15
• Scotch Whisky Association - 12
• NFUS - 11
• COSLA - 10
• Scottish Council for Development and Industry - 9
• Business Representative Organisations (BROs) - 8
• Scottish Tourism Alliance - 5
  Scotland Office ministers met with oil and gas lobbyists on numerous occasions

How many overseas trips has the Scotland office logged?

• Alister Jack trip to Helsinki, Finland to “discuss business links”. Flights cost £477.43.
• Malcolm Offord trade trip to Mumbai, India, with Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.
  No amount was given in the transparency data, but The National previously FOI’d this flashy trip. The Scotland Office said that it contributed £7588.25 to the travel, accomodation and Covid testing for Offord and three officials, with event hire and other costs attributed to other departments.