Question reference: S4W-27304
- Asked by: Mark McDonald, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 3 September 2015
-
Current status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by John Swinney on 4 September 2015
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the cost was of the referendum on independence.
Answer
The cost of running the Scottish independence referendum which took place on 18 September 2014 was £15.8 million. A breakdown of this total cost is set out in the following table:
|
| Financial Memorandum (£,000) | Actual outturn (£,000) |
| Chief Counting Officer | 330 | 510 |
| Counting officers | 8,317 | 10,888 |
| Electoral registration officers | 333 | 1,042 |
| Royal Mail | 2,383 | 1,568 |
| Electoral Commission | 2,350 | 1,826 |
| Miscellaneous | - | 7 |
| Total | 13,713 | 15,841 |
The total cost of £15.8 million is £2.1 million more than the indicative cost of running the referendum which was set out in the Financial Memorandums which accompanied the Scottish Independence Referendum Bill and the Scottish Independence Referendum (Franchise) Bill.
This additional expenditure was a result of the very high turnout at the referendum which resulted in additional expenditure by counting officers and electoral registration officers in preparing for and running the poll.