Civil servants working on the Building a New Scotland series of papers: FOI release

Information requested

FOI request With respect to the team of civil servants working on the Building a New Scotland series of papers, please disclose:

1. The number civil servants working on the papers as of 18th November 2022
2. The maximum number of civil servants who have been working on the papers at any one time, since the team was created
3. The number of civil servants who have asked to be redeployed away from the writing of the Building a New Scotland series of papers 
4. The number of civil servants who have left the team since its inception because they asked to be redeployed away from the writing of the Building a New Scotland series of papers

Response

Part 1 and 2

At 18 November 2022, staff in the Scottish Government’s Constitutional Futures Division, who are coordinating work on the Building a New Scotland prospectus series, comprised of one Senior Civil Servant and 24 other officials. This is the highest number since the division was re-established in September 2021 to coordinate the prospectus.

The work to develop the prospectus also draws on a range of other officials across the organisation who will contribute to varying extents as part of their wider responsibilities in supporting the Scottish Government.

I am unable to provide you with a figure for the total number of staff contributing to the prospectus because in line with usual practice, details of individual tasks carried out by civil servants, including the number of hours spent on them, are not routinely recorded because there is no business need to do this. This is a formal notice under Section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested.

Part 3 and 4

Since September 2021, no members of the Constitutional Futures Division have been redeployed to work in another area of the Scottish Government and none have asked to be.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.