Data relating to press officers: FOI release

Information requested

1. Can you please set out how many FTE frontline communications staff/press officers there were in March (snapshot) 2020?
2. How many FTE frontline communications staff/press officers were there in January (snapshot) 2021?
3. What was the cost of employing those staff in 2019/20?
4. What has been the cost of employing these staff in each of those years?

Response

1. This information is available at Press Officers: FOI release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot). The numbers of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff in the Communications Division varies throughout the financial year and the figures represent staff numbers on just one day of each year (March 31). This means that these figures are a 'snapshot': they do not represent either a total number or average number of staff employed in the year.

2. The number of FTE frontline communications staff/press officers for January 2021 is:

Month	FTE
January 31 2021	46.71

Numbers of FTE staff vary throughout the month and the figures represent staff numbers on the 31st of the month.

3 & 4. 

The cost of frontline communications staff/press officers in each year since 2007 to the most recent financial year is available at https://beta.gov.scot/publications/cost-of-frontline-communications-staff/

Costs for 2020-21 will be published on the Scottish Government website 12 weeks after the end of the current financial year.

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.