Graduate Development Programme: FOI release

Information requested

I would like to request information on the Scottish Government’s Graduate Development Programme.
Specifically, I would like information on:
1) the number of applicants to the programme over the last 5 intakes;
2) the number of applicants who reached the interview stage over the last 5 intakes; and
3) the number of applicants who were offered a place on the programme over the last 5 intakes.

Response

The Scottish Government's Graduate Development Programme was created in 2015 and recruits biannually (every 2 years). Since the programme started there have been 4 intakes to the Graduate Development Programme and the information requested for each of these intakes is detailed in the table below;

Year	Number of applications	Number of applicants invited to assessment centre/interview stage	Number of applicants offered a place
2015	1474	110	22
2017	2797	151	22
2019	2883	168	21
2021	2605	174*	30

*the assessment centre for the 2021 Graduate Development Programme recruitment campaign was split into 2 parts for the first time. Of the 174 who were invited to the assessment centre, 77 candidates were invited to the final interview stage.

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.