Staffing information regarding independence work: FOI release

Information requested

It was recently reported that there are 20 civil servant staff working on ‘independence’. This was confirmed by the Minister For Independence, Jamie Hepburn.

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/jamie-hepburn-confirms-20-civil-30034650

Can you please provide the job titles, departments they work in, and salaries of these staff please?

Response

At 22 May 2023, staff in the Scottish Government’s Constitutional Futures Division, who are coordinating work on the prospectus and related work, comprised of one Senior Civil Servant and 23 other officials. The grades of the 23 other officials are – 1 C3, 8 C2s, 8 C1s, 1 B3, 2 B2s, 3 B1s.

The work to develop the prospectus is also drawing 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.

The salary costs for Constitutional Futures Division for the 2022/23 Financial Year was £1,393,090.24.

A list of job titles held on our corporate system for the individuals within the Constitutional Futures Division are listed below –

• Deputy Director
• Programme and Divisional Support Officer
• Constitutional Futures Prospectus Lead
• Constitutional Futures Briefing Officer (x3)
• Constitutional Futures – Economy Lead
• Transitional Planning Lead
• Constitutional Futures Division (x5)
• Deputy Programme Manager
• Private Secretary
• Constitutional Futures – Briefing Unit
• Lead: Transition, Constitution and Rights
• Constitutional Futures Policy Support Officer
• Head of Constitution Engagement
• Programme Manager
• Independence Prospectus – Public Services lead
• Prospectus Lead: Constitution, Rights and Equality
• Constitutional Futures Programme Policy Lead
• Constitutional Futures Prospectus – Stakeholder Engagement

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