Education Scotland staff recruitment costs: FOI release

Information requested

You asked for the following information on staff recruitment costs:

Question 1.	How many new permanent hires joined your organisation in 2022?
Question 2.	How many new permanent hires came through external providers in 2022?
Question 3.	How many team members work in your Recruitment Team?
Question 4.	What is your time to hire from adverting to onboarding?
Question 5.	What was your attrition rate in 2022?
Question 6.	What is your average cost per hire (including attraction and screening) in 2022?
Question 7.	How much did you spend with external providers of permanent recruitment in 2022?
Question 8.	How many unique agency contractors/temps/interims did you use in 2022?
Question 9.	How much did you spend on agency contractors/temps/interims in 2022?
Question 10.	Are you meeting your diversity targets? (yes or no)
Question 11.	How many candidates applied for roles in 2022? What is your candidate drop-out rate?
Question 12.	Which systems do you use for your permanent recruitment process?

Response

Question 1

There were 57 new permanent hires who joined Education Scotland in 2022.

Question 2

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Education Scotland does not hold the data on how many new permanent hires came through external providers in 2022 as we have a retention period for recruitment data of six months.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Education Scotland does not have the information you have requested.

Question 3

Education Scotland currently has 1.2 full-time equivalent staff working on recruitment within our Human Resources & Organisational Development team.

Question 4

Education Scotland takes on average 4.5 months to hire from advertising to onboarding.

Question 5

Education Scotland’s attrition rate for the period of January - December 2022 was 7.6%.

Question 6

Education Scotland’s average cost per hire (including attraction and screening) in 2022 was £855.49.

Question 7

Education Scotland spent £27,884.54 with external providers of permanent recruitment in 2022.

Question 8

Education Scotland used 47 unique agency contractors/temps/interims in 2022.

Question 9

Education Scotland spent £2,082,475.61 on agency contractors/temps/interims in 2022.

Question 10

Education Scotland does not have diversity targets, but as an executive agency of the Scottish Government, we have two Employer Equality Outcomes, which are:

• Outcome 1: our workforce increases in diversity to reflect the general Scottish population by 2025.
• Outcome 2: foster an inclusive workforce culture and value the contribution of employees from all background.

The full range of actions we are taking and the progress we are making towards achieving our Employer Equality Outcomes can be found in the Scottish Government Mainstreaming Equalities Report, which is published every two years.

Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the link above, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

Question 11

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Education Scotland does not hold the data on how many candidates applied for roles in 2022 or what the candidate drop-out rate was as we have a retention period for recruitment data of six months.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Education Scotland does not have the information you have requested.

Question 12

Education Scotland uses the iCIMS Recruiting Software Platform for the permanent recruitment process.

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.