Staffing numbers for Draft Independence Referendum Bill: FOI release

Information requested

"The Scottish Government published the Draft Independence Referendum Bill on 22 March 2021:

• The total cost of this to date. Not including the consultation.
• The number of civil servants that worked on this at the time and their pay grades."

Response

Information in relation to these costs is available on the Scottish Government website: Independence spending 2014 – June 2022: FOI release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot). Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to provide information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from this website, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

In relation to the number of civil servants, at its maximum headcount the Referendums Scotland Bill Team was a team of four civil servants in the Scottish Government’s Constitution and Cabinet Directorate. The work to produce the draft independence referendum Bill was led by this team. A small number of other civil servants will have been involved in the wider work to produce and publish the draft bill but as civil servants are not required to record the time spent on individual tasks because there is no business need to do so, we cannot provide an exact figure. Every member of staff who contributed to the development of the bill did so as part of their wider duties.

The pay grades of the Bill Team Staff were one person at C2, two people at C1 and one person at B2.

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