Positions of Grade 7 or equivalent filled by females in Marine Scotland: FOI release

Information requested

1. The number of positions of Grade 7 (or equivalent) and above that are currently filled by a female in each of the teams for Marine Scotland - ideally in a table format (or similar).
2. Whether there is a strategy in place (or in development) to specifically encourage and develop females.

Response

1. As at 31st of December 2023, the date of the most recently published statistics on Scottish Government staff, there were 53 female staff in positions of grade 7 or above, including those on temporary promotion. This represented 38% of all such staff in Marine Scotland directorate. A breakdown by division is presented in the table below.

This data, based on management information from the Scottish Government's HR system may not fully reflect recent changes in the names and structures of teams and divisions within Marine Scotland.

Table: Marine Scotland Staff Grade 7 and above, Dec 2023, including TRS and TP by Sex and Division
	Female	Male	Total	Percentage Female
Division
AQUACULTURE AND RECREATIONAL FISHERIES	[c]	[c]	8	[c]
DIRECTORS OFFICE	12	12	24	50%
FUNDING AND STRATEGY	8	8	16	50%
MARINE PLANNING AND POLICY	5	5	10	50%
MARINE SCOTLAND COMPLIANCE	[c]	[c]	30	[c]
MARINE SCOTLAND SCIENCE	13	23	36	36%
SEA FISHERIES AND MARINE CONSERVATION	7	5	12	58%
SEAFOOD TRADE	[c]	[c]	2	[c]
Total	53	85	138	38%
Cells representing headcounts fewer than 5 have been suppressed (represented by [c]). Secondary suppression of some cells has also been performed to prevent disclosure of this information through differencing.

2. There is a thriving colleague-led Women’s Development Network in place which aims to provide a dedicated space for women to define and pursue personal and professional development. The network has four Scottish Government senior civil service champions and is supported by the Scottish Government Executive Team Gender Ally ,Louise Macdonald, DG Economy.

In terms of more formal programmes, we are data-led in our corporate approach.

The latest statistics on Diversity and Inclusion of the Scottish Government workforce Diversity and inclusion of the Scottish Government workforce - 2023 (data.gov.scot) show that;

• As at December 2023, Female staff are over-represented in the Scottish Government workforce when compared to Scotland’s population aged 16 to 64.
• Female and Male staff are similarly likely to have been promoted in 2023.
• For external recruitment, in 2023, more applications progress through each stage for femaleapplicants than for male applicants.

Scottish Government’s Talent, Leadership and Learning team recently piloted 3 Developing Diverse Leaders (DDL) programmes specifically targeted to equality groups. Two of these programmes were targeted towards minority ethnic and disabled staff, given that data gathered in the planning stage demonstrated that these groups are underrepresented at more senior levels in the SG. We found that, at Director level, other equality groups, including women, were also underrepresented. As a result, the DDL programme at Deputy Director level covered a range of equality groups, including women. We are currently evaluating the DDL programmes and will review data on progression rates and representation across equality groups before determining which equality groups to target for the next iteration.

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