Scottish Government budget allocations: FOI release

Information requested

1. What proportion, by percentage, of the Scottish Government’s overall budget was allocated to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in the years 2010 to 2024 inclusive?

2. What proportion, by percentage, of the Scottish Government’s overall budget was allocated to the Public Defence Solicitor’s Office in the same period?

3. What proportion, by percentage, of the Scottish Government’s overall budget was allocated to the Scottish Government Legal Department in the same period?

4. What proportion of the budget that is allocated to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is spent on salaries?

Response

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service:

The table below shows the information you have requested. We have taken the Scottish Government’s total budget to be the total managed expenditure figure set out in the annual Scottish Budget.

Information on how much of the budget has been allocated to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (‘COPFS’), and the proportion of that allocation subsequently spent on salary costs, is directly taken from their annual accounts which are publicly available online. The exception to this is for financial years 2023-24 and 2024-25 where the information is taken directly from the Scottish Budget as the annual accounts have not yet been published (with 2022-23 published in October 2023).

COPFS
Year	Scottish Government total budget(£m)	Amount allocated to COPFS (£m)	Proportion of Scottish Government total budget	Spent on staff cost(£m)	Proportion	Spent on Salary(£m)	Proportion
2010-11	33,901	112	0.33%	72	64%	52	47%
2011-12	33,620	109	0.33%	70	64%	52	48%
2012-13	33,958	108	0.32%	67	62%	51	47%
2013-14	34,704	110	0.32%	67	61%	52	47%
2014-15	36,906	112	0.30%	70	62%	53	47%
2015-16	37,408	113	0.30%	71	62%	54	48%
2016-17	37,580	114	0.30%	72	63%	54	47%
2017-18	39,378	113	0.29%	74	65%	56	49%
2018-19	40,555	122	0.30%	80	65%	61	50%
2019-20	42,633	134	0.31%	90	67%	66	50%
2020-21	49,466	170	0.34%	100	59%	73	43%
2021-22	55,260	180	0.33%	115	64%	84	47%
2022-23	56,391	209	0.37%	139	67%	102	49%
2023-24	59,813	197	0.33%	148	75%	-	-
2024-25	59,706	223	0.37%	167	75%	-	-

Public Defence Solicitor’s Office

The Scottish Government does not hold the information that you requested for the Public Defence Solicitors’ Office which is not directly funded by the Scottish Government.

The Public Defence Solicitors Office have their own process for making FOI claims which is outlined on their website. We include the relevant link for your reference. Request non-personal information - Scottish Legal Aid Board (slab.org.uk)

This is therefore a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not hold the information you have requested.

Scottish Government Legal Department:

In relation to question 3, the table below includes information held on the proportion of budget allocated to the Scottish Government’s Legal Department as a percentage of the Scottish Government total budget for 2018-19 to 2024-25. Information is not held for financial years prior to 2018-19.

This is therefore a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not hold some of the information you have requested.

Scottish Gov. Legal Dept.
Year	Scottish Government total budget(£m)	Amount Allocated(£m)	Proportion
2018-19	40,555	15.381	0.038%
2019-20	42,633	14.791	0.035%
2020-21	49,466	17.471	0.035%
2021-22	55,260	17.471	0.032%
2022-23	56,391	19.609	0.035%
2023-24	59,813	19.023	0.032%
2024-25	59,706	20.257	0.034%

About FOI

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