Scottish Government staffing and salary statistics: FOI release

Information requested

1. As of the start of each financial year from 2015-16 to 2024-25, a full breakdown of the workforce directly employed by the Scottish Government. This should be a table including three columns – job category, job title, and number.

2. As of the start of each financial year from 2015-16 to 2024-25, the median & mean salary of all Scottish Government employees, the median & mean salary of all full-time Scottish Government employees, and the median & mean gross pay of all Scottish Government employees.

3. As of 1 April 2024, the median & mean salary of Scottish Government employees by number of years employed by the Scottish Government (e.g. 0-1 £28,000, 1-2 £31,000 ….. 10-11 £45,000…).

4. As of 1 April 2024, the median & mean salary of Scottish Government employees by age (e.g. 25 £31,000, 26 £32,000 ….. 48 £39,000…).

5. Total civil service cost to the Scottish Government of answering freedom of information requests, by year, from 2015 to present.

6. Total number of private sector employees in Scotland at the start of each financial year from 2015-16 to present.

*Salary refers to annualised full-time or full-time-equivalent pay

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested.
1. As of the start of each financial year from 2015-16 to 2024-25, a full breakdown of the workforce directly employed by the Scottish Government. This should be a table including three columns – job category, job title, and number.

The Scottish Government does not hold consistent data on job categories in the organisation. Information on job titles is also not held for years prior to 2018-19.

Therefore, under section 17(1) of FOISA, the Scottish Government does not hold some of the information you have requested.

Please see attached a spreadsheet (Workforce by Job Title) which sets out job title information, and associated numbers, from March 2018 onwards.

2. As of the start of each financial year from 2015-16 to 2024-25, the median & mean salary of all Scottish Government employees, the median & mean salary of all full-time Scottish Government employees, and the median & mean gross pay of all Scottish Government employees.
3. As of 1 April 2024, the median & mean salary of Scottish Government employees by number of years employed by the Scottish Government (e.g. 0-1 £28,000, 1-2 £31,000 ….. 10-11 £45,000…).
4. As of 1 April 2024, the median & mean salary of Scottish Government employees by age (e.g. 25 £31,000, 26 £32,000 ….. 48 £39,000…).

Please see the attached document containing the tables in relation to the information you have requested for questions 2, 3 and 4.

5. Total civil service cost to the Scottish Government of answering freedom of information requests, by year, from 2015 to present.

Civil Servants work on a variety of different tasks in relation to FOI work. It would be impossible tomeasure the time spent on answering FOI requests, and therefore it would be impossible to calculate the cost of answering FOIs. Therefore, under section 17(1) of FOISA, the Scottish Government does not hold the information you have requested.

6. Total number of private sector employees in Scotland at the start of each financial year from 2015-16 to present.

Estimates of the total number of private sector employees in Scotland can be obtained from Table 1 from the Public Sector Employment in Scotland web tables. 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 website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

Public sector employment statistics are related to a snapshot date falling in March (Quarter 1), June (Quarter 2), September (Quarter 3) and December (Quarter 4). Further information about the time periods covered can be obtained from the Public Sector Employment background notes.

Estimates for private sector employment are based on the ONS Labour Force Survey. Private sector is derived as the difference between the ONS Labour Force Survey 'Total employment' workforce-based estimate for the whole of Scotland (not seasonally adjusted) and the public sector estimate (derived from individual organisation statistical returns).

Please note that Labour Force Survey data from July to September 2022 onwards have been reweighted, causing a step change discontinuity. This creates a break in the time series between June 2022 and September 2022 for total employment and private sector employment. Therefore, it is not recommended that estimates for Q3 2022 onwards be compared with estimates for previous periods, as these have not been calculated on the same basis.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI 202400439553 - Information Released Annex A

File type

Excel document

File size

585.6 kB

FOI 202400439553 - Information Released Annex B

File type

PDF

File size

185.6 kB