Social Security Scotland staff dismissal statistics: FOI release

Information requested

In the Statistical bulletin – Civil Service Statistics: 2024, column G (“Headcount of all leavers from the Civil Service for the following cause: Dismissal”) of Table 42 (“Civil Service leavers by government department and leaving cause, from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024”) notes that 30 civil servants were dismissed from Social Security Scotland.

Can you please provide reasons for each dismissal using one of the following categories?

1. Poor performance
2. Misconduct
3. Long-term illness
4. Other

Response

We have interpreted your request to be for a breakdown of the specified number of dismissals by the number which were performance related, disciplinary related, absence related or for other reasons.

An exemption under Section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This is because we believe that to disclose the number of dismissals, where the number is five or less, could lead to the identification of individuals. In order to assist you, and to protect the identities of those involved, we have provided a suppressed range in the table below. Where the answer is zero this would be disclosed and not withheld.

Please find the requested information in the below table.

Reasons	Performance related	Disciplinary related	Absence related	Other	Total
Number of dismissals	Between 1 and 5	Between 1 and 5	24	0	30

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