Redundancy packages: FOI release

FOI reference: FOI/17/02623
Date received: 30 October 2017
Date responded: 22 November 2017

Information requested

You asked for details of any redundancy or severance packages at Transport Scotland, Education Scotland, Visit Scotland, Historic Scotland, Skills Development Scotland, Audit Scotland, SEPA, the Scottish Prison Service, Creative Scotland, Scottish Development International and Scottish Enterprise in 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17. Information should include the number of packages and the total costs. Information should also be broken down by agency and year.

Response

Some of the information you requested is set out in the following table:

Education Scotland	Number of packages	Total cost
2014-15	12	£513,432
2015-16	0	0
2016-17	29	£837,639

Transport Scotland	Number of packages	Total cost
2014-15	8	£544,422
2015-16	0	0
2016-17	0	0

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in relation to information about Audit Scotland, the Scottish Government does not hold any of the information you have requested. You may wish to contact Audit Scotland direct who may be able to help you.

The rest of the information relating to the remaining bodies you requested is available publicly and can be found in the Annual Reports and Accounts for 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17 which can be obtained from the websites of the public bodies concerned. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. Historic Scotland (HS) ceased to exist on 1/10/15. The Historic Environment Scotland (HES) Annual Report and Accounts for 2015-16 were combined and covered both HS and HES. SDI is a tripartite arrangement between the Scottish Government (SG), Scottish Enterprise (SE) and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE). While staff from these organisations may work for SDI, as it is not a legal entity, they are employed by the SG, SE and HIE. Information on severance is therefore published separately for SG, SE and HIE:

• For staff employed by the SG who work within SDI, figures are included in the Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts but SDI staff are not reported on separately.
• For staff employed by SE who work within SDI, figures are included in SE's Annual Report and Accounts but SDI staff are not reported on separately.
• For staff employed by HIE who work within SDI, figures are included in HIE's Annual Report and Accounts but SDI staff are not reported on separately.

An exemption under section 27(1) of FOISA applies to information contained within the Skills Development Scotland Annual Report and Accounts for 2016-17 because it is intended that such information will be published within 12 weeks of the date of your request. We consider that it is reasonable to withhold the information until that date, rather than release elements of Annual Reports and Accounts prior to the date such information is published routinely. This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption.

About FOI

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