Salaries paid to Ken Thomson and Murray Sinclair: FOI release

FOI reference: FOI/18/01936
Date received: 17 July 2018 
Date responded: 20 August 2018
 
Information requested

1. The yearly salary paid in pounds (£) to the Director-General Constitution and External Affairs Scotland Ken Thomson.

2. The yearly salary paid in pounds (£) to the Director and Solicitor to the Scottish Government Murray Sinclair.

3. Any expenses or gifts reported by Director-General Constitution and External Affairs Scotland Ken Thomson up to most recent available date.

4. Any expenses or gifts reported by the Director and Solicitor to the Scottish Government Murray Sinclair up to most recent available date.

5. The number of staff in the Scottish Government's legal team.

6. A breakdown of those roles (i.e. the number of lawyers and other staff) in the Scottish Government's legal team.

You later clarified your request as:

1) Is the expenses to include all travel and subsistence costs?

    Yes

2) What date is this information required from?

  I request the information for the previous financial year.

3) Is the request by payment date or travel date?

    The request is by payment date.

Response

Questions 1 and 2

1.          The yearly salary paid in pounds (£) to the Director-General Constitution and External Affairs Scotland Ken Thomson.
2.          The yearly salary paid in pounds (£) to the Director and Solicitor to the Scottish Government Murray Sinclair.

Information on pay for Senior Civil Service (SCS) staff in the SG at Director level and above is available on the Scottish Government website in £5k bands.  The latest data shows salaries as at 31 March 2018.

/publications/senior-civil-service-pay-march-2018/

Questions 3 and 4

3.          Any expenses or gifts reported by Director-General Constitution and External Affairs Scotland Ken Thomson for the previous financial year i.e. 2017/18.

YEAR	*iExpenses	Hotel	Travel (Air, Rail and Edinburgh Taxi contract)
2017/18	£1166.46	£6526.54	£8950.26

*iExpenses is the Scottish Government electronic expense claim system.

Gifts and Hospitality        

Scottish Government staff are occasionally offered gifts or hospitality while carrying out normal official business. Although these items were recorded as gifts to officials, these are mainly in respect of events, working lunches or dinners, which officials attend on behalf of the Scottish Government as part of their jobs.  There are clear guidelines and procedures in place, balancing accepted business practice and social convention while avoiding impropriety and conflict of interest. The Scottish Government enforces a clear, consistent policy regarding gifts and hospitality. Due to their forward facing nature, some posts will attract a higher number of offers of gifts and hospitality.

Information on gifts and hospitality received by the Executive Team is published quarterly on the Scottish Government website /search/?q=gifts+%26+hospitality.  Ken Thomson, the Director-General Constitution and External Affairs is a member of the Executive Team.  Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to provide you with information if it 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.

4.          Any expenses or gifts reported by the Director and Solicitor to the Scottish Government Murray Sinclair for the previous financial year i.e. 2017/18.

Expenses

YEAR	iExpenses	Hotel	Travel (Air and Edinburgh Taxi contract)
2017/18	None	None	£2420.75

Gifts and Hospitality

During the financial year 2017/18 Murray Sinclair accepted an invitation to one event:

Person Name	Grade Name	Directorate General	Date offered (DD-MON-YYYY)	Name or organisation donor	What is the estimated value?	Description	Circumstances in which the gift/hospitality was offered
Murray Sinclair	Director	Director General Constitution & External Affairs	23/11/2017	Law Society Scotland	Over £30	Dinner at National Museum of Scotland	Invitation

Questions 5 and 6

5.          The number of staff in the Scottish Government's legal team.
6.          A breakdown of those roles (i.e. the number of lawyers and other staff) in the Scottish Government's legal team.

Scottish Government Legal Team – July 2018
Total Number of Lawyers	139
Total Number of Mainstream Civil Servants	38
Total staff in Scottish Government Legal Team	177

The mainstream Civil Servants provide a wide range of management and support service to the business area, including: Legal library, administration of secondary legislation and financial and business management support.

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