Complaints about bullying, workplace harassment and discrimination: FOI release
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002
Information requested
For the years 2019-20, 2018-19, 2017-18, 2016-17 -
The number and proportion of Scottish Government employees in
1. in totality
2. in each Directorate
3. in each division
Who have raised a complaint about:
a. bullying, discrimination or workplace harassment
b. bullying
c. discrimination
d. workplace harassment
Where possible, and if under the £600 limit, please detail how many complaint have been
i. resolved
ii. exhausted the complaints process
iii. remain unresolved
Response
In your request, you have asked for information about Scottish Government employees. Our response covers permanent staff employed in the core directorates within the Scottish Government (see Annex A for details).
You have asked for information about Scottish Government employees who have raised complaints about bullying, discrimination or workplace harassment during the period 2016-17 to 2019-20. Given the small numbers, and so to minimise the possibility of individual staff being identified, it is not possible for us to provide you with information by directorate or division nor can we provide information in the exact way you request.
Some of the information you request is already available. An earlier FoI asked ‘How many internal harassment and/or bullying claims have (a) Scottish Government directorates and (b) Scottish Government executive non departmental public bodies (NDPBs) received in each of the last five years’. A response to FoI/18/01851 can be found at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Additional information in response to your request is contained in annex B.
It should be noted that managers in the Scottish Government are encouraged to deal with concerns about bullying, discrimination or harassment at an early stage on an informal basis under the Fairness at Work policy, where appropriate. There is no requirement to report informal action to HR and therefore no information is held centrally about cases that have been dealt with informally.
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.
Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Enquiry Unit
Email: ceu@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrews House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG
There is a problem
Thanks for your feedback