Reports of sexual impropriety : FOI release

Information requested

1) How many reports have been made to the Scottish Government about sexual impropriety - be it sexual harassment, assault or rape - by one member of staff about another in the past 10 years? I would like this broken down by year, type of offence and the current employment status of the complainer and accused.

2) If an investigation was launched into these complaints, what was the outcome?

Response

Some of the information you have requested is already available - see Parliamentary Question S5W-18396 published on Thursday 20 September 2018.

As an employer, the Scottish Government does not make determinations about whether the nature of a complaint constitutes a sexual assault or rape as that is rightly a matter for Police Scotland to determine. We do not therefore have a record of any complaints that have been recorded as sexual assault or rape.

For the period from September 2018 to date, there have been 2 complaints about sexual harassment.

While we aim to provide information wherever possible, I am unable to provide the remainder of the information requested because an exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA applies. That exemption applies because the information is personal data of a third party/parties and disclosing it contravenes the data protection principles set out in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Regulation 2016/679 and section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018.

About FOI

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