Publication - FOI/EIR release

Breakdown of external recruitment campaign for senior policy manager: FOI release

Published: 9 July 2021
Directorate: People Directorate
Topic: Equality and rights, Public sector
FOI reference: FOI/202100212881
Date received: 13 June 2021
Date responded: 6 July 2021

Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002

Information requested

For post IRC85923E -
1. Total number of applicants.
2. Split Internal v External applicants.
3. Number of External applicants aged over 50.

Split of successful applicants Internal v External, including number over 50 in each category. Noting: in respect of this request, Internal includes contractors - fixed term or any other non-permanent employment contract - who were already working for the Scottish Government.

For the years 2018-2020 -
1. Total number of posts filled split by job family, e.g. Policy Delivery, Communications, Procurement, Front of House, Operational Delivery.
2. Total number of applicants split by job family.
3. Successful applicants for each job family:-
4. Internal v External (Internal definition as above)
5. Number of successful applicants aged over 50 (including Internal v External split)

Response

IRC85923E
1.Total number of applicants: 297

2. Internal vs External Applicants: Looking at the applications and whether candidates had indicated an existing employee number or grade, 29 candidates of the total 297 candidates were employees of SG of a SG Agency. However, it should be noted that this is not a fool-proof method of identifying candidates who already worked for SG, as it is possible that there were some individuals who did work SG but simply did not include their employee number or grade as part of their application.

3. External applicants ≥ 50: 82

4. We are unable to provide a further breakdown of this data due to the fact that we supress any percentages < 5% when it comes to personal data.

Regarding information requested relating to the period 2018 – 2020:
I have included 3 Internal Recruitment tables below which include applicant numbers, the number of posts filled through Internal Recruitment and the number of successful of successful applicants broken down by Professional Group as well as total cumulative figures.

Please note that we use disclosure control to suppress reporting of small groups in order prevent the potential identification of individual members of staff. In this instance any groups of staff between 1 and 4 (inclusive) have been replaced by *. We do not suppress a zero figure. It is also necessary to apply secondary suppression to prevent the calculation of a suppressed figure.

Internal Recruitment 2018

Professional Group	Applicant Numbers	Number of posts filled through internal recruitment/successful applicants per job family
Communication & Marketing	1566	67
Economics	309	25
Engineering	63	14
Finance	1116	70
Front of House	233	8
Health	210	21
Human Resources	1152	83
Information Technology	1294	93
Internal Audit	22	*
Legal	339	52
Librarian	55	0
Operational Delivery	9307	651
Other	9562	418
Planning	370	8
Policy Delivery	9333	629
Procurement	281	20
Schools Inspection	103	*
Science	525	35
Social Research	68	*
Statistics	223	18
Strategy	25	*
Tax Inspection	525	11
Totals	36681	2230

Internal Recruitment 2019

Professional Group	Applicant Numbers	Number of posts filled through internal recruitment/successful applicants per job family
Communication & Marketing	488	46
Economics	115	14
Engineering	75	*
Finance	1127	66
Front of House	340	13
Health	511	42
Human Resources	1001	67
Information Technology	598	82
Internal Audit	62	*
Legal	118	24
Librarian	40	*
Operational Delivery	8629	445
Other	12400	388
Planning	36	*
Policy Delivery	9520	569
Procurement	342	39
Schools Inspection	409	12
Science	170	38
Social Research	526	25
Statistics	607	32
Strategy	68	5
Tax Inspection	165	9
Veterinarian	11	*
Totals	37358	1928

Internal Recruitment 2020

Professional Group	Applicant Numbers	Number of posts filled through internal recruitment/successful applicants per job family
Communication & Marketing	415	28
Economics	22	6
Engineering	14	*
Finance	659	38
Health	153	11
Human Resources	1057	42
Information Technology	202	23
Internal Audit	*	*
Legal	114	25
Librarian	*	*
Operational Delivery	4083	227
Other	3903	209
Planning	11	*
Policy Delivery	6083	452
Procurement	123	16
Schools Inspection	*	*
Science	84	16
Social Research	21	8
Statistics	*	*
Strategy	24	5
Tax Inspection	5	0
Totals	16984	1116

I have included 3 External Recruitment tables below which include applicant numbers, the number of posts filled through External Recruitment and the number of successful of successful applicants broken down by Professional Group as well as total cumulative figures.

External Recruitment 2018

Professional Group	Applicant Numbers	Number of posts filled through internal recruitment/successful applicants per job family
Communication & Marketing	1477	36
Economics	296	19
Engineering	*	0
Finance	2882	30
Front of House	41	*
Human Resources	783	16
Information Technology	1648	59
Internal Audit	107	8
Legal	437	51
Librarian	55	0
Operational Delivery	5864	320
Other	15357	430
Planning	350	5
Policy Delivery	1985	54
Procurement	205	5
Schools Inspection	38	*
Science	1321	28
Social Research	820	16
Statistics	1021	68
Tax Inspection	479	6
Veterinarian	*	0
Totals	35177	1153

External Recruitment 2019

Professional Group	Applicant Numbers	Number of posts filled through internal recruitment/successful applicants per job family
Communication & Marketing	2218	40
Engineering	76	*
Finance	1929	37
Front of House	439	8
Health	236	5
Human Resources	2894	31
Information Technology	1508	35
Internal Audit	49	8
Legal	1016	43
Librarian	518	11
Operational Delivery	15967	553
Other	19907	300
Planning	290	12
Policy Delivery	3968	40
Procurement	247	*
Schools Inspection	406	12
Science	696	23
Social Research	650	27
Statistics	1112	51
Veterinarian	23	*
Totals	54149	1246

External Recruitment 2020

Professional Group	Applicant Numbers	Number of posts filled through internal recruitment/successful applicants per job family
Communication & Marketing	2844	32
Economics	84	6
Engineering	17	*
Finance	2361	36
Front of House	697	*
Health	139	5
Human Resources	2285	42
Information Technology	1775	54
Legal	495	*
Librarian	44	*
Operational Delivery	13855	285
Other	22271	131
Planning	21	*
Policy Delivery	5567	66
Procurement	1043	12
Schools Inspection	22	0
Science	1470	29
Social Research	835	37
Statistics	223	*
Strategy	74	*
Veterinarian	23	*
Totals	56145	753

I have provided below the number of successful applicants aged over 50 including an Internal v External split. The data covers up to the stage of the recruitment process where a candidate start date has been agreed (ie a start date was agreed with the successful applicant).

All Applicants	2018	2019	2020
Applied External	2446	4622	4893
Applied Internal	1414	1579	1086


Has Agreed Start Date	2018	2019	2020
Applied External	106	138	90
Applied Internal	175	159	97

About FOI
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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

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