Government expenditure on overseas allowances for staff between 2017 to 2022

Information requested

The following information.

1. How much money has the government spent on overseas allowances for staff from 2017 to 2022 with a breakdown of where and when and why it was spent?

2. How can a staff member qualify for overseas allowance?

3. How many staff members claim overseas allowance every year?

Response

1.

Year	International Office	Overseas Allowances
April 2016 to March 2017	Brussels (Scotland House) Washington Beijing	£245,663
April 2017 to March 2018	Brussels (Scotland House) Washington Beijing	£265,303
April 2018 to March 2019	Brussels (Scotland House) Washington Beijing Berlin Ottawa Paris	£328,271
April 2019 to March 2020	Brussels (Scotland House) Washington Beijing Berlin Ottawa Paris	£407,729
April 2020 to March 2021	Brussels (Scotland House) Washington Beijing Berlin Ottawa Paris	£414,750
April 2021 to March 2022	Brussels (Scotland House) Washington Beijing Berlin Ottawa Paris	£407,729

Overseas allowances are available to Scottish Government staff to assist in meeting the costs arising from moving to work overseas and to compensate for additional costs once there. Allowances are based on personal circumstances, follow the framework of overseas allowances provided by FCDO to their diplomatic staff and are included within the budget of each individual international office.

2. All UK based Scottish Government staff being assigned to and working within one of our overseas offices qualify for specific overseas allowances which are based on their personal circumstances. Country based staff who have been employed locally are not entitled to overseas allowances.

3. This depends on how many staff are at a post in a given year. At present we have 24 members of staff posted to our overseas offices who are in receipt of overseas allowances.

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.