Scottish Government staff reducing the harms associated alcohol and drugs: FOI release

Information requested

• How many whole time equivalent civil servants are currently working on activities to reduce the harms associated with (a) alcohol and (b) other drugs? 
• What is their pay grades? 
• The most up to date list of current pay grades

Response

An exemption(s) under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA applies to some of the information requested.

Section 38
1) Information is exempt information if it constitutes – 

(a) personal data and the first, second or third condition is satisfied (see subsections (2A) to (3A);

(2A) The first condition is that the disclosure of the information to a member of the public otherwise than under this Act –

(a) would contravene any of the data protection principles, or

(b) would do so if the exemptions in section 24(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018 (manual unstructured data held by public authorities) were disregarded.

(2B) The second condition is that the disclosure of the information to a member of the public otherwise than under this Act would contravene Article 21 of the UK GDPR (general processing: right to object to processing).

(3A) The third condition is that –

(a) on a request under Article 15(1) of the UK GDPR (general processing: right of access by the data subject) for access to personal data, the information would be withheld in reliance on provision made by or under section 15, 16 or 26 of, or Schedule 2, 3 or 4 to, the Data Protection Act 2018, or

(b) on a request under section 45(1)(b) of that Act (law enforcement processing: right of access by the data subject), the information would be withheld in reliance on subsection (4) of that section.

Providing a break of WTE for a team with low numbers risks making an individual identifiable.

This exemption is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

The following is a breakdown of the number of civil servants in Scottish Government alcohol and drugs teams, the Whole Time Equivalent (WTE), currently working on activities to reduce the harms associated with (a) alcohol, (b) other drugs and (c) both alcohol and drugs - as well as a list of pay grades.

This information is correct as of 18th January 2024

Reducing the harms associated specifically with alcohol

Grades

C2

C1

B3

B2

B1

Total: 9

Reducing the harms associated specifically with drugs

Grades

C2

C1

B3

B2

B1

Total: 8

Reducing the harms associated with alcohol and drugs together

Grades

SCS

C2

C1

B3

B2

B1

Total 35

This equates to overall Whole Time Equivalent of 52 working on activities to reduce the harms associated with alcohol, drugs or both.

From 1 January 2024, the following pay range will apply:

Scottish Government Main pay scales

Pay step	A3	A4	B1	B2	B3	BF	C1	C2	C3
Max-3			31,140	35,867	44,557	35,147	56,020	72,310
Max-2	23,735	27,513	31,509	37,156	45,855	38,461	58,708	74,824	83,725
Max-1	24,969	28,457	32,571	38,874	48,031	40,678	62,969	78,073	84,670
Max	26,631	29,677	34,177	41,013	53,351	43,446	69,846	83,460	84,858

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.