Scottish Government employee information: FOI release
- Published
- 20 January 2025
- Directorate
- People Directorate
- Topic
- Public sector, Work and skills
- FOI reference
- FOI/202400442201
- Date received
- 22 November 2024
- Date responded
- 18 December 2024
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002
Information requested
- An account of the extent and function of the Scottish Government’s ‘no involuntary redundancy’ policy. Please include information on how this policy works and is enforced, what bodies it extends to and how, when and why it started, and why it is maintained.
- A list of the means by which, if at all, the Scottish Government notes and records employee productivity, effectiveness, incompetence, general performance and task/role-specific performance, necessity and effectiveness of role & department situated within, incompetence, necessity of their work, and relative obsolescence. I meant to refer to the Scottish Government’s own employees here, and any other personnel it has direct oversight over.
- The number of recorded incidents of incompetence, professional misconduct (please also include your working definition of this), and poor performance from Scottish Government employees from 2015 to present by year.
- The number of Scottish Government employees given a final warning, and the number who were fired, by year from 2015 to present.
- The number of involuntary redundancies from 2015 to present in the Scottish Government by year, with total expense on involuntary redundancy payments from 2015 to present.
- The number of voluntary redundancies from 2015 to present in the Scottish Government by year, with total expense by year on a) direct voluntary redundancy payments to employees and b) all other expenses relating to voluntary redundancies (please break this down into subcomponents).
Response
You asked for an account of the extent and function of the Scottish Government’s ‘no involuntary redundancy’ policy. You asked for information on how this policy works and is enforced, what bodies it extends to and how, when and why it started and why it is maintained.
This information is included within the exemption at section 25(1) of Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) (regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs) as otherwise accessible as this information is published on the gov.scot website via the following pages:
No Compulsory Redundancy - Public sector pay policy 2022 to 2023 - gov.scot page 5 outlines the background and policy intention.
Public sector pay strategy 2023 to 2024: technical guide - gov.scot - Paragraphs 3.4 to 3.10 – sets out how the policy should be applied and the strategic context. It also highlights the links to the guidance in the Severance Policy for Scotland and the scrutiny required if any changes are proposed to the commitment.
In addition, Ministers continued commitment to no compulsory redundancies was announced as part of Ms Robison’s 2024-25 Budget Speech on 19 December 2023:
Scottish Budget 2024 to 2025: Deputy First Minister statement - gov.scot
“Working in partnership with Scotland’s trade unions, we will take action to ensure our services remain sustainable, improve outcomes, and support the people and communities who need them most. This approach will be underpinned by our continued commitment to our policy of no compulsory redundancies.”
You asked for a list of the means by which Scottish Government notes and records employee productivity effectiveness, incompetence, general performance and task/role-specific performance, necessity and effectiveness of role & department situated within, incompetence, necessity of their work, and relative obsolescence.
The Scottish Government’s performance management policy describes how performance measures are set and assessed. The policy includes guidance on objective setting, learning and development activities, monthly conversations, mid-year and end-year performance reviews, performance assessments and the management of performance which is less than effective. The policy includes monthly conversations which should take place to review and adjust performance, priorities, development, and wellbeing. Managers must address less than effective performance as soon as concerns arise.
I have attached a copy of the performance management procedures that apply to staff in Bands A to C and to staff on probation as Annexes A and B. A copy of the policy that applies to the Senior Civil Service can be found here - Scottish Government staff performance and dismissals: FOI release - gov.scot
You asked for the number of recorded incidents of incompetence, professional misconduct, and poor performance from Scottish Government employees from 2015 to present by year with a definition of professional misconduct included.
While it is our aim to provide information wherever possible, this is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. This is because we do not use the term incompetence and therefore do not hold information about that. Instead, we record information about poor performance and the information you have requested is available at Scottish Government employee performance review: FOI release - gov.scot
In relation to professional misconduct, all Scottish Government employees must adhere to the Civil Service Code and the four core values of Integrity, Honesty, Objectivity, and Impartiality. Further to this there are various standards of conduct throughout the organisation. A breach of the Civil Service code and/or the standards of conduct would be considered professional misconduct.
Information about the Civil Service Code can be found here - Civil Service Code - gov.scot. Information about professional misconduct can be found here – Scottish Government employee dismissal statistics: FOI release
The number of recorded incidents of professional misconduct by year from 2015 to present is as follows:
Year |
Number of incidents |
Year |
Number of Incidents |
2015 |
22 |
2020 |
14 |
2016 |
21 |
2021 |
16 |
2017 |
36 |
2022 |
9 |
2018 |
31 |
2023 |
10 |
2019 |
17 |
2024 |
12 |
You asked for the number of Scottish Government employees given a final warning and the number who were fired by year from 2015 to present. We have interpreted this to mean the numbers given a warning following disciplinary action. If that interpretation is incorrect, please let me know.
The data used for number of employees dismissed is from 1 January 2015 to 30 September 2024 as this is the most recent date that this information is available for.
Year |
No. of employees given a warning following disciplinary action |
Number of employees dismissed |
2015 |
14 |
4 |
2016 |
3 |
12 |
2017 |
17 |
14 |
2018 |
17 |
9 |
2019 |
8 |
10 |
2020 |
6 |
6 |
2021 |
10 |
14 |
2022 |
2 |
10 |
2023 |
3 |
6 |
2024 |
2 |
8 |
Please note that the information provided in the tables above refers to staff within the core Director-General areas of the Scottish Government (see Annex C attached). Requests for information about other bodies/agencies should be sent directly to them.
You asked for the number of involuntary redundancies from 2015 to present in the Scottish Government by year with the total expense on involuntary redundancy for the same time period.
As set out in public sector pay policy, since 2007, a key strand of Scottish Government policy has been the commitment to no compulsory redundancy. As at November 2024, there have no involuntary redundancies from 2015 to present in the Scottish Government, and therefore there has been no associated expense.
You also asked for the number of voluntary redundancies from 2015 to present in the Scottish Government by year with total expense by year on a) direct voluntary redundancy payments to employees and b) all other expenses relating to voluntary redundancies asking that this be broken down into sub-components.
Under the terms of the Civil Service Compensation Scheme, which the Scottish Government is entitled to follow, there are three categories of early departure: voluntary exit, voluntary redundancy, and compulsory redundancy.
There have been no early departures via voluntary redundancy from 2015 to present, and therefore there has been no associated payments or other expense, this information is correct up to November 2024.
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
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Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Correspondence Unit
Email: contactus@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG
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