Scottish Government digitiser roles: FOI release

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


Information requested

Please provide a breakdown of what happened to the 47 digitisers employed by the Scottish Government as of 31 March 2019 from that date to present. This should include:

1. (Question 1) Number of these individuals who are still Scottish Government employees. For these people, please state the total annual expense to the Scottish Government of their employment as of 31 March 2019, and total annual expense to the Scottish Government of their employment as of present date. Please also provide a breakdown of their job titles as of present date.

2. (Question 2) Number of these individuals who were offered voluntary redundancy and a) declined and b) accepted.

3. (Question 3) Total expense on voluntary redundancy payments for all these people who accepted voluntary redundancy between 31 March 2019 and present.

4. (Question 4) A breakdown of those who are no longer employed by the Scottish Government by what happened to them (e.g. Retirement 5, Resignation 7, Fired 1 etc.)

Response

Digitisers was a previous name of Geospatial Technicians, which are roles within the Land Mapping Team in the Scottish Government's Rural Payments and Services Division.

As at 9th December 2024, 33 of the 47 individuals you have referenced remain Scottish Government employees. Their total annual expense to Scottish Government as at 29 March 2019 was £1,071,675.02. The annualised total expense for the 2024/25 Financial Year as at September 2024, which is the latest data available, is £1,725,792.54. We have interpreted annual expense as the total cost of pension contributions, employer NI contributions, and wage costs.

It may be helpful to note that, since March 2019, 19 staff have been substantively promoted, which has increased the annualised expense of this group of staff.

The table below sets out the job titles of digitisers in March 2019, as at September 2024:

Job Title

N

B3 Fireworks Licensing Policy Officer

1

Deputy Business Support Manager

1

EIA/HRA Advisor

1

Energy Consumers Senior Policy Officer (TRS)

1

Fishery Officer

1

GIS Analyst

3

Geospatial Data Analyst

1

Geospatial Team Leader

4

Geospatial Technician

8

Historic Environment Policy Manager

1

Horticulture Policy Officer

1

Manager Land Mapping Team (Senior Geospatial Technician)

1

Marine Litter Policy Officer

1

Policy Officer

3

Project/Change Coordinator

1

Regional Economic Development Senior Policy Officer

1

Safeguarding Case Manager

1

Senior Policy Manager

1

Senior Policy Manager Sponsorship and Historic Environment

1

Question 2

No individuals in your request were offered voluntary redundancy.

Question 3

As no individuals were offered voluntary redundancy, the answer to your question is nil.

Question 4

Of the 14 individuals who have left Scottish Government, their reasons for leaving were as follows:

Resignation

10

Retirement

3

Transfer to Another Department

1

About FOI

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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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