Scottish Government staff residing outside of Scotland: FOI release

Information requested

1. The number of Scottish Government staff and staff employed by its associated quangos who reside outside Scotland.

2. Of these staff, the number who pay Scottish Income Tax and the number who pay income tax in the country where they reside.

3. A breakdown that shows the country of residence.

Response

We have interpreted your question to mean the number of Scottish Government staff in the core directorates, agencies and non- ministerial offices that make up the Scottish Government Main bargaining unit who reside outside of Scotland. A list of organisations this covers is provided in annex A.

We are providing this information as at September 2024 using data from the most recent official publication of the Scottish Government's workforce statistics. As at that date, the total number of staff employed in the organisations shown in annex A was 16,586. This response includes staff who reside overseas because they work at an overseas Scottish Government office or are in off-shore Marine seafaring roles (where it is a feature of that labour market for the workforce to be resident in a range of different countries). Please note that the Scottish Government is reliant on HMRC to provide accurate tax codes, based on home addresses. Therefore, this information has been compiled with reference to address and tax code information held on our HR systems as at September 2024. It is therefore a snapshot as at that date and does not, for example, reflect where individuals may have since relocated to Scotland following their appointment to the Scottish Government or where HMRC may have since provided an updated tax code.

Question 1

The total number of staff employed in the organisations shown in annex A who reside outside of Scotland is 373. This is 2.2% of the total workforce of the organisations covered in annex A.

Question 2

Of the above 373 individuals who reside outside of Scotland, 20 pay Scottish Income Tax and 353 pay income tax applicable to another UK jurisdiction (i.e. England and Northern Ireland or Wales).

Question 3

Country of Residence	Number of Staff
Scotland	16,327
England	203
Northern Ireland	18
Wales	4
United States of America	2
Canada	2
Belgium	10
Denmark	2
Republic of Ireland	3
France	2
Germany	2
Poland	7
Pakistan	1
China	1
Spain	1
Netherlands	1

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.

FOI 202500447586 - Information Released - Annex A

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