Psychological testing for civil servants: FOI release

Information requested

How much has the Scottish Government spent on psychological testing for civil servants in the last five years, with a breakdown per year, and what the money was spent on?

Could you supply any analysis on why this needs to be undertaken and/or the expected returns for the people of Scotland?

Response

The recruitment and promotion of Senior Civil Servants (SCS) must include a robust selection process. Standards for hiring Senior Civil Servants (SCS) are set by UK Cabinet Office. These include the use of additional forms of assessment including psychometric assessment, which have supplemented interviews for SCS for over 10 years. Academic research suggests that interviews alone are a poor predictor of future job performance, and supplementing interviews with other forms of assessments, including psychometric assessments, strengthens hiring decisions.

The costs outlined below for SCS, are part of a package which includes psychometric testing and other recruitment services as well as other elements, compromising of wellbeing, coaching and counselling for Scottish Government employees. Costs for psychometric testing alone could not be separated out.

More information on this can be found on FOI 202400425176 Publications - gov.scot. Spend for the last 5 years for Senior Civil Servants:

Year	Spend
2019- 2020	£88,488.50
2020- 2021	£184,650.00
2021- 2022	£108,956.80
2022- 2023	£402,296.80
2023- 2024	£282,179.80

The Scottish Government also uses psychometric testing as part of our Graduate Development Scheme. The Graduate Development Scheme is a high volume recruitment campaign with thousands of applications each year. Psychometric testing is used as part of a robust recruitment process to ensure value for money to the tax payer. Costs of testing have varied between campaigns according to provider.

In 2021, the total cost amounted to £50,026.50 for a package which included psychometric testing and Situational Judgement Tests for 2607 candidates. This amounted to a cost of £19 per candidate.

​​​​​​​In 2023, the total cost amounted to £95,700 for a package which included psychometric testing for 2,718 candidates which equates to a cost of £34.95 per candidate. Please note that the 2023 figures also includes the cost to provide a virtual assessment centre platform and candidate feedback reports. It is not possible to separate the individual costs as negotiations conducted on the full solution and not just the psychometric testing.​​​​​​​

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