Salary queries for Aberdeen City Council employees: FOI release

Information requested

1. What is the total amount paid in salaries to ACC employees for the last financial year? Period requested: 2023/24 financial year.

2. What is the total amount of bonuses and other additional payments (such as allowances and incentives) awarded to ACC employees? Period requested: 2023/24 financial year.

3. What percentage of ACC's total budget is allocated to employee remuneration? Period requested: 2023/24 financial year.

4. Is there data on the salary structure by job categories or department structures? Period requested: Current and previous financial year (2023/24 and 2022/23).

5. What portion of personnel costs (salaries, bonuses, social payments) within ACC can be classified as administrative expenses? What percentage do they represent of the total expenses? Period requested: Last 2 financial years.

6. What contracts have been awarded to contractors for administrative services or for hiring temporary workers within ACC? How much was spent on these contracts, and who received them? Period requested: Last 3 financial years (2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24).

7. How is transparency and competition ensured in the process of awarding contracts for administrative services in ACC? Period requested: Current procurement guidelines and relevant audits over the last 3 years.

Response

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you requested because an exemption under section 17 (1) (b) (Notice that information is not held). The Scottish Government is not required to carry out additional analysis if information is not held at the time of the request. The reasons why that exemption applies are explained in the Annex to this letter.

The Scottish Government’s policy towards local authorities’ spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently. As such, the vast majority of funding is provided by means of a block grant. It is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgetsand to allocate the total financial resources available to them, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

1. ‘What is the total amount paid in salaries to ACC employees for the last financial year? Period requested: 2023/24 financial year.’

Aberdeen City Council (ACC) employee costs for 2023-24: has been published and is available via the local government finance statistics site, and is given in the 2023-24 LFR 00 workbook.

Total employee cost = £347.5 million.

2. ‘What is the total amount of bonuses and other additional payments (such as allowances and incentives) awarded to ACC employees? Period requested: 2023/24 financial year.’

The Scottish Government does not hold this information, I note you have copied in Aberdeen City Council’s own FOI unit, who may be able to provide an answer to this question.

3. ‘What percentage of ACC's total budget is allocated to employee remuneration? Period requested: 2023/24 financial year.’

This information can also be found in the above-linked LFR workbook. Total employee costs on a funding basis (£347,495,000) are 34.4 percent of Gross Expenditure on a funding basis (£1,009,769,000).

4. ‘Is there data on the salary structure by job categories or department structures? Period requested: Current and previous financial year (2023/24 and 2022/23).’

The 2023-24 LFR 00 workbook table, LFR workbook, gives a limited breakdown into broad categories. 2022-23 figures can be found here.

5. ‘What portion of personnel costs (salaries, bonuses, social payments) within ACC can be classified as administrative expenses? What percentage do they represent of the total expenses? Period requested: Last 2 financial years.’

The Scottish Government does not hold this information, I note you have copied in Aberdeen City Council’s own FOI unit, who may be able to provide an answer to this question. 

6. ‘What contracts have been awarded to contractors for administrative services or for hiring temporary workers within ACC? How much was spent on these contracts, and who received them? Period requested: Last 3 financial years (2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24).’

The Scottish Government does not hold this information, I note you have copied in Aberdeen City Council’s own FOI unit, who may be able to provide an answer to this question.

7. ‘How is transparency and competition ensured in the process of awarding contracts for administrative services in ACC? Period requested: Current procurement guidelines and relevant audits over the last 3 years.’

The Scottish Government does not hold this information, I note you have copied in Aberdeen City Council’s own FOI unit, who may be able to provide an answer to this question.

Local authorities are independent corporate bodies with their own powers and responsibilities and are entirely separate from the Scottish Government. As long as they act lawfully, it is up to each local authority how it manages its day-to-day business and decision making processes.

Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the links listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

Annex A: Reasons for not providing information (as referenced above)

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested.

The Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have asked for because due to the nature of Local Government Funding, Aberdeen City Council manages and sets their own budget. Therefore, there are some elements of your questions that the Scottish Government does not have knowledge of.

As such, I hereby provide you with formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not hold some of the information you have requested.

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.