Scottish Government staff secondment policy: FOI release
- Published
- 24 June 2025
- Directorate
- People Directorate
- Topic
- Public sector, Work and skills
- FOI reference
- FOI/202500460159
- Date received
- 1 April 2025
- Date responded
- 10 April 2025
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002
Information requested
Could you please send me your secondment policy please?
Response
All Civil Service depts are required to adhere to the Civil Service Commissions Recruitment Principles. Secondments are an exception as they are not advertised on a fair & open basis. The link provided RECRUITMENT-PRINCIPLES-April-2015-as-of-January-2017.pdf can explain further. I have also included a link to the UK Civil Service secondment policy Secondments | Civil Service Careers.
A secondment is a temporary move between the Civil Service and an external organisation, it can be done in two ways:
An inward secondment is where an individual comes to work for a Civil Service department from an external organisation, but remains an employee of the external organisation for the duration of the secondment.
An outward secondment is where a civil servant goes to work for an external organisation, but remains an employee of the Civil Service for the duration of the secondment. Secondments can be seen as a development opportunity for Civil Servants as well as employees from the private sector.
The Scottish Government encourages both types of secondments as a way of exchanging knowledge, skills and experiences, building networks and increasing development and career opportunities.
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.
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