Scottish Forestry legal services: FOI release

Information requested

1. The number of FTE employees who work in Scottish Forestry’s internal legal team, including all lawyers, solicitors, etc. in a) Financial Year 2022/23, b) Financial Year 2023/24, and c) Financial Year 2024/25.

2. The total amount spent by Scottish Forestry on internal legal services, including the salaries of employees in the legal team, expenses, etc. in a) Financial Year 2022/23, b) Financial Year 2023/24, and c) Financial Year 2024/25.

3. The total amount spent by Scottish Forestry on external legal services in a) Financial Year 2022/23, b) Financial Year 2023/24, and c) Financial Year 2024/25.

To clarify, I am seeking each of the three points of information for each of the three financial years so would be expecting nine distinct figures in the response, as per the following template.

	FY 2022/23	FY 2023/24	FY 2024/25
No. of FTE internal legal team employees	-	-	-
Amount spent on internal legal services	£-	£-	£-
Amount spent on external legal services	£-	£-	£-

Response

In response to the three points of information of the request as numbered 1-3 in the request, we are providing nine distinct figures in the response, as per the template provided.

	FY 2022/23	FY 2023/24	FY 2024/25
No. of FTE internal legal team employees	0	0	0
Amount spent on internal legal services	£0	£0	£0
Amount spent on external legal services	£0	£0	£0

To clarify, Scottish Forestry does not have an internal legal team or service and receives legal advice from the Scottish Government’s Legal Division.

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.