Transport Scotland spend on overtime, agency staff, consultants and social media advertising: FOI release

Information requested

• Please provide the total amount that Transport Scotland spent on overtime and agency costs broken down into a table to reflect every financial year since 2021-22.
• Please provide the total amount that Transport Scotland spent on external consultants broken down into a table to reflect every financial year since 2021-22.
• Please provide the total amount that Transport Scotland spent on social media advertising broken down into a table to reflect every financial year since 2021-22.

Response

The tables denoting the total costs you requested for Transport Scotland is below:

1. Overtime and Agency Costs

Overtime Payments

Financial Year	Total cost (£000s)
2021-22	£191
2022-23	£216
2023-24	£235
Total	£642

2. Agency Costs

This information is available through published Annual Report and Accounts, which are available on the Transport Scotland website. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you.

The links to the three published accounts in question are linked below:

2023-24: Annual Report and Accounts 2023-24 page 111
2022-23: Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23 | Transport Scotland page 102
2021-22: Annual Report and Accounts for the Year Ended 31 March 2021 | Transport Scotland page 81

2. External Consultants

This information is available through published Annual Report and Accounts, which are available on the Transport Scotland website. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible for you.

The links to the three published accounts in question are linked below:

2023-24: Annual Report and Accounts 2023-24 page 111
2022-23: Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23 | Transport Scotland page 102
2021-22: Annual Report and Accounts for the Year Ended 31 March 2021 | Transport Scotland page 81

3. Social Media Advertising

While our aim is to provide information wherever possible, in this instance, the Scottish Government does not have this information you requested. This is because expenditure for “social media advertising” cannot be isolated from the wider account code, meaning that we are not able to disaggregate accurately. Transport Scotland benefits from contracts in place with associated warranties. This is formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

Information relating to the Financial Year 2024-25

An exemption under section 27(1) of FOISA applies to information relating to the Financial Year 2024-25 because we intend to publish that information in September 2025, which is within 12 weeks of your request. We consider that it is reasonable to withhold the information until that date, rather than release this information before the planned publication date.

This exemption is subject to the “public interest test”. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. We recognise that there is some public interest in release and this will be met by our planned publication. Additionally, the 2024-25 figures requested are still being audited and it would not be in the public interest to release these figures into the public domain until they have been finalised.

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.