Scottish Government staff promotion statistics: FOI release
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
Information requested
1. The number of individuals from ethnic minority backgrounds who have been promoted to Grade B3 and Grade C1 roles within the Scottish Government from 14 February 2022 to the present date.
2. Of those promoted, how many individuals identified as Muslim.
3. A breakdown of this data by directorate or unit, if available.
4. The number of staff appointed to B3 roles at the ECU from January 2024 to date, who were selected from a reserve list for another SG department and did not apply through the standard recruitment process.
For, 1, 2 and 3 If possible, please provide this information in a tabular format, including the date of promotion, grade, and self-declared ethnicity and religion (where recorded).
Response
1. Ethnic group of staff substantively promoted (i.e not including temporary promotions) in each of 2022, 2023 and 2024 to grades B3 and C1.Please see Annex A.
2. Religion of staff substantively promoted (i.e not including temporary promotions) in 2022, 2023 and 2024 to grades B3 or C1. Data here has been combined across years and grades to avoid suppression due to small numbers for the Muslim category. Please see Annex A.
We have withheld the precise number of candidates, date of promotion and religious groups, because where a request asks for the number of candidates and that number is so small that release of the information could lead to the identification of the individuals we customarily present a number range. This information being exempt under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA. Disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exemption is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.
While the details of candidate data are not subject to GDPR, their identification in these circumstance may harm the interests and expectation of privacy of their those persons.
3. Promotions by directorate, grade and year. Due to small numbers, the risk of disclosure, date of promotion and religious groups, is too high to provide an ethnic group or religion breakdown here. We have withheld the precise number of candidates because where a request asks for the number of candidates and that number is so small that release of the information could lead to the identification of the individuals we customarily present a number range. This information being exempt under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA. Disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exemption is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. While the details of candidate data are not subject to GDPR, their identification in these circumstance may harm the interests and expectation of privacy of their those persons.
4. Please find figures requested in the attached document, Annex A.
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