Scottish Government employee volunteering data: FOI release

Information requested

1. How many civil service employee volunteering days are permitted to *Scottish Government staff per year? (e.g. policy is 3 days for FT staff in x department) [number]

*If there is a difference across departments or directorate (as per your Annex), please answer for each individually. (e.g. policy is 3 days for FT staff in x department) [number]

2. How many civil service employee volunteering days were used across all *Scottish Government departments/directorates in the financial year of 2024-25? [number]

*If there is a difference across all departments or directorate (as per your Annex), please answer for each individually. [number per department]

3. What percentage of all available days are used? (e.g. 15% of volunteer days are used by *Scottish Government) [percentage]

*If there is a difference across all departments or directorate (as per your Annex), please answer for each individually. (e.g. 15% of volunteer days are used by Scottish Government staff in x department) [percentage]

4. How many employees are offered employee volunteering days are offered across all *Scottish Government staff? (*as per your Annex) [number]

5. What percentage is this of all *Scottish Government employees? (*as per your Annex [percentage]

Response

Question 1

The Scottish Government has a Volunteering policy which applies to all employees who may take up to a maximum of 42 hours (6 days) paid special leave in a 12-month rolling period to volunteer. Volunteering leave is pro-rata for part-time staff.

Question 2 & 3

Please see the following table detailing the number of volunteering hours used across all Scottish Government directorates in the financial year of 2024-25. Please note that our system calculates leave in hours, not days, however, in general, full-time employees work 7 hours per day (Bands A-C). Please also note that the Directorate names detailed in the table below are correct as at 31 March 2025 to reflect the reporting period requested but may differ from the directorates detailed in your annex. The table also shows the number of hours volunteering leave taken, the number of total hours entitlement (i.e. FTE for the directorate as at 31 March 2025 multiplied by 42 hours possible volunteering leave), and the percentage of available hours taken.

Directorate	Number of hours volunteering leave taken	Total Hours Entitlement	Percentage of available hours taken (%)
AGRICULTURE AND RURAL ECONOMY (ARE)	1,469.24	41,539.68	3.54
BUSINESS AND BETTER REGULATION	21.00	1,822.80	1.15
CHIEF ECONOMIST	139.20	4,211.34	3.31
CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER	45.35	2,828.28	1.60
CHIEF NURSING OFFICER	13.70	2,121.42	0.65
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, NHS SCOTLAND	225.28	6,989.64	3.22
CHILDREN AND FAMILIES	313.62	13,633.20	2.30
CLADDING REMEDIATION	221.80	1,899.24	11.68
COMMUNICATIONS AND MINISTERIAL SUPPORT	502.42	16,456.44	3.05
CONSTITUTION	128.25	2,199.96	5.83
CORPORATE TRANSFORMATION & WORKPLACE	50.55	3,803.94	1.33
COVID INQUIRIES RESPONSE	25.02	1,327.20	1.89
CULTURE AND EXTERNAL AFFAIRS	211.35	7,601.58	2.78
DIGITAL	508.66	26,487.72	1.92
DIGITAL HEALTH & CARE	0	168	0
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT	270.80	9,182.04	2.95
EDUCATION REFORM	149.35	3,597.72	4.15
ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE	397.36	15,190.14	2.62
ENVIRONMENT AND FORESTRY	296.30	7,971.60	3.72
EU DIRECTORATE	0	378	0
EQUALITY, INCLUSION & HUMAN RIGHTS	197.05	4,551.96	4.33
EXCHEQUER STRATEGY	31.30	1,490.58	2.10
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT	74.23	6,275.22	1.18
FISCAL POLICY & CONSTITUTION	0	84	0
HEALTH WORKFORCE	43.00	4,685.10	0.92
HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE FINANCE	8.50	2,520.00	0.34
INTERNAL AUDIT AND ASSURANCE	57.10	2,450.28	2.33
INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND INVESTMENT	204.10	3,291.12	6.20
JOBS AND WELLBEING ECONOMY	130.85	4,710.72	2.78
JUSTICE	124.80	6,425.58	1.94
LEARNING	132.80	5,179.02	2.56
LEGAL SERVICES (SOLICITOR TO THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT)	170.15	13,617.24	1.25
LIFELONG LEARNING AND SKILLS	109.93	4423.44	2.49
LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND HOUSING	114.80	8375.64	1.37
MARINE	1407.50	30381.12	4.63
MENTAL HEALTH	221.60	6248.76	3.55
OFFSHORE WIND	110.60	2208.36	5.01
PARLIAMENTARY COUNSEL OFFICE	0	1041.6	0
PEOPLE	173.45	11741.10	1.48
PERFORMANCE, DELIVERY AND RESILIENCE	152.15	6145.02	2.48
PLANNING, ARCHITECTURE AND REGENERATION	14.80	2680.02	0.55
POPULATION HEALTH	474.74	13665.54	3.47
PRIMARY CARE	145.15	2877.42	5.04
PROPRIETY AND ETHICS	7.00	372.12	1.88
PUBLIC SERVICE REFORM	8.00	1564.50	0.51
PUBLIC SPENDING	109.75	1318.80	8.32
SAFER COMMUNITIES	235.92	6504.96	3.63
SCOTTISH PROCUREMENT AND PROPERTY	534.75	15448.86	3.46
SOCIAL CARE AND NATIONAL CARE SERVICE DEVELOPMENT	178.35	8138.34	2.19
SOCIAL SECURITY	456.83	16639.98	2.75
STRATEGY	40.10	575.40	6.97
TACKLING CHILD POVERTY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE	173.55	5775.42	3.00
TAX	32.50	1489.74	2.18
UKRAINE RESETTLEMENT*	17.70	1611.54	1.10

*Directorate for Ukraine resettlement is no longer a directorate, however, it has been kept in on the response as there were staff in the directorate who took volunteering leave during the period in question.

Question 4

As per the response to question 1, all Scottish Government employees may take up to 42 hours (6 days) paid special leave in a 12-month rolling period to volunteer.

Question 5

As per the response to question 1, this would be 100% of staff as all Scottish Government employees may take up to 42 hours (6 days) paid special leave in a 12-month rolling period to volunteer.

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