Wellbeing Economy Governments (WEGo) correspondence between First Minister and Deputy First Minister: FOI release

Information requested

1. The number of Scottish Government officials who support the work of the Wellbeing Economy Governments Partnership Secretariat. Please provide the number of individuals and their pay band as at 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 and so far in 2025-26.

2. All the work conducted by Scottish Government officials in preparation for the Wellbeing Economy Governments event in Brussels on 5th June.

3. All correspondence between the officials working in the secretariat and the First Minister and Deputy First Minister since 8 May 2024. To be clear, please only provide correspondence that is related to the secretariat’s work with the Wellbeing Economy Governments partnership.

4. All attendees, notes and minutes held of the First Minister’s meeting with Aileen McLeod on 5 August 2025 and any actions taken by the Scottish Government following this meeting.

Response

In response to your request, I can confirm the following:

1. Staff in the Scottish Government’s WEGo secretariat, who are co-ordinating work on the partnership and related work, comprised of one C2 and one B2 from 2018 to 2019; one C2 and two B2s from 2019 to 2024; and one C2 and one B2 from 2024 to 2026. The pay awards for Scottish Government have been released every year and are available in the following links: The pay awards for the Scottish Government have been released every year, and the latest one (2023-2025) is available in the following link: Scottish Government Main pay ranges 2023 to 2025: FOI release - gov.scot.

It is important to consider that work to provide secretariat for WEGo constitutes only part of the civil servants in question’s workload. I am unable to provide you with a figure for the total number of worked hours contributing to the WEGo secretariat because in line with usual practice, details of individual tasks carried out by civil servants, including the number of hours spent on them, are not routinely recorded because there is no business need to do this.

2. The work conducted in preparation for WEGo meeting in Brussels comprised the preparation of briefing materials in order to agree the format and content for the meeting. These materials are included as part of our response to your FOI request in the attached Annex_FOI_202500482976. Additionally colleagues in Brussels were involved in organising the meeting space and extending an invite to the meeting to representatives of the WEGo partner countries and other contacts in Brussels. We do not hold records of the total number of worked hours contributing to this task because in line with usual practice, details of individual tasks carried out by civil servants, including the number of hours spent on them, are not routinely recorded because there is no business need to do this.

3. I enclose a copy of all WEGo secretariat-related correspondence between the officials working in the secretariat and the First Minister and Deputy First Minister since 8 May 2024 in Annex_FOI_202500482976.

4. I enclose a copy of all attendees, notes and minutes held of the First Minister’s meeting with Aileen McLeod on 5 August 2025 and any actions taken by the Scottish Government following this meeting in Annex_FOI_202500482976.

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.

FOI 202500482976 - Information Released - Annex

File type

PDF

File size

112.4 kB