List of all job titles in the Honours and Protocols Team: FOI review

Information requested

Original request 202500484832

1. The list of all job titles in the Honours and Protocols Team

2. The current management structure (organogram or similar) of the ‘Honours and Protocols Team’, no staff personal names are required however job titles would be appreciated

3. Current job descriptions of those roles in the Honours and Protocols Team, exact salaries are not required however general pay scale would be appreciated

Response

I have now completed my review of our response to your request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) for:

1. The list of all job titles in the Honours and Protocols Team

2. The current management structure (organogram or similar) of the ‘Honours and Protocols Team’, no staff personal names are required however job titles would be appreciated

3. Current job descriptions of those roles in the Honours and Protocols Team, exact salaries are not required however general pay scale would be appreciated.

More specifically, you requested an internal review of our decision to refuse part of the third element of your request (Current job descriptions of those roles in the Protocol and Honours Unit) on the basis of the section 38(1)(b) exemption of FOISA. I have concluded that the original decision should be confirmed, with modification.

The original decision to withhold current job descriptions for roles in the Protocol and Honours Unit reflected the limited number of individuals in that team and the need to protect those individuals from unfair criticism. Publication of individual job descriptions for current members of the team would make it relatively simple for anyone accessing the material to link specific functions to specific individuals and, potentially, raise concern for their personal security.

However, I accept your argument that it was not appropriate to refuse release of all material contained in the relevant job descriptions on the basis of that information being exempt under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA. I therefore consider that information on the general functions of the Protocol and Honours Team should be released, whilst redacting names of specific individuals. That information is offered in the Annex to this letter.

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA applies to a small amount of the information you have requested because it is personal data of a third party, i.e. names/contact details of individuals, and 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.

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 202500488756 - Information Released - Annex

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