Scottish Government employee data: FOI release

Information requested

• The average length of service of all current employees expressed as a single figure in years and months
• The average length of service of all employees and allocated to 10 year groupings, i.e. up to 10 years, between 10 and 20 years, between 20 and 30 years, between 30 and 40 years, and between 40 and 50 years
• The average length of service of all employees according to the protected characteristic of sex, with an average for all men and another for all women [sex as defined by the Supreme Court in April 2025 as biological and binary]
• The average length of service of all employees according to the protected characteristic of sex, with an average for all men and an average for all women, and allocated to 10 year groupings, i.e. up to 10 years, between 10 and 20 years, between 20 and 30 years, between 30 and 40 years, and between 40 and 50 years
• The average length of service of all employees according to the protected characteristic of sex at the point they leave employment with the Board, with an average for all employees, an average for all men and another average for all women
• The average length of service of all employees according to the protected characteristic of ethnicity using these sub-groupings [BME - Mixed or Multiple Ethnic Group, Asian Pakistani, Asian Indian, Asian Bangladeshi, Asian Chinese, Asian Other, African, African Other, Caribbean, Black, Caribbean or Black Other, Arab and Other Ethnic Group - White Minority - White Irish, White Gypsy/Traveller, White Polish and White Other - All Other White British - White English, White Northern Irish, White Welsh and White Other British]
• The average length of service of all employees according to the protected characteristic of ethnicity using these 3 sub-groups [BME - Mixed or Multiple Ethnic Group, Asian Pakistani, Asian Indian, Asian Bangladeshi, Asian Chinese, Asian Other, African, African Other, Caribbean, Black, Caribbean or Black Other, Arab and Other Ethnic Group - White Minority - White Irish, White Gypsy/Traveller, White Polish and White Other - All Other White British - White English, White Northern Irish, White Welsh and White Other British], and allocated to 10 year groupings, i.e. up to 10 years, between 10 and 20 years, between 20 and 30 years, between 30 and 40 years, and between 40 and 50 years
• The average length of service of all employees according to the protected characteristic of ethnicity at the point they leave employment with the Board, with an average for all employees and average for each of the above three sub-groups
• The average length of service of all employees according to the protected characteristic of disability, with an average for all disabled people and another for all other employees not identifying as disabled
• The average length of service of all employees according to the protected characteristic of disability, with an average for all disabled people and an average for all employees not identifying as disabled, and allocated to 10 year groupings, i.e. up to 10 years, between 10 and 20 years, between 20 and 30 years, between 30 and 40 years, and between 40 and 50 years
• The average length of service of all employees according to the protected characteristic of disability at the point they leave employment with the Board, with an average for all employees, an average for all disabled people and an average for all employees not identifying as disabled.

And "in addition to the above, can you please explain why the government has not gathered, used and published data sets similar to the above on the workforce in pursuit of the Public Sector Equality Duty?".

Response

The Scottish Government publishes a range of information on the composition of its employees; as well as annual information on the recruitment, development and retention of employees with respect to the number and relevant protected characteristics of employees, including:

1. Quarterly Scottish Government workforce information (www.gov.scot/publications/workforceinformation) which provide a breakdown of the composition of the Scottish Government workforce. The statistics show:

• numbers of directly employed staff by category
• numbers of non-directly employed workers by category
• staff sickness absence
• staff diversity information.

2. A more detailed annual Diversity and Inclusion of the Scottish Government Workforce (www.data.gov.scot/workforce-diversity-2024-update) which includes workforce composition and presents diversity and inclusion experiences as measures against our Employer Equality Outcomes.

This includes information:

• On Recruitment
• In relation to development, on substantive and temporary promotions
• And in relation to retention, on turnover (joiners and leavers) and absences

3. In addition, the UK Government annual Civil Service People Survey publication Civil Service People Survey: 2024 results - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-people-survey-2024- results) which include information on length of service broken down for the Scottish Government and by diversity demographics.

We are committed to continuously improving the data we gather and use to improve experience and outcomes for all our employees and meet public sector equality duty requirements. The two yearly Mainstreaming Report (www.gov.scot/publications/mainstreaming-report-2023-25) and the Equality Outcomes 2025-29 (www.gov.scot/publications/equality-outcomes-2025-29) also include a range of actions we are taking in this regard.

I enclose a copy of most of the information you requested in the format you asked for. Please refer to the diversity publication notes (www.data.gov.scot/workforce-diversity 2024-update/notes.html) for definitions or technical notes on the data enclosed. This explains staff data on sex uses legal sex recorded in our HR system, as we do not hold data on the sex at birth of Scottish Government staff.

With regards to your request for sex data for staff on the basis of biological sex, this is formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. For completeness, I have instead included the data you have requested based on the legal sex data we do hold for staff.

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 202500493854 - Information released - Leavers by length of service

File type

Excel document

File size

33.7 kB

FOI 202500493854 - Information released - Staff by length of service

File type

Excel document

File size

42.3 kB