Education Scotland - employee statistics: FOI release

Information requested

Please provide a detailed breakdown of the use of non-permanent staff, contractors, and fee-paid workers within Education Scotland (including the Scrutiny Directorate/Inspectorate) for the financial years 2023/24, 2024/25, and 2025/26 (to date).

1. The total number of external contractors, temporary workers or contingent workers engaged via an intermediary (e.g., a recruitment agency).

2. The total annual spend on these contractors, broken down by department (Inspectorate vs. Corporate).

3. The highest daily fee/rate currently being paid to an external contractor.

4. The total number of Associate or Assistant Inspectors (AIs), Student Team Members or Lay Members who have received payment for services in the last 5 years including payments made to Local Authorities to compensate for use of their staff as Assistant or Associate Inspectors.
5. The total expenditure on daily fees paid to these individuals (excluding travel and subsistence) for the last 5 years.

6. The total expenditure to each Local Authority to compensate them for the use of their staff to undertake Associate or Assistant Inspector roles for the last 5 years.

7. The current daily fee rate(s) for Assistant or Associate Inspectors.

8. The number of instances where Education Scotland failed to pay invoices on time or failed to pay daily fee contractors on time for the last 5 years. This should include any instance where a Local Authority was not compensated within agreed timeframes for the use of their staff on inspection duty, any instance where a student team member was paid late or where any other contractor did not receive any payment within an agreed or reasonable timeframe.

9. Please provide any and all late payment notices issued to Education Scotland for any unpaid invoices for the past 5 years.

Response

1. The total number of external contractors, temporary workers or contingent workers engaged via an intermediary (e.g., a recruitment agency).

Financial year	Total
23-24	19
24-25	11
25-26 as at 16/02/26	14

2. The total annual spend on these contractors, broken down by department (Inspectorate vs. Corporate).

Financial year	Inspectorate	Corporate
23-24	£74,878	£403,837
24-25	£28,779	£212,099
25-26 as at 16/02/26	£33,395	£316,561

3. The highest daily fee/rate currently being paid to an external contractor.

Highest daily fee - £689

Note this rate excludes VAT.

4. The total number of Associate or Assistant Inspectors (AIs), Student Team Members or Lay Members who have received payment for services in the last 5 years including payments made to Local Authorities to compensate for use of their staff as Assistant or Associate Inspectors.

	AI total	STM total	Lay Member total
21-22	7	6	S.17
22-23	15	8	S.17
23-24	11	[REDACTED S.38(1)(b)]	S.17
24-25	22	[REDACTED S.38(1)(b)]	S.17
25-26 to end Jan	18	[REDACTED S.38(1)(b)]	S.17

Assistant and Associate Inspectors are fee paid, either through Education Scotland’s payroll or engaged through and external agency. Education Scotland does not pay local authorities for any Assistant or Associate Inspector time. Whilst our aim is to provide information wherever possible, in this case Education Scotland does not hold some of the information you have requested. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Education Scotland does not hold this information.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because an exemption(s) under section(s) s.38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information. Where the data returns a value of five or less this has been supressed in order to ensure that individuals cannot be identified.

Lay Members are not remunerated, they only receive reimbursement for expenses incurred. Whilst our aim is to provide information wherever possible, in this case Education Scotland does not hold some of the information you have requested. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Education Scotland does not hold this information.

5. The total expenditure on daily fees paid to these individuals (excluding travel and subsistence) for the last 5 years.

	AI total	STM total	Lay Member total
21-22	£ 107,446	£ 9,702	S.17
22-23	£ 274,178	£ 27,370	S.17
23-24	£ 145,684	£ 16,087	S.17
24-25	£ 254,805	£ 4,871	S.17
25-26 to end Jan	£ 169,483	£0	S.17

Lay Members are not remunerated, they only receive reimbursement for expenses incurred. Whilst our aim is to provide information wherever possible, in this case Education Scotland does not hold some of the information you have requested. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Education Scotland does not hold this information.

6. The total expenditure to each Local Authority to compensate them for the use of their staff to undertake Associate or Assistant Inspector roles for the last 5 years.

Assistant and Associate Inspectors are fee paid, either through Education Scotland’s payroll or engaged through and external agency. Education Scotland does not pay local authorities for any Assistant or Associate Inspector time. Whilst our aim is to provide information wherever possible, in this case Education Scotland does not hold some of the information you have requested. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Education Scotland does not hold this information.

7. The current daily fee rate(s) for Assistant or Associate Inspectors.

Role	Day rate
Assistant Inspector	£294
Associate Inspector	£250

8. The number of instances where Education Scotland failed to pay invoices on time or failed to pay daily fee contractors on time for the last 5 years. This should include any instance where a Local Authority was not compensated within agreed timeframes for the use of their staff oninspection duty, any instance where a student team member was paid late or where any other contractor did not receive any payment within an agreed or reasonable timeframe.

Financial year	Number of late invoice payments (10 days payment terms)
21/22	28
22/23	16
23/24	7
24/25	208
25/26	72

During FY 2024/25, the Scottish Government upgraded both their Finance and HR systems. As a result of upgrade and testing issues during implementation and roll out, a number of invoices were not processed within the 10 day payment target.

9.Please provide any and all late payment notices issued to Education Scotland for any unpaid invoices for the past 5 years.

Late payment notices are not retained by Education Scotland. Whilst our aim is to provide information wherever possible, in this case Education Scotland does not hold some of the information you have requested. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Education Scotland does not hold this information.

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