Materials relating to sexual harassment allegations involving Scottish Government staff: FOI release

Information requested

1. The total number of complaints or allegations of sexual harassment made involving Scottish Government staff, broken down by year, from 1 January 2018 to the present.

2. Where held, a breakdown of the outcomes of such complaints (for example: upheld, not upheld, ongoing, or resolved informally).

3. Any anonymised summaries, briefings, or internal reports relating to sexual harassment complaints involving Scottish Government staff.

4. Copies of current policies, guidance, or procedures in place for handling sexual harassment complaints involving Scottish Government staff.

5. Any internal reviews or audits conducted since 1 January 2018 concerning the handling of sexual harassment complaints within the Scottish Government.

Response

Question 1

Some of the information you have requested is already available - see Parliamentary Question S5W-18396, published on Thursday 20 September 2018, and FOI/202000019799 published 11th June 2020.

For the period 06 March 2020 until the date of your FOI submission, a year on year breakdown of Sexual Harassment allegations raised by Scottish Government Staff is given below.

	2020 (06/03 onwards)	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	2026 (up to and including 18 March)
Number of Sexual Harassment allegations raised by SG Staff	0	0	1	2	3	3	0

Under the Scottish Government's Grievance & Disciplinary policies, line managers are expected to deal with concerns at an early stage and on an informal basis, where appropriate. Please note therefore that the data presented in the table above is based solely on formal cases recorded under the Scottish Government’s Disciplinary or Grievance policies. There is no requirement to report informal complaints and action to HR and therefore under section 17(1) of FOISA we must advise that the Scottish Government does not hold information about informal complaints or actions.

Questions 2 and 3

We are unable to provide this information you have requested because an exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies. This exemption applies because the information is the personal data of third parties (the members of staff in question) and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles set out in Article 5(1) of the UK 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.

Question 4

The Scottish Government (SG) does not have a standalone sexual harassment policy. Instead, it has a range of workplace policies and procedures, including the Grievance Policy, which are designed to help staff raise concerns or grievances in various situations. These policies cover different types of issues and apply to different groups of people depending on the circumstances. All policies are developed in consultation with the Council of Scottish Government Unions (CSGU).
The Grievance Policy (please refer to FOI/202400446732 for information and documents relating to our grievance and disciplinary policies) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of all staff to ensure a workplace free from bullying, harassment, including sexual harassment, discrimination and victimisation. Staff should use this policy to raise grievances about issues or behaviours they experience at work from other colleagues. The policy also provides links to those procedures related to handling grievances in other specific situations, such as complaints against third parties. The Grievance Policy and its procedure were published in April 2022 and were updated in 2024 to reflect changes required from the Worker Protection (amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023. Information about making a complaint about a Minister or former Minister is also available online- Making a formal complaint about a minister’s or former minister’s behaviour: procedure gov.scot. Outwith FOISA, it may be helpful to know that this procedure is not specific to sexual harassment complaints; it relates to formal complaints made about behaviour, including bullying, harassment, discrimination, or any other unwanted conduct affecting the dignity of staff.

Question 5

The procedure for making a complaint about a Minister or former Minister formed part of the Scottish Government’s implementation plan published in June 2021 which follows on from the Government’s response to reports relating to the organisation’s handling of harassment complaints.

Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain an online copy of the information referred to above, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

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.