Scottish Government public servants who are still working from home: FOI release

Information requested

1. How many scotgov public servants including all MSP's are still working from home
2. How long this has been going on for and justification
3. A likely end date

Response

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested in relation to MSPs. You may wish to contact foi.officer@parliament.scot, who may be able to provide this information. My answer will therefore be based on information relating to the Scottish Government Main (SGM) bargaining unit only. You can find information on which bodies are included within SGM in Annex A. This is a formal notification that under Section 17(1) of FOISA that we do not hold information relating to bodies not within SGM.

1. The Scottish Government (SG) allows staff to work a combination of working at an SG location and from home (e.g. hybrid working). Hybrid working arrangements vary according to the business requirements of individual roles and are therefore agreed at a local level between employees and their line managers. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance SG does not record the specifics of locally agreed hybrid working arrangements and as such it is not possible to say definitively how many staff are operating a hybrid working arrangement which involves an element of homeworking. This is a formal notification that under Section 17(1) of FOISA that we do not hold this information.
   
   However, in broad terms, we can advise that out of the 9,214 civil servants (as of 31st December 2022) employed by SG Main the vast majority are working in roles that would be eligible for hybrid working (e.g. as part of a hybrid working arrangement which involves them working between home and a Scottish Government workplace). As stated above, the specific balance between home and office working is not recorded and is a local level decision which is dependent on the nature of the role. In addition, there are certain roles that are not suitable for a hybrid working arrangement and therefore require attendance at a Scottish Government workplace on each working day.
2. On 23rd March 2020 Scottish Government buildings were closed following nationwide restrictions put in place in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Since February 2022, our buildings reopened in line with easing of restrictions and hybrid working has been trialled since then. As a condition of our hybrid working arrangements, staff continue to have a Scottish Government workplace stipulated as their contractual work location and we do not generally issue homeworking contracts (except where it would be an appropriate reasonable adjustment to comply with equalities legislation).
3. The Scottish Government continues to trial hybrid working with an expectation that this will continue in the long-term.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI - 202300348577 - Annex A

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