- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus Robertson on 29 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on the research, compilation and publication of the Building a New Scotland series of papers.
Answer
Across the Scottish Government, a range of staff have been or will be involved in independence work. We do not routinely record details of individual tasks carried out by civil servants, including the number of hours spent on research and compilation, as there is no business need to do this.
The Scottish Government has published the publication costs of the thirteen papers in the Building a New Scotland series, found at the following link: Building a New Scotland papers: costs - gov.scot
Preparatory work on additional material within the series has also been undertaken, adding £9,371.45. This brings the total spent on the publication of the BANS papers to £216,418.98.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 29 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many employees are shared across more than one of the executive non-departmental public bodies.
Answer
For the Non-Departmental Public Bodies that the Scottish government holds employee information for, our data shows no employees are assigned on our HR management information system to more than one Non-Departmental Public Body.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 29 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many employees are shared across more than one of the non-ministerial offices.
Answer
For the non-Ministerial offices that the Scottish government holds employee information, our data shows no employees are assigned on our HR management information system to more than one non-Ministerial office.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 29 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many employees are shared across more than one of its executive agencies.
Answer
For the Executive Agencies that the Scottish Government holds employee information for, our data shows no employees are assigned on our HR management information system to more than one Executive Agency.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus Robertson on 28 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much sponsorship funding it has provided to Nordic Horizons or associated organisations, since May 2021.
Answer
Nordic Horizons has not received any funding from the Scottish Government since 2018.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 28 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many of the directorates of its (a) executive agencies, (b) non-ministerial offices, (c) executive non-departmental public bodies, (d) advisory non-departmental public bodies and (e) other significant national bodies are shared with other public bodies.
Answer
How public bodies are organised and structured depends on their status, function and the services they deliver. Public bodies determine the best way to structure their organisation to achieve their objectives, taking into consideration their own lines of accountability.
Public bodies do share services including estates, finance, digital and human resource, and the Scottish Government strongly encourages and supports this as part of public service reform programme. Further shared service development is a part of this programme. The Scottish Government is working with bodies in thematic clusters to identify further opportunities for efficiency and alignment, and empowering public bodies to deliver savings by working across the broader public sector.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 27 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many full-time equivalent civil servants were employed at grade (a) A3, (b) A4, (c) B1, (d) B2, (e) B3, (f) C1, (g) C2 and (h) C3, in (i) 2021-22, (ii) 2022-23, (iii) 2023-24 and (iv) 2024-25, and what the numbers are projected to be in 2025-26.
Answer
The below table shows the distribution of FTE by grade, within Scottish Government Core, for the dates requested.
SG Core FTE by Grade 21-22 to 24-25 |
| 31-Mar-22 | 31-Mar-23 | 31-Mar-24 | 30-Sep-24 |
A3 | 411 | 369 | 303 | 276 |
A4 | 449 | 449 | 385 | 375 |
B1 | 1,155 | 1,145 | 1,119 | 1,053 |
B2 | 1,733 | 1,838 | 1,738 | 1,725 |
B3 | 2,021 | 2,127 | 2,188 | 2,316 |
C1 | 1,447 | 1,581 | 1,748 | 1,824 |
C2 | 707 | 732 | 795 | 833 |
C3 | 124 | 114 | 112 | 119 |
Following the presentation of the 25-26 Budget in Parliament, the Scottish Government are considering the impact of this for workforce projections in 25-26. These workforce projections will be regularly monitored, reviewed and updated over the course of the financial year to ensure services are delivered effectively and affordably for the people of Scotland. The total workforce for the Scottish Government has reduced in each of the last two financial years by 0.4% and 3%. To date the Scottish Government have prioritised the reduction of contingent workers, including more expensive contractors, and have done so by 40%. The 25-26 Budget included a commitment to a reduction in the number of permanent civil servants in the core Scottish Government in the 25-26 financial year.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus Robertson on 24 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much it plans to spend in 2025-26 on work related to Scottish independence.
Answer
In December 2024, the Government’s proposed spending and tax plans for 2025 to 2026 were published here Scottish Budget - gov.scot. This includes budget provision for a range of activity related to the constitution which will be deployed across Ministerial priorities and commitments in this area.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus Robertson on 24 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many full-time equivalent civil servants are currently engaged in work relating to Scottish independence.
Answer
The Scottish Government has set out its commitment to giving people information about independence. A range of civil servants across the Scottish Government provide input to developing and communicating this information.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus Robertson on 24 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government when it anticipates that it will publish the next paper in the Building a New Scotland series.
Answer
The Scottish Government will publish further material on independence to give the people of Scotland the information they need. No date for publication has yet been determined.