Suspended Officials: FOI release

FOI reference: FOI/17/02452
Date received: 3 October 2017
Date responded: 16 November 2017

Information requested

In your request, you asked for the following information:

How many Scottish Government officials were suspended broken down for 2015, 2016 and 2017. Including any information on reasons for suspension and the cost to the Scottish Government of suspending those officials.

Response

While our aim is to provide information wherever possible, I am unable to provide all of the information you have requested. An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Schedule 1 to the Data Protection Act 1998. 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.

You have requested information for Scottish Government staff. Our response therefore covers staff who are subject to Scottish Government Main and Scottish Government Marine terms and conditions of employment and Senior Civil Servants in the organisations listed in Annex A.

There were fewer than 5 members of staff who were suspended in 2015, 13 members of staff were suspended in 2016, and 7 members of staff were suspended in 2017 (up to 19 October 2017 – the date of your request). The Scottish Government currently employs 7500 people.

All staff suspended were accused of a disciplinary offence under the Scottish Government disciplinary procedures. In line with these procedures those staff suspended from duty remained on full pay.

Information on suspension is set out in the SG's discipline policy. Disciplinary rules and procedures

COVERAGE OF OUR RESPONSE

Our response covers staff employed on Scottish Government Main and Scottish Government Marine terms and conditions of employment and Senior Civil Servants in following areas:

• Scottish Government Core Directorates
• Accountant in Bankruptcy
• Disclosure Scotland
• Education Scotland
• National Records of Scotland
• Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator
• Scottish Housing Regulator
• Scottish Public Pensions Agency
• Student Awards Agency for Scotland
• Transport Scotland

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