FOI/202600503911 · FOI · not held
Information on Scottish Government employees having other employment: FOI release
Information requested
Since 2021, the number of full-time Scottish Government employees who had another full-time job.
This should include those were discovered to have an unauthorised second job.
Please break this down per year and provide details of what the second job was, if held.
Response
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. Therefore an exemption under Section 17(1) of FOISA applies to this request. The reasons why we don't have the information are explained below.
While managers are required to have discussions locally to ensure that any proposed outside activity is permissible under the policy and does not breach working time regulations, we do not hold central data on the number of working hours associated with any outside occupation.
1. Declaration of Outside Interest reports do not record the working pattern of the employee.
We have however, in line with our duty to provide advice and assistance under FOISA provided the following information which may assist and be related to your query.
Scottish Government (SG) employees are permitted to hold outside occupations subject to approval. They must declare any outside occupations under the Declaration and Management of Outside Interests Policy. Approved declarations form the SG Corporate Register of Interests.
When considering whether an outside occupation should be approved, managers are required to consider:
Whether there is an actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest in the member of staff taking on this role; Whether the role would impact on the staff member’s ability to perform their contract with SG; Consider potential impacts on overall wellbeing, for example, adequate rest breaks as per the working time directive.
To confirm, outside occupations are those which are held outwith Scottish Government, and where approved, it is permissible for staff to carry out work for an outside occupation in their personal time (outside of their contractual hours for their SG role). While all staff are required to declare any interests, responsibility for completing the necessary system actions lies with the individual and their line manager.
Data from HR Systems
Data relating to declarations of outside interests is held on our HR systems, the HR system was changed in 2024. Historic data has been reconciled to provide a breakdown of registered outside employments which have been approved via HR systems since 2021.
Data relating to working pattern of employees is not recorded on the Declaration of Outside Interests report, to provide the information this data has been cross referenced with our most recent staff list to indicate employees who are currently working full time. Where more than one instance of a job was declared this has been categorised, jobs with single entries have been categorised as 'other' (eg. gardener)
An extract from the reconciled Register of Interests reports are provided below, including a breakdown of:
Declarations of Outside Interests approved on HR systems by year Category of outside occupations reported
Type of Outside Occupation 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Total Coaching/Training/Tutoring/Lecturing 6 9 15 Coastguard/Reserve firefighter/ Army reservist 1 2 3 Company Director 1 1 1 2 1 6 Consultancy 2 3 1 6 Hospitality 5 4 9 Musician 3 1 4 NHS/Nursing 1 2 5 8 Non-Executive Director 2 2 Other 2 1 20 15 38 Own Business 5 4 9 Retail 6 1 7 Grand Total 3 1 3 54 45 1 107
Our records show that since 2021, one case has been recorded where an employee was discovered to have an unauthorised second job.
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.
Contact Please quote the FOI reference Central Correspondence Unit Email: contactus@gov.scot Phone: 0300 244 4000 The Scottish Government St Andrew's House Regent Road Edinburgh EH1 3DG
Detected exemption language
Therefore an exemption under Section 17(1) of FOISA applies to this request.
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