FOI/202500477199 · FOI · unclear
Scottish Government employee volunteering data: FOI release
Information requested
1. How many civil service employee volunteering days are permitted to *Scottish Government staff per year? (e.g. policy is 3 days for FT staff in x department) [number]
*If there is a difference across departments or directorate (as per your Annex), please answer for each individually. (e.g. policy is 3 days for FT staff in x department) [number]
2. How many civil service employee volunteering days were used across all *Scottish Government departments/directorates in the financial year of 2024-25? [number]
*If there is a difference across all departments or directorate (as per your Annex), please answer for each individually. [number per department]
3. What percentage of all available days are used? (e.g. 15% of volunteer days are used by *Scottish Government) [percentage]
*If there is a difference across all departments or directorate (as per your Annex), please answer for each individually. (e.g. 15% of volunteer days are used by Scottish Government staff in x department) [percentage]
4. How many employees are offered employee volunteering days are offered across all *Scottish Government staff? (*as per your Annex) [number]
5. What percentage is this of all *Scottish Government employees? (*as per your Annex [percentage]
Response
Question 1
The Scottish Government has a Volunteering policy which applies to all employees who may take up to a maximum of 42 hours (6 days) paid special leave in a 12-month rolling period to volunteer. Volunteering leave is pro-rata for part-time staff.
Question 2 & 3
Please see the following table detailing the number of volunteering hours used across all Scottish Government directorates in the financial year of 2024-25. Please note that our system calculates leave in hours, not days, however, in general, full-time employees work 7 hours per day (Bands A-C). Please also note that the Directorate names detailed in the table below are correct as at 31 March 2025 to reflect the reporting period requested but may differ from the directorates detailed in your annex. The table also shows the number of hours volunteering leave taken, the number of total hours entitlement (i.e. FTE for the directorate as at 31 March 2025 multiplied by 42 hours possible volunteering leave), and the percentage of available hours taken.
Directorate Number of hours volunteering leave taken Total Hours Entitlement Percentage of available hours taken (%) AGRICULTURE AND RURAL ECONOMY (ARE) 1,469.24 41,539.68 3.54 BUSINESS AND BETTER REGULATION 21.00 1,822.80 1.15 CHIEF ECONOMIST 139.20 4,211.34 3.31 CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER 45.35 2,828.28 1.60 CHIEF NURSING OFFICER 13.70 2,121.42 0.65 CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, NHS SCOTLAND 225.28 6,989.64 3.22 CHILDREN AND FAMILIES 313.62 13,633.20 2.30 CLADDING REMEDIATION 221.80 1,899.24 11.68 COMMUNICATIONS AND MINISTERIAL SUPPORT 502.42 16,456.44 3.05 CONSTITUTION 128.25 2,199.96 5.83 CORPORATE TRANSFORMATION & WORKPLACE 50.55 3,803.94 1.33 COVID INQUIRIES RESPONSE 25.02 1,327.20 1.89 CULTURE AND EXTERNAL AFFAIRS 211.35 7,601.58 2.78 DIGITAL 508.66 26,487.72 1.92 DIGITAL HEALTH & CARE 0 168 0 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 270.80 9,182.04 2.95 EDUCATION REFORM 149.35 3,597.72 4.15 ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE 397.36 15,190.14 2.62 ENVIRONMENT AND FORESTRY 296.30 7,971.60 3.72 EU DIRECTORATE 0 378 0 EQUALITY, INCLUSION & HUMAN RIGHTS 197.05 4,551.96 4.33 EXCHEQUER STRATEGY 31.30 1,490.58 2.10 FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT 74.23 6,275.22 1.18 FISCAL POLICY & CONSTITUTION 0 84 0 HEALTH WORKFORCE 43.00 4,685.10 0.92 HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE FINANCE 8.50 2,520.00 0.34 INTERNAL AUDIT AND ASSURANCE 57.10 2,450.28 2.33 INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND INVESTMENT 204.10 3,291.12 6.20 JOBS AND WELLBEING ECONOMY 130.85 4,710.72 2.78 JUSTICE 124.80 6,425.58 1.94 LEARNING 132.80 5,179.02 2.56 LEGAL SERVICES (SOLICITOR TO THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT) 170.15 13,617.24 1.25 LIFELONG LEARNING AND SKILLS 109.93 4423.44 2.49 LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND HOUSING 114.80 8375.64 1.37 MARINE 1407.50 30381.12 4.63 MENTAL HEALTH 221.60 6248.76 3.55 OFFSHORE WIND 110.60 2208.36 5.01 PARLIAMENTARY COUNSEL OFFICE 0 1041.6 0 PEOPLE 173.45 11741.10 1.48 PERFORMANCE, DELIVERY AND RESILIENCE 152.15 6145.02 2.48 PLANNING, ARCHITECTURE AND REGENERATION 14.80 2680.02 0.55 POPULATION HEALTH 474.74 13665.54 3.47 PRIMARY CARE 145.15 2877.42 5.04 PROPRIETY AND ETHICS 7.00 372.12 1.88 PUBLIC SERVICE REFORM 8.00 1564.50 0.51 PUBLIC SPENDING 109.75 1318.80 8.32 SAFER COMMUNITIES 235.92 6504.96 3.63 SCOTTISH PROCUREMENT AND PROPERTY 534.75 15448.86 3.46 SOCIAL CARE AND NATIONAL CARE SERVICE DEVELOPMENT 178.35 8138.34 2.19 SOCIAL SECURITY 456.83 16639.98 2.75 STRATEGY 40.10 575.40 6.97 TACKLING CHILD POVERTY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE 173.55 5775.42 3.00 TAX 32.50 1489.74 2.18 UKRAINE RESETTLEMENT* 17.70 1611.54 1.10
*Directorate for Ukraine resettlement is no longer a directorate, however, it has been kept in on the response as there were staff in the directorate who took volunteering leave during the period in question.
Question 4
As per the response to question 1, all Scottish Government employees may take up to 42 hours (6 days) paid special leave in a 12-month rolling period to volunteer.
Question 5
As per the response to question 1, this would be 100% of staff as all Scottish Government employees may take up to 42 hours (6 days) paid special leave in a 12-month rolling period to volunteer.
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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
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