FOI/202500463517 · FOI · not held
Equal Pay claims correspondence: FOI release
Information requested
1. The total financial cost (including compensation payments and legal costs) incurred by Scottish public bodies in settling equal pay claims each year, for the past five years.
2. The projected total liability for unresolved or outstanding equal pay claims as estimated by the Scottish Government, broken down by each local authority or public body.
3. The total cost of external legal advice and consultancy fees paid by public bodies and the Scottish Government relating to equal pay claims in each of the last five years.
4. A copy of all correspondence between the Scottish Government and the GMB Scotland Union regarding equal pay claims, between 1/1/2024 and 27/4/2025. By correspondence I am referring to emails, text messages, meeting minutes, etc.
Response
Questions 1, 2 & 3
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.
It may be helpful to note that councils are independent bodies with their own powers and responsibilities and are entirely separate from the Scottish Government. Council’s powers are set out in statute, and it is up to each local authority to manage its own day-to-day business, including equal pay claims. The Scottish Government does not hold information on the expenses of councils.
Public bodies are organisations for which either the Scottish Government or Scottish Parliament is responsible and with whom they have a direct relationship. Not all public bodies share the same relationship with government or operate within the same public bodies framework. It would be for individual public bodies to deal with any equal pay claims.
You may wish to contact individual councils and public bodies with your request.
Question 4
I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested.
While our aim is to provide information wherever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because exemptions of FOISA applies to that information:
Section 38(1)(b) - Personal data relating to a third party Information out of scope
The reasons these exemptions apply are set out below.
An exemption applies under Section 38(1)(b) - Personal data relating to a third party
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, i.e. the names and contact details of individuals, and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. 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.
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.
Detected exemption language
While our aim is to provide information wherever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because exemptions of FOISA applies to that information: Section 38(1)(b) - Personal data relating to a third party Information out of scope The reasons these exemptions apply are set out below. An exemption applies under Section 38(1)(b) - Personal data relating to a third party 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, i.e. the names and contact details of individuals, and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. 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.