Ally Tibbitt
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Our Ref: SIR149170/A2529886
13 February 2018
Dear Ally Tibbitt
Information Request – Gender Balance on Public Boards in Scotland
Thank you for your information request, which we received on 19 January. We have
considered your request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (’FOISA’).
Your Request
Please could you supply me with the following information?
1. At November 12 2015, how many men and how many women were on the board of
your organisation?
2. At November 12 2015, was the Chairperson (or person with an equivalent role) a man
or a woman?
3. How many men and how many women are now on the board of your organisation?
4. Is the current Chairperson (or person with an equivalent role) a man or a woman?
5. Does the board have a formal strategy or policy commitment to achieving gender
balance? If so please supply a copy of the document where the policy is laid out.
Please also confirm the date that this policy was adopted.
6. What is the current median FTE pay for men and women in the organisation?
Our Response
Our responses to questions 1 – 4 are contained the table below:
Female
Male
Board @ 12 November 2015
1
6
Chair @ 12 November 2015
Board @ 1 February 2018
6
4
Chair @ 1 February 2018
5. Does the board have a formal strategy or policy commitment to achieving gender balance?
If so please supply a copy of the document where the policy is laid out. Please also confirm
the date that this policy was adopted.
Our Workforce Plan and current Corporate Plan set out our commitment to help meet the First
Minister’s intent to improve the gender diversity of public Boards, with the aim of 50:50 Boards
by 2020. Our Workforce Plan can be found here, with reference to our policy commitment on
Scottish Natural Heritage, Battleby, Redgorton, Perth, PH1 3EW
Tel 01738 444177 Fax 01738 458611 www.nature.scot
page 7 (https://www.nature.scot/sites/default/files/A1635286%20-
%20SNH%20Workforce%20Plan%20-%20April%202015.%20WEBSITE%20version.pdf).
Our current Corporate Plan (page 17) makes a policy commitment to ‘work to encourage an
equal gender balance on our Board, and promote the fairness agenda and our public
equalities duties through our relations with all partners and with our own staff’. The plan can
be viewed here (https://www.nature.scot/snh-corporate-plan-2015-18).
Both the Workforce Plan and the current Corporate Plan were adopted in 2015.
The information you requested in question 5 is accessible on our website, so a result we are
not releasing it to you with this letter. In this case, I have to tell you that section 25(1), relating
to information that is accessible through means other than FOISA, applies to this part of your
request.
6. What is the current median FTE pay for men and women in the organisation?
Please find the link to the Equality Report which was published in April 2017, which is the
latest calculations we have for gender pay gap information (Page 62 for equal pay
information) (https://www.nature.scot/sites/default/files/2017-10/A2275285%20-
%20SNH%20EQUALITY%20REPORT%20-%202017 0.pdf ). The table on page 66 which
shows the hourly median pay for men and women. Translating that into full FTE based on a
37 hour week, for men, the hourly rate of £17.12 x 37 x 52 produces a median FTE pay of
£32,939. For women, applying the same calculation to the £15.41, it results in a median FTE
pay of £29,649.
Review and Appeal
I hope this information meets your requirements but if you are dissatisfied with how we have
responded to your information request, please write to us within 40 working days explaining
your concerns. You can contact us at Battleby, Redgorton, Perth, PH1 3EW or email us at
xxx@xxx.xxx.xx. We will carry out a review of our response and contact you with their findings
within 20 working days.
If you are not satisfied following this, you can make an appeal to the Scottish Information
Commissioner. The Scottish Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Scottish Information Commissioner
Kinburn Castle
Doubledykes Road
St Andrews
Fife
KY16 9DS
Online appeal service: www.itspublicknowledge.info/Appeal
Website: http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/
Telephone: 01334 464610
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A2529886
Yours sincerely
Jennifer Ryles
Jennifer Ryles
Information Officer
xxx@xxx.xxx.xx
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