External Legal Services Spend
FOI reference: FOI25/26 027
Date received: 28/05/2025
Date responded: 30/05/2025
Information requested
I am writing to request the following information under Freedom of Information legislation.
The number of FTE employees who work in the Scottish Qualifications Authority’s internal legal team, including all lawyers, solicitors, etc. in a) Financial Year 2022/23, b) Financial Year 2023/24, and c) Financial Year 2024/25.
The total amount spent by the Scottish Qualifications Authority on internal legal services, including the salaries of employees in the legal team, expenses, etc. in a) Financial Year 2022/23, b) Financial Year 2023/24, and c) Financial Year 2024/25.
The total amount spent by the Scottish Qualifications Authority on external legal services in a) Financial Year 2022/23, b) Financial Year 2023/24, and c) Financial Year 2024/25.
To clarify, I am seeking each of the three points of information for each of the three financial years so would be expecting nine distinct figures in the response, as per the following template.
| FY 2022/23 | FY 2023/24 | FY 2024/25 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. of FTE internal legal team employees | - | - | - |
| Amount spent on internal legal services | £- | £- | £- |
| Amount spent on external legal services | £- | £- | £- |
Response
The information is contained within the following table.
Under section 17 of the Act, where a public authority does not hold information is should inform a requester.
SQA does not have an internal legal team and as such there are no employees and no spend on internal legal services.
| FY 2022/23 | FY 2023/24 | FY 2024/25 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. of FTE internal legal team employees | - | - | - |
| Amount spent on internal legal services | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| Amount spent on external legal services | £173,619 | £208,318 | £230,684 |