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Chamber and committees

Question reference: S4W-17608

  • Asked by: Fiona McLeod, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
  • Date lodged: 2 October 2013
  • Current status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by John Swinney on 3 October 2013

Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide the names of its special advisers; what their responsibilities are; what their pay bands are for 2013-14; how many special advisers are in each pay band, and what the total salary cost of employing special advisers was in 2012-13.


Answer

There are currently 13 special advisers. They are appointed in accordance with Part 1 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 by the First Minister as a special adviser for the purpose of providing assistance to the Scottish Ministers.

The total costs of the special adviser team employed during financial year 2012-13 was £925,105, a real terms decrease of £60,653 from the uprated 12 month cost of the 2006-07 Special Adviser team which was £985,758.

The specific responsibilities of the special advisers are as follows:

Name

Role

Appointed

Geoff Aberdein

  • Chief of Staff

  • Responsible for the First Minister's strategic programme in Government

  • First Minister’s senior intermediary with key internal and external stakeholders

  • Coordination of the Special Adviser team

  • Policy support on Commonwealth Games and Sport portfolio

 

26 May 2011

Stuart Nicolson

  • Head of Communications

  • Senior Political Spokesperson

26 May 2011

Noel Dolan

  • Senior Special Adviser to the Deputy First Minister

  • Policy advice on Infrastructure and Investment portfolio

  • Policy advice on Welfare

26 May 2011

Liz Lloyd

  • Senior Special Adviser for Finance (Policy and Communications)

  • Constitution Communications

30 January 2012

Campbell Gunn

  • Senior Special Adviser and Political Spokesperson

8 July 2013

Alexander Anderson

  • Support to the First Minister’s Private Office

  • Contributing to FM’s keynote speeches and new media

  • Policy advice for Culture and External Affairs

8 October 2012

Malcolm Fleming

  • Policy advice on Energy, Rural Affairs and the Environment portfolios

  • Policy advice on International Development portfolio

25 July 2011

John MacInnes

  • Lead on political research

  • Support for First Minister’s Questions

  • Support to the Communications Special Advisers

3 June 2011

Ewan Crawford

  • Senior Special Adviser supporting Ministers on Government Strategy and Constitutional issues

13 February 2013

Colin McAllister

  • Head of Policy

  • Senior Adviser for Education and Lifelong Learning

3 October 2012

David Hutchison

  • Policy advice on the Health and Wellbeing portfolio

  • Adviser for Broadcasting

  • Lead on FOI legislation

8 June 2011

John McFarlane

  • Policy advice on Justice portfolio

  • Policy advice on Parliamentary Business portfolio, including engaging with Parliamentary Liaison Officers

26 May 2011

Delancy Johansson

  • Cross portfolio special adviser reporting to Head of Policy

8 October 2012

 

The current special adviser pay bands and ranges and the number of special advisers within each pay band are:

 

Pay Band

Current Pay Range

Number of Special Advisers

1

£39,445 - £52,904

7

2

£51,041 - £67,709

3

3

£65,017 - £83,963

3

3 (premium)

£83,549 - £100,942

0

4

£86,965 - £104,462

0

Total Costs include salary, ERNIC and employer pension contributions. Total costs figures have been converted into real terms (2012-13 prices) to adjust for inflation using HM Treasury deflators, published on 27th June 2013. These were the latest available deflators at the time of calculation; September 2013.