Our business

Where relevant, we publish our responses to Freedom of Information requests under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA).

This response addressed the following query:

• “What information is held on the political affiliation of board members and senior staff within your organisation
• The current annual cost of press and media for your organisation, and the total number of personnel employed to handle press and media for your organisation
• What guidelines have been issued to your organisation by the Scottish Government on press releases and media”

The PIRC has considered this as a request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (“FOISA”). An application for information held by public authorities under section 1 of FOISA requires that a public authority release all information held, subject to any applicable exemptions.

• What information is held on the political affiliation of board members and senior staff within your organisation
  We compile and publish a Register of Interests detailing a number of criteria in relation to senior members of our staff. This can be viewed on our web site, using this link.

The PIRC do not have a Board of Directors, but an Audit and Accountability Committee instead, and do not record this information for members of the committee.

• The current annual cost of press and media for your organisation, and the total number of personnel employed to handle press and media for your organisation
  We currently employ two members of staff to manage all press and media activities. The salary costs for these are £100k to £105k per annum. However the remit for these employees is far wider than just media and press, as they have a range of other job tasks assigned such as digital media and internal communications. In addition there are other costs involved in providing this service, such as £11.8k per annum for subscriptions.

• What guidelines have been issued to your organisation by the Scottish Government on press releases and media?
  The PIRC is an independent organisation, receiving funding from the Scottish Government. We handle our own media and press, however adopt good practice which may be identified by the Scottish Government.