Шотландское правительство потратило миллионы фунтов на оборудование редко используемых офисов чиновников

The Scottish Government has spent millions of taxpayers’ cash furnishing rarely used offices for civil servants. More than 9,000 core civil servants employed by the Scottish Government were asked to return to the office for at least 40% of the working week. However, the policy is not mandatory following consultation with trade unions, and The Herald has previously revealed the target is not being met on a regular basis. Now, new details, obtained by The Herald through freedom of information requests, highlight the full costs of the hybrid working policy, with staff issued with IT equipment for their homes while offices are kitted out with high quality gadgets. Read more: Empty civil service buildings - what a waste of money The revelations come as First Minister John Swinney set out his Programme for Government, pledging a crackdown on public sector waste and the largest reform programme in the history of devolution. More than £2 million was spent on laptops and workstations for offices owned or leased by the Scottish Government in the last two years, while a further £619,971.50 was spent on mobile devices. Many of the items were purchased at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic to enable civil servants to continue working during lockdown. It comes as the Scottish Government confirmed it did not know whether the hybrid working target was being met after scrutiny of office attendance data led officials to stop tracking the policy. In one of the largest office buildings – Edinburgh’s Victoria Quay – the occupancy rate among core civil servants in January was just 12.1% on average. The cost of mobile phone contracts and data plans for civil servants reached £67,687 in 2024-25, before falling marginally to £65,237 the following year. Taxpayers covered the cost of a further £1.7m of office furniture between 2024 and April 2026, it can be revealed. The Scottish Government’s device refresh programme replaced 1,677 laptops during the 2024-25 financial year, at a cost of £869,809.59. Staff joining the civil service were supplied with home working equipment costing £56,497.97 in 2025-26, up from just over £22,000 the previous year. Between 2019-20 and 2023-24, the Scottish Government spent £521,746.57 on home-working-related purchases. That bill included £170,837 on monitors, £136,945 on items recorded only as “WFH equipment”, £28,190 on headsets and £24,446 on desks. Some staff were reimbursed £86.97 for a desk, while another was supplied with a desk costing £124 a number of months later. Several hundred pounds were also spent on printers and printer toner for civil servants to use at home. Miscellaneous purchases included an anti-fatigue mat, phone covers, docking stations worth £233, Wi-Fi boosters, chair mats, footrests and back support cushions. Craig Hoy, the finance spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives, said: “These astonishing costs will be met with fury by hard-pressed taxpayers. “Bills for such devices are continuing to soar because the SNP have miserably failed to follow through on their pledges to cut the costs of their civil service, as well as getting others back into the office. “While these devices are necessary to allow civil servants to carry out their work, serious questions must be asked as to whether they are delivering value for taxpayers. “John Swinney and his ministers need to get a grip of millions being spent on this, at a time when many Scots are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.” Earlier this year, The Herald revealed that taxpayers had been billed more than £41.8m for the running costs of Bute House, St Andrew’s House, Victoria Quay, Saughton House and Atlantic Quay. The Scottish Government directly owns Victoria Quay and St Andrew's House, but pays rent on the other three properties. Approximately 3,000 civil servants can be accommodated at Leith’s Victoria Quay, which has cost the taxpayer more than £9.5m to operate in five years. Planned maintenance costs at the Leith office exceeded more than £1m each year, while there was a significant rise in electricity costs, from £237,567 annually in 2020-21, during the pandemic, to £715,749 in 2024-25. In five years, £884,630 was spent on running costs at Bute House, while St Andrew's House – home to thousands of civil servants and ministers – cost more than £6m. In August, The Herald launched Out of Office, a pledge to investigate the waste in the Scottish Government’s return to work strategy by exposing how much money is being wasted. Permanent Secretary Joe Griffin, the head of Scotland’s civil service, set out a new five-year plan this week, stating that a new “location policy” will be published next year to balance business needs with flexibility and inclusion. He is consulting with trade unions on the prospect of increasing the hybrid working policy to 60%; however, he previously warned that the existing policy could not be enforced because of concerns that it would cause “conflict” with union leaders. UK Government staff are told to work from the office at least three days – 60% - of the week. A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said: “Staff need the necessary equipment to carry out their roles. “Much of this equipment is used by staff when working in the office, in the community or from home." Out of Office - our pledge to expose how your money is being wasted on empty civil service buildings. Join us. Share your thoughts: [email protected].