Revenue Scotland has achieved the second highest engagement index score of Scottish civil service organisations participating in a UK-wide survey of government employees.
The tax authority, which is responsible for the collection and administration of the fully devolved taxes Land and Buildings Transaction Tax and Scottish Landfill Tax, achieved an engagement index score of 67%, ranking it second only to the Scottish Housing Regulator.
The result also saw Revenue Scotland placed 22nd out of 102 central government and government agencies participating in the survey across the UK as a whole.
Revenue Scotland Chief Executive Elaine Lorimer welcomed the result, describing it as fantastic news for such a young organisation and highlighting recent work which had contributed to the ranking.
She said: “This is a fantastic score for Revenue Scotland in the annual Civil Service People Survey. An engagement index score of 67% which ranks us 2nd in Scotland and 22nd in the UK as a whole makes me proud to be leading the organisation.
“We are still a relatively young organisation and we have made concerted efforts to make Revenue Scotland a great place to work – where staff feel valued and supported in their work, where equality and diversity are at the forefront of how we treat each other and where training and development needs provide career development opportunities.”
“In the last 12 months there has been a focus on a staff training and development programme as well as equality and diversity. All of these, as well as a range of other activity, support a positive workplace and working culture and this is borne out by our ranking.”
The survey results included:
- 94% of staff scored positively in their understanding of organisational objectives, purpose and how their work contributes to this (an increase of 8% compared to 2017);
- 87% of staff scored positively on inclusion and fair treatment (an increase of 8% compared to 2017); and
- 89% of staff scored positively on team working, relying on colleagues during difficult times, working together to improve services and create innovative solutions (an increase of 7% compared to 2017).
Notes to editors
Revenue Scotland is a Non-Ministerial Department responsible for the management and collection of Scotland’s devolved taxes – currently Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) and Scottish Landfill Tax (SLfT).
The tax authority operates according to Adam Smith’s principles of taxation to ensure equity, certainty, convenience and efficiency in administering and managing the devolved taxes
The four principles:
- Equity – proportionality to the ability of a taxpayer to pay;
- Certainty – maximising tax compliance, minimising tax avoidance and evasion;
- Convenience – ensuring tax systems and processes are open and accessible;
- Efficiency – ensuring tax systems are efficient and effective and represent value for money for Scotland.
The tax authority began tax operations on 1 April 2015 and, since then, has collected £2bn in tax revenue to support Scotland’s public services.
The Civil Service People Survey takes place annually and provides civil servants with an opportunity to feed back confidentially on what it is like to work in the UK Civil Service.
Questions focus on a range of topics including work/life balance, equality in the workplace, workloads, career development and the performance of senior management.
The survey was launched in 2009 and, in 2017, almost 300,000 people participated across 98 separate government departments and agencies.
The full results for Revenue Scotland are available below:
Revenue Scotland - People Survey Results 2018-19.pdf