The Scottish Government do not centrally hold records by department for mobile phones. Mobile phones are purchased by individual business areas to meet their requirements. There are 3922 mobile phones in use.

The mobile data used in terabytes (Tb) on the Scottish Government’s account as part of our mobile voice and data contracts is shown below. This data is only available from August 2020, it is not possible to separate the associated mobile data costs by department from the overall spend.

January 2024 to December 2024 - 82.59Tb

January 2023 to December 2023 - 94.87Tb

January 2022 to December 2022 - 97.77Tb

January 2021 to December 2021 - 125.07Tb

July 2020 to December 2020 - 39.99Tb

The Scottish Government do not hold central records for how many mobile phones it has purchased in the last 5 years as they are purchased by individual business areas to meet their requirements through delegated purchasing. The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

All Scottish Government mobile phones are securely wiped and disposed of in line with National Cyber Security Centre guidance when they reach end of life.

The Scottish Government has robust processes and procedures in place to ensure all corporately managed mobile phones are monitored and continually assessed using industry standard security tooling to ensure compliance with our policies.

The use of corporate mobile phones is covered by our IT Code of Conduct and Mobile Services Employee Agreement.

All corporately managed Scottish Government mobile phones align with National Cyber Security Centre standards.

The Scottish Government works closely with the framework supplier to ensure the best possible network coverage.

For Scottish Government (SG) employees in remote and rural areas using an SG-issued mobile device, Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi calling are permitted when mobile connectivity is insufficient.

The Scottish Government maintains membership in the Scottish Wide Area Network (SWAN).

SWAN, a partnership between the Scottish public sector and BT, is committed to accelerating the digital transformation of Scotland’s public sector, including in some of the most rural areas of the country.

The contract will enhance communication, data sharing, and collaboration across more than 94 public sector organisations and thousands of sites.

BT has pledged to provide significantly faster and more resilient fibre broadband and mobile connections to its network members.

All corporately managed Scottish Government mobile phones are audited monthly for compliance in line with our Cyber Security principals. Any remediation actions identified are investigated and addressed as necessary.

The Scottish Government holds data provided by our mobile voice and data supplier, Vodafone in relation to our mobile contract, this includes call, SMS and data usage statistics and along with any associated charges.