Climate-related staff and consultancy spending

1. Climate-related posts

a) The number of posts (headcount, and FTE where recorded) employed with job titles that include any of the following terms:

Climate; Net Zero; Sustainability; Carbon; Emissions; Environmental Sustainability; Climate Change; Climate Action; Climate Policy; Climate Programme; Climate Project; Climate Data; Climate Reporting; Climate Adaptation; Climate Resilience; Energy and Climate; Sustainable Procurement; Green Finance; Green.

The National Archives currently has one full time position for sustainability which has existed since mid-2025. Prior to this, The National Archives did not hold full time positions for the above criteria.

2. Cost of those posts

The total employment cost for the posts identified in Question 1, including salary and employer on-costs (e.g. pension and National Insurance).

This position has a salary range of £39,567 – £57,354. The exact band and salary of this post is withheld under section 40(2) of the FOIA.

3. External consultants

The total amount paid during the same financial year to external consultants, companies, or contractors where the expenditure is recorded under any cost centre, project code, budget line, or purchase description that includes one or more of the following terms:

Climate; Net Zero; Sustainability; Carbon; Emissions; Environmental Sustainability; Climate Change; Climate Action; Climate Policy; Climate Programme; Climate Project; Climate Data; Climate Reporting; Climate Adaptation; Climate Resilience; Energy and Climate; Sustainable Procurement; Green Finance; Green.

This should include, but not be limited to, expenditure coded to professional services, consultancy, advisory services, or specialist support.

If the council does not record expenditure in this way, please provide the closest equivalent recorded information held (for example, totals by relevant cost centre or project).

If any information requested is not held, please state this clearly. If figures are held only in aggregated form, please provide the aggregated figures. Estimates derived from recorded financial information are acceptable.

If complying with this request would exceed the cost limit under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act, please provide advice and assistance under Section 16 as to how the request may be refined.

Please provide the information requested above in the following table format, where held:

• Financial Year
• Job Title
• Staff Costs including on-costs (£)
• Headcount
• Consultant Spend

Please see below the external costs paid by The National Archives relating to the above criteria.

Exemptions applied

Section 40(2): Personal Information where the applicant is not the data subject

Section 40 exempts personal information about a ‘third party’ (someone other than the requester), if revealing it would breach the terms of Data Protection Legislation. Data Protection Legislation prevents personal information from release if it would be unfair or at odds with the reason why it was collected, or where the subject had officially served notice that releasing it would cause them damage or distress. Personal information must be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner as set out by Art. 5 of the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).

In this case the exemption applies because the release of this information would confirm the exact amount of the post-holder's salary.

Publishing the salaries of junior members of staff is considered an unfair use of personal data. Junior members of staff would have no expectation that information about their positions would be made available in the public domain; to do so would be unfair and contravene the first data protection principle of the Data Protection Act. As such, the names, positions and contact details of junior officials are withheld under section 40 (2) of the FOI Act.

Further guidance about the publication of junior staff names has been produced by the Information Comissioner's Office.