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Publication - Statistics

Public sector employment in Scotland: statistics for first quarter 2016

Published
15 June 2016
Part of
Public sector
ISBN
9781786523174

Statistics based on administrative records and surveys of individual public sector bodies.

View supporting documents Supporting documents

Table 4: Total devolved public sector employment by sector; Scotland, Headcount

Not Seasonally Adjusted

Total Devolved
Public Sector
NHS 6 		Civil Service 8 Police and Fire Services 2 Further Education Colleges 3,5 Other Public Bodies 3,8 Local Government 2,4,7 Public Corporations
Q1 1999 471,100 129,000 14,600 - 15,700 8,500 293,900 9,500
Q1 2010 521,300 160,800 17,600 - 16,000 15,800 304,500 6,600
Q1 2011 513,100 156,900 23,900 - 16,500 15,000 294,500 6,300
Q1 2012 491,500 154,400 16,600 - 15,200 14,400 284,500 6,300
Q1 2013 487,800 156,500 16,600 - 13,900 15,200 278,700 6,800
Q1 2014 488,000 158,800 16,900 28,700 13,700 13,900 248,300 7,800
Q1 2015 490,100 160,700 17,500 28,400 13,800 14,000 248,500 7,200
Q1 2016 488,200 161,700 16,900 28,200 14,200 15,400 244,300 7,600
Change on year to:
Q1 2016 -1,900 900 -600 -300 400 1,300 -4,200 400
% change on year:
Q1 2016 -0.4% 0.6% -3.3% -0.9% 3.2% 9.5% -1.7% 6.1%

Notes:

1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred; percentages are based on unrounded figures. "-" denotes blank entries.

2. Police and Fire Reform: From Q2 2013 Police and Fire Services have been reclassified as central government rather than local government (as their predecessors were). All police staff are employed by the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) whether deployed with the SPA or with the Police Service of Scotland. Although the SPA is an 'Other Public Body' to avoid duplication and ensure comprehensive numbers are reported for the Police and Fire category, from Q2 2013 all police staff have been included within the Police and Fire category (and not in the Other Public Bodies category).

3. In October 2012 the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC) merged with 3 colleges to form Scotland's Rural College. This new organisation is classified as a public body as the SAC was. This has resulted in staffing levels moving from the Further Education to Other Public Bodies categories to reflect the merger of these organisations. Although the SPA is an 'Other Public Body' to avoid duplication and ensure comprehensive numbers are reported for the Police and Fire category, from Q2 2013 all police staff have been included within the Police and Fire category (and not in the Other Public Bodies category).

4. A number of local government staff have transferred to arms length organisations which are part of the private sector under National Accounts definitions. For example, staff transferrred from Scottish Borders Council to SB Cares on 1st April 2015 and from Angus Council to Angus Alive on 1st December 2015 thus explaining part of the decrease in local government employment.

5. Information for further education colleges in Scotland is based on collected information from Q4 2010. The method used to create the back series is detailed in the background notes of this publication.

6. From Q4 2011, NHS has responsibility for employing Healthcare staff within prisons. Previously, these people were employed directly by the Scottish Prison Service (SPS). Also, In Q2 2012 1,491 & 1062.1 FTE headcount staff transferred from Highland Council to NHS Highland as a result of the move to integrated health and social care services.

7. Prior to Q2 2006, Scottish Borders Council headcount and FTE figures do not include Casual/Relief employees who were paid in the reference period. This means that these figures underestimate the true headcount and FTE for Scottish Borders Council.

8. In Q4 2015, Historic Scotland (previously part of the devolved civil service) merged with the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (a non-departmental public body in the other public bodies category) to become Historic Environment Scotland in the Other Public Bodies category.

9. Detailed tables showing a full time series of data - all quarters back to Q1 1999 - are available to download from the Public Sector Employment Websection:

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Labour-Market/PublicSectorEmployment

Contact

Email: Claire Gordon

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