Public sector employment in Scotland: statistics for fourth quarter 2017

3. Devolved Public Sector Employment in Scotland; Headcount

(see Table 4)

The devolved public sector includes:

• Devolved Civil Service (see section 5);
• Local Government, covering Scottish Local Authorities, Police and Fire Services (up to Q1 2013), Valuation Joint Boards and Regional Transport Partnerships;
• Police and Fire Services (Q2 2013 onwards)
• NHS in Scotland;
• Further Education Colleges;
• Devolved Public Corporations;
• Other Devolved Public Bodies (which covers Non-Departmental Bodies and other bodies).

Employment in the devolved public sector has increased by 2,140 (+0.4%) over the last year, from 501,000 in Q3 2016 to 503,100 in Q3 2017. Chart 4 shows the composition of the devolved public sector as at Q3 2017.

Chart 4: Breakdown of Devolved Public Sector Employment by Category, Headcount, Q3 2017

Source: Public Sector Employment in Scotland, Quarter 3 2017
Note: Totals may not equal the sum of the individual parts due to rounding

Over the year:

Employment in Scottish Local Government increased by 1,520 (+0.6%) over the year to 243,000 in Q3 2017.

Employment in the NHS increased by 890 (+0.5%) over the year to 162,700 in Q3 2017. A detailed breakdown on this information by staffing group was published by ISD on the 5 ^th December 2017: http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/

The number of Police and Fire Service employees decreased by 430 (-1.5%), from 28,100 in Q3 2016 to 27,700 in Q3 2017.

The devolved civil service saw an increase of 320 (+1.9%) in employment between Q3 2016 and Q3 2017.

Employment in other public bodies increased by 20 (+0.1%) to 15,500 in Q3 2017.

Employment in Further Education colleges decreased by 490 (-3.5%) to 13,500 in Q3 2017.

Employment in public corporations increased by 320 (+1.4%) over the year to 23,000 in Q3 2017.