National Statistics Publication - Public Sector Employment in Scotland - Q2 2013

The statistics in this release are based on administrative records and surveys of individual public sector bodies carried out by the Scottish Government and the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The publication includes information on public sector employment in Scotland with distinctions made for employment in devolved bodies and reserved bodies (located in Scotland).


Table 2: Public sector employment by National Accounts Sector Classification; Scotland, Headcount

Not Seasonally Adjusted

Total Public Sector Total Central Government
(see note 2)
National Accounts Central Government Categories Local Government
(see note 2)
Public Corporations Public Sector Financial Institutions
NHS Civil Service Police and Fire services
(see note 2)
Further Education Colleges Armed Forces Other Public Bodies
Q2 1999 545,600 222,400 129,100 48,500 15,700 14,900 14,200 293,500 29,700
Q2 2007 596,400 253,400 152,700 50,600 16,700 12,400 20,900 318,100 24,900
Q2 2008 596,900 257,700 155,200 49,600 16,900 12,100 23,900 313,700 25,500
Q2 2009 636,600 263,200 159,300 51,100 16,900 12,000 23,900 306,300 28,600 38,600
Q2 2010 627,300 261,600 160,100 50,100 16,000 12,200 23,200 301,900 28,500 35,300
Q2 2011 602,100 254,100 155,300 48,700 15,900 11,900 22,300 289,000 26,500 32,500
Q2 2012 584,500 248,000 154,900 46,000 14,500 11,000 21,600 282,000 24,800 29,800
Q2 2013 578,600 276,900 156,600 45,000 30,200 13,600 11,100 20,500 247,900 24,400 29,300
Change on year to:
Q2 2013 -6,000 29,000 1,700 -1,000 30,200 -900 100 -1,100 -34,100 -400 -500
% change on year:
Q2 2013 -1.0% 11.7% 1.1% -2.3% n/a -6.1% 0.9% -5.0% -12.1% -1.5% -1.5%

Notes:

1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred; percentages are based on unrounded figures.

2. Police and Fire Reform: Some of the change on year estimates will be affected by reclassification of organisations as a result of reforms to the police and fire services in Scotland. From Q2 2013 Police and Fire Services have been reclassified as central government rather than local government. This reclassification has had an impact on the staffing numbers in both these categories. Also, from Q2 2013 staffing levels for the Scottish Police Authority (previously Scottish Police Services Authority) are included within the Police and Fire Services category in the table above (previously included in other public bodies).

3. In April 2013 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.

4. Public sector financial institutions include Northern Rock (classified to the public sector from Q4 2007), Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, HBOS/Lloyds Banking Group plc (both classified to the public sector from Q4 2008) Lloyds TSB Commercial Banking. Those organisation classified as Public Sector Financial Institutions and SIC 64.

5. 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 transferred from Glasgow City Council to Cordia Limited Liability Partnership from 1 April 2009 thus explaining the decrease in local government employment between 2008 and 2009.

6. 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.

7. 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 WTE headcount staff transferred from Highland Council to NHS Highland as a result of the move to integrated health and social care services.

8. 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.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Labour-Market/PublicSectorEmployment

Contact

Email: Chris Newson

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