Scottish Government and public bodies (including NHS healthcare organisations) corporate function data, 2023-24 and 2024-25

Data quality and use

For a full summary of data caveats please refer to the supporting documents.

The statistics presented here should be interpreted in the context of the commission’s scope. Percentages are as a proportion of the costs and FTE reported in this commission, and not as a proportion of staffing and expenditure in the public sector as a whole.

The public body landscape is varied, with organisations carrying out different roles and functions. League tables should not be made between public bodies due to the distinct nature of each body, e.g. differences in size, budgets, structure, functions. Additionally, some bodies raise revenue and fees, which may cover expenditure to different extents.

Public organisations were asked to provide information for six corporate functions only, meaning the dataset does not represent a comprehensive account of all corporate function expenditure. In addition, the corporate function definitions used can legitimately include activities that supports or enables frontline services. Full definitions of the corporate functions used are included in Annex A.

It is important to note that a corporate function refers to the team a person sits within, rather than the type of role they carry out. Those employed within the function, as well as those with reporting lines into the function, are included in the figures given in this publication. For core Scottish Government data, this means the figures relate to the cost of the central corporate function, rather than the cost of all Scottish Government staff who may carry out work related to that function.

Core Scottish Government responses have been reviewed to ensure alignment with the question guidance; however, caution should be exercised when comparing results with public bodies due to differences in organisational size and complexity.

NHS healthcare organisations were asked a reduced set of questions, reflecting differences in how their finances are structured and reported compared with other public bodies. There may also be differences in how some costs have been allocated at a more detailed level, for instance, NHS healthcare organisations comprise the majority of costs in the ‘Other costs’ category. For this reason, healthcare organisation data has been provided in a separate file and we advise against comparing directly with individual public bodies.