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Publication - Statistics

PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYMENT IN SCOTLAND STATISTICS FOR 2nd QUARTER 2015

Published
16 September 2015
ISBN
9781785446719

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). This is a snapshot of employment as at June 2015. The publication includes information on public sector employment in Scotland with distinctions made for employment in devolved bodies and reserved bodies (located in Scotland).

View supporting documents Supporting documents

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

Not Seasonally Adjusted
  Total Public Sector Total Central Government National Accounts Central Government Categories9 Local Government4,6,10 Public Corporations2 Public Sector Financial Institutions2 Public Corporations & Public Sector Financial Institutions2,3
  NHS8 Civil Service Police and Fire4 Further Education Colleges5,7 Armed Forces Other Public Bodies5        
Q2 1999 545,600 222,400 129,100 48,500 - 15,700 14,900 14,200 293,500 29,700 - 29,700
Q2 2009 639,000 265,900 159,300 51,100 - 16,900 12,000 26,700 306,300 28,700 38,200 66,900
Q2 2010 632,300 264,300 160,100 50,100 - 16,000 12,200 25,800 301,900 28,600 37,600 66,200
Q2 2011 604,200 256,300 155,300 48,200 - 15,900 11,900 25,000 289,000 26,400 32,500 58,900
Q2 2012 587,300 250,800 154,900 45,900 - 14,500 11,000 24,500 282,000 24,800 29,700 54,500
Q2 2013 584,900 279,700 156,600 45,000 30,200 13,400 11,100 23,400 248,100 24,300 32,900 57,100
Q2 2014 547,000 278,500 159,100 43,200 29,000 13,500 10,400 23,400 247,000 * * 21,500
Q2 2015 545,600 280,100 160,600 44,000 28,300 13,900 9,400 23,900 245,700 * * 19,800
Change on year to:
Q2 2015 -1,400 1,500 1,600 700 -600 400 -1,000 500 -1,300 n/a n/a -1,700
% change on year:
Q2 2015 -0.3% 0.6% 1.0% 1.7% -2.2% 3.1% -9.5% 1.9% -0.5% n/a n/a -7.8%

1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred. "-" denotes blank entries and "*" denotes entries that have been suppressed for disclosure reasons.
2. Due to the recent reclassification of Lloyds Banking Group plc from public sector financial institutions to the private sector, a new category has been created combining public corporations with public sector financial institutions to ensure employment figures are not disclosed. Both categories have been merged to produce a backseries prior to the reclassification to allow for calculation of year on year changes.
3. Employment over the year in public corporations & public sector financial institutions has been largely affected by the reclassification of Lloyds Banking Group plc. (and subsidiaries), as well as Royal Mail plc. and Direct Line Group plc. Over the last year, employment in public corporations has decreased mainly due to people no longer being employed as part of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, Remploy being taken over by a private company and the Defence Support Group being privatised with some employees moving to Babcock and others transferring to main MOD.
4. 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).
5. 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).
6. 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 thus explaining part of the decrease in local government employment.
7. Information for further education colleges in Scotland is based on actual information from Q4 2010. The method used to create the back series is detailed in the background notes of this publication.
8. 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 2011 1,491 & 1,062 FTE headcount staff transferred from Highland Council to NHS Highland as a result of the move to integrated health and social care services.
9. More information on the classification of organisations and institutions in the National Accounts are available in the Sector Classification Guide (MA23):
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/na-classification/national-accounts-sector-classification/index.html
10. 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. This will be resolved upon receipt of revised figures from Scottish Borders Council.
11. 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: Claire Gordon

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