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Publication - Statistics

Public sector employment in Scotland: statistics for fourth quarter 2017

Published
13 December 2017
Directorate
Chief Economist Directorate
Part of
Public sector, Work and skills
ISBN
9781788515146

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

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 Categories 9 Local Government 4,6,8,10,13,15 Public Corporations 2 Public Sector Financial Institutions 2 Public Corporations & Public Sector Financial Institutions 2,3,14
NHS 8 Civil Service 11,12 Police and Fire 4 Further Education Colleges 5,7 Armed Forces Other Public Bodies 5,11
Q3 1999 546,400 223,400 129,700 48,500 - 15,700 15,000 14,400 294,000 29,000 - 29,000
Q3 2011 r 609,400 253,400 154,500 47,400 - 15,100 11,700 24,800 285,000 39,000 32,000 71,000
Q3 2012 r 597,400 250,500 155,300 45,100 - 14,200 11,000 24,800 279,000 38,000 29,000 67,000
Q3 2013 r 597,500 279,700 157,400 44,400 29,800 13,500 11,100 23,600 247,000 39,000 32,000 71,000
Q3 2014 r 560,200 278,300 159,700 42,600 28,800 13,500 9,800 23,800 247,000 * * 35,000
Q3 2015 r 559,800 280,200 160,900 43,400 28,200 13,800 9,800 24,100 245,000 * * 34,000
Q3 2016 r 557,800 281,400 161,800 42,000 28,100 14,000 10,200 25,300 242,000 * * 35,000
Q3 2017 559,600 281,800 162,700 42,700 27,700 13,500 10,000 25,300 243,000 * * 34,000
Change on year to:
Q3 2017 1,790 480 890 720 -430 -490 -190 -10 1,520 n/a n/a -210
% change on year:
Q3 2017 0.3% 0.2% 0.5% 1.7% -1.5% -3.5% -1.9% -0.1% 0.6% n/a n/a -0.6%

r = revision due to addition of Registered Social Landlords as a public corporation and Community Safety Glasgow as a local government body. Other civil service (reserved public sector) has also been updated.
Notes:
1. Employment figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred, with the exception of local goverment and public corporation figures. Change on year rounded to the nearest ten. "-" denotes blank entries and "*" denotes entries that have been suppressed for disclosure reasons. Totals may not equal the sum of individual parts due to rounding.
2. Due to the reclassification of Lloyds Banking Group plc from public sector financial institutions to the private sector (Q1 2014), 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 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.
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 and from Angus Council to Angus Alive on 1st December 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: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/na-classification/national-accounts-sector-classification/index.html
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. From Q2 2017, the Civil Service figures include the Scottish Fiscal Commission.
13. From Q4 2006, the Local Government figures include Community Safety Glasgow. The series has been estimated using annual administrative data from the inter-departmental business register.
14. From Q3 2001, the Public corporations & public Sector Financial Institutions include Registered Social Landlords. This series uses estimates which are predominantly based on annual values provided by the Scottish Housing Regulator.
15. Prior to Q1 2016, Aberdeen Council headcount and FTE figures may be an underestimate due to methods used to collate this data.

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