Public sector employment in Scotland: statistics for fourth quarter 2013

Employment snapshot statistics based on administrative records and surveys of individual public sector bodies.


Table 4: Total devolved public sector employment by sector; Scotland, Headcount

Not Seasonally Adjusted

Total Devolved
Public Sector

NHS
Civil Service Police and Fire Services Further Education Colleges Other Public Bodies Local Government Public Corporations
Q4 1999 474,400 129,800 14,500 15,700 8,600 296,300 9,500
Q4 2007 526,400 154,500 16,600 16,900 15,500 316,000 6,900
Q4 2008 527,000 157,400 16,900 16,900 15,500 313,600 6,700
Q4 2009 522,300 160,800 17,500 16,000 15,800 305,800 6,400
Q4 2010 509,500 158,000 17,700 16,800 15,300 295,500 6,200
Q4 2011 489,700 154,400 16,600 15,000 14,600 282,800 6,300
Q4 2012 485,100 155,800 16,400 14,100 14,600 277,700 6,400
Q4 2013 485,600 158,100 16,700 29,300 13,600 13,700 247,000 7,100
Change on year to:
Q4 2013 500 2,400 300 29,300 -600 -900 -30,700 700
% change on year:
Q4 2013 0.1% 1.5% 1.6% n/a -4.0% -6.2% -11.1% 10.9%

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: Susanne Ross

Phone: 0300 244 4000 – Central Enquiry Unit

The Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

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