Public sector employment in Scotland: statistics for fourth quarter 2020

3. Devolved Public Sector Employment in Scotland; Headcount

(see Table 3)

Employment in the devolved public sector was 13,690 (2.7%) higher at 518,700 in December 2020 compared with 505,000 in December 2019.

The devolved public sector includes:

Devolved Civil Service (see section 5),

Local Government, covering Scottish Local Authorities, Police and Fire Services (up to Q1 2013), Valuation Joint Boards and Regional Transport Partnerships,

Police and Fire Services (Q2 2013 onwards),

NHS in Scotland,

Further Education Colleges,

Devolved Public Corporations,

Other Devolved Public Bodies (which covers Non-Departmental Bodies and other bodies).

Chart 4 shows the size of each group in the devolved public sector as at December 2020.

Source: Public Sector Employment in Scotland, Quarter 4 2020 Note: Totals may not equal the sum of the individual parts due to rounding

The increase over the year in the overall devolved public sector headcount was due to:

• Employment levels in the NHS increasing by 6,670 (4.0%) to 172,600 in December 2020^[4];
• Employment in Public Corporations increasing by 5,040 (59.6%) to 14,000 in December 2020;
• Employment in the Devolved Civil Service increasing by 960 (4.7%) to 21,600 in December 2020;
• Employment in Scottish Local Government increasing by 2,100 (0.8%) to 254,000 in December 2020;
• Employment in the Police and Fire Services increasing by 100 (0.4%) to 28,200 in December 2020;

while:

• Employment in Further Education Colleges fell by -850 (-6.0%) to 13,400 in December 2020;
• Employment in Other Public Bodies fell by -330 (-2.1%) to 15,600 in December 2020.