National Statistics Publication - Public Sector Employment in Scotland - Q2 2013

5. Civil Service employment in Scotland; Headcount (Table 6, Table 7)

This section provides a summary of the civil service in Scotland.

The devolved civil service is made up of:

• Scottish Government Core Departments
• Scottish Government Agencies
• Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service
• Non-Ministerial Departments

The reserved civil service is made up of:

• UK Government Departments
• Scotland Office

In Q2 2013 there were 45,000 people employed as civil servants in Scotland. This is made up of 16,700 (37.2%) people working in the devolved civil service and 28,200 (62.8%) working in UK government departments. The total number of civil servants has decreased by 1,000 (2.3%) over the year.

Devolved Civil Service

The devolved civil service has increased by 100 (0.8%) since Q2 2012. Chart 7 shows a breakdown of the devolved civil service in Scotland as at Q2 2013⁵ .

Scottish Government Core

In Q2 2013, there were 5,100 people employed in SG core directorates, representing 30.3% of the devolved civil service in Scotland. Over the year from Q2 2012, employment in SG core directorates has decreased very slightly (down 0.3%).

Scottish Government Agencies

There were 7,100 people employed in Scottish Government agencies in Q2 2013. Employment in SG agencies has increased by 200 (3.5%) over the year. This increase is largely due to increases in the Scottish Prison Service in preparation for the opening of a new prison.

Non Ministerial Departments

Non Ministerial Departments (NMD) include the National Records of Scotland, Registers of Scotland, the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator the Scottish Courts Service (SCS) and the Scottish Housing Regulator from (April 2012). In Q2 2013, there were 2,900 people employed in these NMDs, a decrease of 100 (3.7%) over the year.

Employment in the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal increased very slightly over the year (up 0.8%).

Chart 6: Breakdown of devolved civil service employment, Scotland, Headcount, Q2 2013

Reserved Civil Service

Employment in the reserved civil service has decreased by 1,200 (4.0%), from 29,400 in Q2 2012 to 28,200 in Q2 2013.

This has been driven by: Ministry of Defence decreasing by 600 (12.6%), HM Revenues and Customs decreasing by 200 (2.1%) and the Scotland Office decreased by 10 (6.9%). Other civil service decreased by 1,500 (35.2%), mostly a result of staff transfers to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) from Q3 2012 onward; DWP saw a 1,100 (10.5%) increase over the year.

Chart 7: Breakdown of headcount employment in the UK government departments as at Q1 2013