National Statistics Publication - Public Sector Employment in Scotland - Q3 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 Q3 2013 there were 44,700 people employed as civil servants in Scotland. This is made up of 16,800 (37.6%) people working in the devolved civil service and 27,900 (62.4%) working in UK government departments. The total number of civil servants has decreased by 800 (1.8%) over the year.

Devolved Civil Service

The devolved civil service has increased by 300 (1.7%) since Q3 2012. Chart 6 shows a breakdown of the devolved civil service in Scotland as at Q3 2013^[8].

Scottish Government Core

In Q3 2013, there were 5,100 people employed in Scottish Government (SG) core directorates, representing 30.7% of the devolved civil service in Scotland. Over the year from Q3 2012, employment in SG core directorates has increased by 100 (2.0%).

Scottish Government Agencies

There were 7,100 people employed in Scottish Government agencies in Q3 2013. Employment in SG agencies has increased by 300 (3.8%) 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 Q3 2013, there were 2,900 people employed in these NMDs, a decrease of 100 (3.2%) over the year.

Employment in the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal increased very slightly over the year (up 1.6%).

Chart 6: Breakdown of devolved civil service employment, Scotland, headcount, Q3 2013

Reserved Civil Service

Employment in the reserved civil service has decreased by 1,100 (3.8%), from 29,000 in Q3 2012 to 27,900 in Q3 2013.

This has been driven by: Ministry of Defence decreasing by 500 (10.1%), HM Revenues and Customs decreasing by 200 (1.6%). Other civil service decreased by 1,500 (35.0%), mostly a result of staff transfers to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) from Q3 2012 onward; DWP saw a corresponding increase of 900 (8.4%) over the year.

There were increases in employment in the Department for International Development, up 100 (18.7%) and the Scotland Office, up 10 (14.1%), over the last year.

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