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Publication - Statistics

Public sector employment in Scotland: statistics for first quarter 2016

Published
15 June 2016
Topic
Public sector
ISBN
9781786523174

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 Public Corporations 2 Public Sector Financial Institutions 2 Public Corporations & Public Sector Financial Institutions 2,3
NHS Civil Service 9 Police and Fire 4 Further Education Colleges 5,7 Armed Forces Other Public Bodies 5,9
Q1 1999 545,500 221,900 129,000 48,300 - 15,700 14,800 14,100 293,900 29,800 - 29,800
Q1 2010 636,000 265,200 160,800 50,600 - 16,000 12,100 25,700 304,500 29,000 37,200 66,200
Q1 2011 620,500 266,200 156,900 55,500 - 16,500 12,100 25,200 294,500 26,500 33,300 59,800
Q1 2012 591,800 251,500 154,400 46,400 - 15,200 11,200 24,400 284,500 25,500 30,300 55,800
Q1 2013 584,200 251,500 156,500 45,100 - 13,900 11,100 24,800 278,700 24,700 29,300 54,000
Q1 2014 548,500 278,800 158,800 43,800 28,700 13,700 10,600 23,300 248,300 * * 21,300
Q1 2015r 546,600 279,000 160,700 43,000 28,400 13,800 9,500 23,600 248,500 * * 19,200
Q1 2016 546,700 282,100 161,700 42,700 28,200 14,200 10,300 25,100 244,300 * * 20,300
Change on year to:
Q1 2016 100 3,200 900 -300 -300 400 900 1,500 -4,200 n/a n/a 1,100
% change on year:
Q1 2016 0.0% 1.1% 0.6% -0.7% -0.9% 3.2% 9.1% 6.4% -1.7% n/a n/a 5.8%

Notes:

r = revision - Public Corporations and Public Sector Financial Institutions figure has been revised due to NA Classifications updates

1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred. "-" denotes blank entries and "*" denotes entries that have been suppressed for disclosure reasons.

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. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Labour-Market/PublicSectorEmployment

Contact

Email: Claire Gordon

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