Public sector employment in Scotland: statistics for first quarter 2016

Summary

Some of the key points (based on headcount) are as follows:

• In Q1 2016, there were 546,700 people employed in the public sector in Scotland, this is similar to the level seen in Q1 2015. This was higher than the level seen in 1999, when the series began. In Q1 2016, public sector employment accounted for 21.3% of total employment, up from 20.9% in the previous year.
• Of the total 546,700 people employed in the public sector in Scotland, 89.3% are accounted for by employment in the devolved public sector. Employment in the devolved public sector decreased by 1,900 (-0.4%) over the last year to 488,200 in Q1 2016.
• Over the year, employment in the devolved public sector decreased in Local Government by 4,200 (-1.7%), Civil Service by 600 (-3.3%) and Police and Fire Related Services by 300 (-0.9%). This decrease in local government is in part due to local government staff transferring to arms' length external organisations ( ALEOs) which are not part of the public sector and the decrease in civil service employment is due to Historic Scotland no longer being part of the civil service (now a non-departmental public body, Historic Environment Scotland). Employment in the devolved public sector increased in NHS by 900 (+0.6%), Public Corporations by 400 (+6.1%) and Further Education Colleges by 400 (+3.2%).
• 10.7% of the total public sector employment relates to employment in the reserved public sector in Scotland. The reserved sector saw an increase of 2,000 (+3.5%) in headcount between Q1 2015 and Q1 2016.
• Employment within the reserved public sector increased in the Armed Forces by 900 (+9.1%), Public Bodies by 200 (+1.8%) and the Civil Service by 300 (+1.1%).

Youth Employment in the devolved public sector

• In Q1 2016, there were 22,680 young people aged 16-24 in employment in the devolved public sector, accounting for 4.6% of total employment in this sector. This was similar to the number and proportion of young people in employment in the devolved public sector in Q1 2015.
• Over the year, the proportion of young people in the devolved public sector decreased in Local Government, down 0.1 percentage points from 4.7% in Q1 2015 to 4.6% in Q1 2016 and Scottish Government Agencies, down 0.3 percentage points from 7.4% in Q1 2015 to 7.1% in Q1 2016 while the proportion increased across the rest of the devolved public sector including Police and Fire, up 0.5 percentage points from 4.0% in Q1 2015 to 4.4% in Q1 2016 and Public Corporations, up 0.8 percentage points from 4.4% in Q1 2015 to 5.2% in Q1 2016.

Major Reclassifications ¹

On 17 ^th December 2013, the Office for National Statistics ( ONS) announced that from 1 ^st September 2014, Network Rail will be reclassified as a Central Government body in the public sector and will apply from April 2004.

On 30th April 2014, ONS announced the reclassification of Lloyds Banking Group plc. (and subsidiaries) as a former Public Corporation into the private sector (with effect from March 2014). Subsidiaries of Lloyds Banking Group plc. include: Scottish Widows Bank plc. TSB Bank plc., Lloyds Bank plc., Black Horse Limited, AMC Bank Limited and Bank of Scotland plc. This reclassification resulted in approximately 19,400 staff (headcount) moving into the private sector. More information on this can be found in Classification of Lloyds Banking Group and Subsidiaries

ONS announced the reclassification of both Royal Mail Group plc. (effective from October 2013) and Direct Line Group (effective from September 2013), as former Public Corporations. This resulted in approximately 12,400 staff (headcount) moving into the private sector.

A separate public sector series excluding the effects of major reclassifications has been included in this publication to show the impact of the reclassifications on the number of people employed in the public sector.

More information is available on the Public Sector Employment Web Section.

National Accounts Classifications

On 30 ^th November 2015, the Office for National Statistics ( ONS) announced that from 22 ^nd November 2013, Glasgow Prestwick Airport Limited will be classified as a Non-financial Public Corporation. Therefore, Glasgow Prestwick Airport Limited has been included in the Public Sector series from Q4 2013.

On 1 ^st October 2015, Historic Scotland (previously part of the devolved civil service) and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (a non-departmental public body) merged to become Historic Environment Scotland. Historic Environment Scotland will be classified as a Non-Departmental Public Body.

Public Sector Employment Web section

The Public Sector Employment Web section provides additional information to this National Statistics publication http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Labour-Market/PublicSectorEmployment

It contains detailed information including:

• Employment levels for public bodies in Scotland for 16-24 year olds (Q1 2013, Q1 2014, Q1 2015 and Q1 2016).
• Local government employment by local authority for the current quarter. A time series of total local government employment from Q1 1999 and by gender from Q1 2011.
• Detailed tables showing a full time series of data - all quarters back to Q1 1999 - are also available to download.
• Background notes outlining the methodology used to compile this series.

UK Comparisons

Public Sector Employment for Government Office Regions and Nations of the UK can be found in the Office for National Statistics Publication.

Comparisons to UK data should be made using non-seasonally adjusted UK data.

See the regional tables at http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/pse/public-sector-employment/index.html.

Background Notes

Statistics prior to Q1 2008 are estimates. These have been calculated using the total UK reserved public sector employment figure and applying to Scotland on a pro-rata basis as regional level data has only been collected from Q1 2008 onwards.

Background notes about the information contained in our PSE series are available at the following web section:

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Labour-Market/PublicSectorEmployment/SourcesDef

Next Publication: 14 ^th September 2016

Note: In this publication, the reduction in Local Government staffing in the devolved public sector was in part due to staff transferring to arms' length external organisations ( ALEOs) which are not part of the public sector. We are in the process of collecting data on ALEOs from local authorities in order to produce a series which accounts for these changes over time.