Public Sector Employment in Scotland Statistics for 1st Quarter 2023

2. Public Sector Employment by Devolved and Reserved Responsibility; Headcount

(see Tables 2, 3 and 4)

The devolved public sector covers those bodies which are the responsibility of the Scottish Government or Scottish Parliament while the reserved public sector in Scotland covers those bodies for which the UK Government has ministerial responsibility.

The devolved public sector headcount was 0.5% higher (2,880 headcount) in March 2023 compared with March 2022 and the reserved public sector was 0.6% higher (330 headcount).

In the devolved public sector, the Public Corporations saw the largest percentage increase (5.8%) over the year, while Further Education Colleges saw the largest percentage decrease (-2.4%).

The largest increase in headcount over the year was in Local Government (increasing by 1,970) and the largest decrease was in the NHS (decreasing by 770).

In the Reserved public sector, the Other Public Bodies^[6] saw the largest percentage increase (4.8%), while the reserved Civil Service had the largest percentage decrease (-2.5%).

Changes in the devolved and reserved public sector are explored in more detail in sections 3 and 4 respectively.

Source: Public Sector Employment in Scotland, Quarter 1 2023

Note: Armed Forces data is only available once per year in July.