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Publication - Statistics

Public sector employment in Scotland: statistics for second quarter 2016

Published
14 September 2016
Topic
Public sector
ISBN
9781786524645

A view of public sector employment up to June 2016.

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
Q2 1999 545,600 222,400 129,100 48,500 - 15,700 14,900 14,200 293,500 29,700 - 29,700
Q2 2010 632,500 264,300 160,100 50,100 - 16,000 12,200 25,800 302,000 28,600 37,600 66,200
Q2 2011 604,200 256,300 155,300 48,200 - 15,900 11,900 25,000 289,000 26,400 32,500 58,900
Q2 2012 587,500 250,800 154,900 45,900 - 14,500 11,000 24,500 282,200 24,800 29,700 54,500
Q2 2013 585,000 279,700 156,600 45,000 - 13,400 11,100 23,400 248,200 24,300 32,900 57,100
Q2 2014 547,500 278,600 159,100 43,200 29,000 13,500 10,400 23,400 247,200 * * 21,800
Q2 2015 545,400 280,200 160,600 44,100 28,300 13,900 9,400 23,900 245,800 * * 19,400
Q2 2016 545,100 281,700 161,300 42,500 28,100 14,100 10,200 25,400 242,900 * * 20,500
Change on year to:
Q2 2016 -380 1,470 690 -1,530 -250 230 820 1,500 -2,920 n/a n/a 1,080
% change on year:
Q2 2016 -0.1% 0.5% 0.4% -3.5% -0.9% 1.7% 8.7% 6.3% -1.2% n/a n/a 5.6%

Notes:

1. Employment figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred. Change on year rounded to the nearest ten. "-" 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, Claire.Gordon@gov.scot

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