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Publication - Statistics

Public sector employment in Scotland: statistics for third quarter 2016

Published
14 December 2016
Directorate
Economic Development Directorate
ISBN
9781786526878

Employment snapshot statistics based on administrative records and surveys of individual public sector bodies as at September 2016.

View supporting documents Supporting documents

Table 4: Total devolved public sector employment by sector; Scotland, Headcount
Not Seasonally Adjusted

Total Devolved
Public Sector
NHS 6 		Civil Service 8 Police and Fire Services 2 Further Education Colleges 3,5 Other Public Bodies 3,8 Local Government 2,4,7 Public Corporations
Q3 1999 471,700 129,700 14,600 - 15,700 8,600 293,600 9,500
Q3 2010 513,700 158,800 17,600 - 17,100 15,700 298,100 6,400
Q3 2011 491,800 154,500 16,900 - 15,100 14,800 284,200 6,300
Q3 2012 486,200 155,300 16,500 - 14,200 14,900 278,900 6,500
Q3 2013 484,600 157,400 16,800 29,800 13,500 13,900 246,300 7,100
Q3 2014 487,100 159,700 17,300 28,800 13,500 14,200 246,300 7,300
Q3 2015 487,500 160,900 18,000 28,200 13,800 14,300 244,800 7,500
Q3 2016 485,200 161,800 16,800 28,100 14,000 15,600 241,000 7,900
Change on year to:
Q3 2016 -2,270 910 -1,190 -120 180 1,340 -3,750 360
% change on year:
Q3 2016 -0.5% 0.6% -6.6% -0.4% 1.3% 9.4% -1.5% 4.9%

Notes:
1. Employment figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred; change on year rounded to the nearest ten; percentages are based on unrounded figures. "-" denotes blank entries.
2. 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).
3. 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).
4. 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.
5. Information for further education colleges in Scotland is based on collected information from Q4 2010. The method used to create the back series is detailed in the background notes of this publication.
6. From Q4 2011, NHS has responsibility for employing Healthcare staff within prisons. Previously, these people were employed directly by the Scottish Prison Service ( SPS). Also, In Q2 2012 1,491 & 1062.1 FTE headcount staff transferred from Highland Council to NHS Highland as a result of the move to integrated health and social care services.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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

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