Public sector employment in Scotland: statistics for fourth quarter 2013

5. Civil Service employment in Scotland; headcount ( Table 6, Table 7)

This section provides a summary of the civil service in Scotland.

The devolved civil service is made up of:

• Scottish Government Core Departments
• Scottish Government Agencies
• Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service
• Non-Ministerial Departments

The reserved civil service is made up of:

• UK Government Departments
• Scotland Office

In Q4 2013 there were 44,300 people employed as civil servants in Scotland. This is made up of 16,700 (37.7%) people working in the devolved civil service and 27,600 (62.3%) working in UK government departments. The total number of civil servants has decreased by 800 (1.8%) over the year from 45,100 in Q4 2012.

Devolved Civil Service

The devolved civil service has increased by 300 (1.6%) since Q4 2012. Chart 6 shows a breakdown of the devolved civil service in Scotland as at Q4 2013 ^[8] .

Scottish Government Core

In Q4 2013, there were 5,200 people employed in Scottish Government ( SG) core directorates, representing 31.2% of the devolved civil service in Scotland. Over the year from Q4 2012, employment in SG core directorates has increased by 100 (2.1%).

Scottish Government Agencies

There were 6,900 people employed in Scottish Government agencies in Q4 2013. Employment in SG agencies has increased by 200 (2.9%) over the year. This increase is largely due to increases in the Scottish Prison Service in preparation for the opening of a new prison.

Non Ministerial Departments

Non Ministerial Departments ( NMD) include the National Records of Scotland, Registers of Scotland, the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator the Scottish Courts Service ( SCS) and the Scottish Housing Regulator from (April 2012). In Q4 2013, there were 2,900 people employed in these NMDs, a decrease of 100 (1.9%) over the year.

Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal

In Q4 2013 the amount of people employed in the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal remained unchanged over the year.

Chart 6: Breakdown of devolved civil service employment, Scotland, headcount, Q4 2013

Reserved Civil Service

Employment in the reserved civil service has decreased by 1,100 (3.7%), from 28,700 in Q4 2012 to 27,600 in Q4 2013.

This has been driven by: Ministry of Defence decreasing by 300 (6.2%), HM Revenues and Customs decreasing by 200 (2.4%). Other civil service remained unchanged at 2,700. Despite staff transfers to the Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP) from Q3 2012 onwards; DWP saw a decrease of 700 headcount (6.0%) over the year.

There were increases in employment in the Department for International Development, up 100 (12.9%) and the Scotland Office, up 30 (51.6%), over the last year. Chart 7 identifies the breakdown of headcount employment in UK government departments as at Q4 2013.

Chart 7: Breakdown of headcount employment in the UK government departments as at Q4 2013