PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYMENT IN SCOTLAND STATISTICS FOR 4TH QUARTER 2014

The statistics in this release are based on administrative records and surveys of individual public sector bodies carried out by the Scottish Government and the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This is a snapshot of employment as at December 2014. The publication includes information on public sector employment in Scotland with distinctions made for employment in devolved bodies and reserved bodies (located in Scotland).


Table 8: Total devolved public sector employment by sector; Scotland, Full-time equivalent
Not Seasonally Adjusted

Total Devolved
Public Sector
NHS6 Civil Service Police and Fire Services2 Further Education Colleges3,5 Other Public Bodies3 Local Government2,4 Public Corporations
Q4 1999 387,100 106,900 14,000 - 11,500 8,000 237,600 9,200
Q4 2008 439,700 133,500 16,200 - 12,300 14,300 257,000 6,400
Q4 2009 437,900 136,700 16,700 - 11,700 14,700 252,000 6,100
Q4 2010 427,800 134,300 16,700 - 12,300 14,200 244,500 5,900
Q4 2011 412,500 131,300 15,800 - 11,100 13,500 234,800 6,000
Q4 2012 411,000 132,500 15,600 - 10,600 13,700 232,300 6,200
Q4 2013 412,100 135,000 15,900 28,400 10,300 12,300 203,200 6,900
Q4 2014 413,200 137,500 16,400 27,800 10,500 12,600 201,800 6,600
Change on year to:
Q4 2014 1,200 2,500 500 -600 200 200 -1,400 -300
% change on year:
Q4 2014 0.3% 1.8% 3.4% 2.0% 1.5% 2.0% -0.7% -3.9%

Notes:
1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred; 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 transferred from Glasgow City Council to Cordia Limited Liability Partnership from 1 April 2009 thus explaining the decrease in local government employment between 2008 and 2009.
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. 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.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Labour-Market/PublicSectorEmployment

Contact

Email: Claire Gordon

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