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Publication - Statistics

Public sector employment in Scotland: statistics for fourth quarter 2016

Published
15 March 2017
Topic
Public sector
ISBN
9781786528513

Statistics based on administrative records and surveys of individual public sector bodies.

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
Q4 1999 551,200 223,500 129,800 48,300 - 15,700 15,100 14,600 296,300 31,300 - 31,300
Q4 2010 624,600 261,400 158,000 48,700 - 16,800 12,300 25,700 295,900 28,100 39,200 67,300
Q4 2011 593,700 252,400 154,400 46,900 - 15,000 11,600 24,500 283,100 26,800 31,400 58,200
Q4 2012 582,700 249,800 155,800 45,200 - 13,600 10,400 24,900 277,900 26,200 28,700 54,900
Q4 2013 569,800 279,400 158,100 44,400 29,300 13,600 10,900 23,100 247,400 12,200 30,800 43,000
Q4 2014 545,800 279,200 160,500 42,700 28,600 13,900 9,700 23,700 246,700 * * 20,000
Q4 2015 545,200 281,100 161,400 42,300 28,200 13,900 10,100 25,100 244,800 * * 19,400
Q4 2016 542,500 281,600 162,300 42,400 27,900 13,900 10,100 24,900 241,900 * * 19,100
Change on year to:
Q4 2016 -2,680 510 890 80 -260 -30 10 -180 -2,880 n/a n/a -300
% change on year:
Q4 2016 -0.5% 0.2% 0.5% 0.2% -0.9% -0.2% 0.1% -0.7% -1.2% n/a n/a -1.6%

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.

Contact

Email: Tom Pennock

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