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Publication - Statistics

Public Sector Employment in Scotland: statistics for fourth quarter 2017

Published
21 March 2018
Directorate
Chief Economist Directorate
Topic
Public sector, Work and skills
ISBN
9781788517355

Employment snapshot statistics based on administrative records and surveys of individual public sector bodies as at December 2017.

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 Categories9 Local Government 4,6,8,10,13,15 Public Corporations 2 Public Sector Financial Institutions 2 Public Corporations & Public Sector Financial Institutions 2,3,14,16
NHS 8 Civil Service 11,12 Police and Fire 4 Further Education Colleges 5,7 Armed Forces Other Public Bodies 5,11
Q4 1999 551,200 223,500 129,800 48,300 - 15,700 15,100 14,600 296,000 31,000 - 31,000
Q4 2011 607,300 252,100 154,400 46,600 - 15,000 11,600 24,500 284,000 40,000 31,000 72,000
Q4 2012 596,900 249,500 155,800 44,900 - 13,600 10,400 24,900 278,000 40,000 29,000 69,000
Q4 2013 584,500 279,000 158,100 44,000 29,300 13,600 10,900 23,100 248,000 27,000 31,000 58,000
Q4 2014 560,800 278,900 160,500 42,500 28,600 13,900 9,700 23,700 247,000 * * 35,000
Q4 2015 560,400 280,900 161,400 42,100 28,200 13,900 10,100 25,100 245,000 * * 34,000
Q4 2016 558,200 281,300 162,300 42,200 27,900 13,900 10,100 24,900 243,000 * * 34,000
Q4 2017 559,900 282,500 163,400 42,500 27,600 13,900 10,000 25,100 243,000 * * 34,000
Change on year to:
Q4 2017 1,700 1,170 1,140 280 -270 -30 -170 210 720 n/a n/a -180
% change on year:
Q4 2017 0.3% 0.4% 0.7% 0.7% -1.0% -0.2% -1.7% 0.9% 0.3% n/a n/a -0.5%

Notes:

1. Employment figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred, with the exception of local government and public corporation figures. Change on year rounded to the nearest ten. "-" denotes blank entries and "*" denotes entries that have been suppressed for disclosure reasons. Totals may not equal the sum of individual parts due to rounding.

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 transferred 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. 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 2011 1,491 & 1,062 FTE headcount staff transferred from Highland Council to NHS Highland as a result of the move to integrated health and social care services.

9. More information on the classification of organisations and institutions in the National Accounts are available in the Sector Classification Guide:

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/na-classification/national-accounts-sector-classification/index.html

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. From Q2 2017, the Civil Service figures include the Scottish Fiscal Commission.

13. From Q4 2006, the Local Government figures include Community Safety Glasgow. The series has been estimated using annual administrative data from the inter-departmental business register.

14. From Q3 2001, the Public Corporations & Public Sector Financial Institutions include Registered Social Landlords. This series uses estimates which are predominantly based on annual values provided by the Scottish Housing Regulator.

15. Prior to Q1 2016, Aberdeen Council headcount and FTE figures may be an underestimate due to methods used to collate this data.

16. From Q2 2017, the Public Corporations & Public Sector Financial Institutions includes the Crown Estate Scotland (Interim Management).

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