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BACKGROUND NOTES

1. This regular series of quarterly Scottish Public Sector Employment Statistics includes results from the work of a cross-departmental project, led by ONS, to improve the quality and timeliness of public sector employment statistics. This publication includes the first publication of data for Quarter 2 2009. Historical data for some areas of public sector employment have been modelled using available data (see background note 4). Some figures from previous publications have been revised (see background note 22).

2. Tables 1 to 7 are the official source for national comparisons over time and comparisons with the UK.

3. An article summarising work carried out to improve estimates of public sector employment across the UK is accessible on the Office for National Statistics ( ONS) website at the following address:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/article.asp?ID=1095

RESULTS FOR QUARTERS PRIOR TO Q1 2005

4. Public sector data prior to Q1 2005 are based partly on estimates as actual data for all quarters are not available. Estimates prior to Q1 2005 are calculated based on available data for the following areas and time periods:

• Quarters 2, 3 and 4 of each year prior to 2005 for the Civil Service excluding Ministry of Defence
• Quarters 1, 2 and 4 of each year for the NHS
• Quarters 1, 3 and 4 of each year prior to 2005 for the armed forces
• All quarters prior to Q4 2004 for NDPBs and Public Corporations

CONCEPTS, SOURCES AND DEFINITIONS

5. The public sector comprises central government, local government, and public corporations as defined for the UK National Accounts. The Sector Classifications Guide ( MA23) provides information on the classification of organisations and institutions in the National Accounts. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/SearchRes.asp?term=ma23

6. Public sector bodies with employment below the threshold of 20 staff are excluded from the Public Sector Employment series.

7. Data on NHS employment in Scotland for Q2 2009, as reported in Table 2 and Table 3, have been estimated using projections based on previous data. Information on employment in the NHS in Scotland is published by the Information Services Division (ISD) of NHS National Services Scotland and is available annually as at September each year (Q3). The projections model estimates NHS employment for Q1, Q2 and Q4. Information on the NHS workforce estimates published by ISD are available from:

http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/796.html

The NHS employment reported in Table A (section 4) is aggregated from employment in each of the following individual NHS bodies:

The employment estimates for each individual NHS body are published by ISD as at Q3 each year. The projections model is not suitable to project employment for each individual body so the figures in Table A are only updated annually with the exception of the Mental Welfare Commission where figures are available quarterly.

Over the next quarter, we will be discussing with ISD the feasibility of obtaining quarterly NHS workforce estimates from their management information systems. This would be an improvement to the methodology by removing the need to use projections and would ensure we have quarterly NHS employment estimates overall and for each individual NHS body.

8. According to the National Accounts definition of the public sector General Medical Practitioners ( GMP) and General Dental Practitioners ( GDP) are not included in the public sector and are therefore not included in the figures in the publication. However data on GMPs and GDPs are available and the table below shows the most recent data available.

Data on GMPs and GDPs as at 30 September 2008

Source: ISD Scotland, Scottish Workforce Information Standard System ( SWISS)

9. Local government comprises all government units with a local remit. It includes: Education teaching staff and Education other staff; Social Workers; Police and related services; Fire and related services; and other staff. Other staff contains: corporate services; central support; planning and economic development; housing; roads and transport; arts, sports and leisure; libraries, museums and galleries; trading standards; staff of district court; environmental services; Direct Labour Organisation ( DLO) and Direct Service Organisation ( DSO) staff. Joint Staffing Watch Survey data is collected based on those employed by Local Government organisations. Due to definitional issues, this data may differ from other sources of information for the individual sectors of Local Government. More information on these definitional issues can be found at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/03/20889/55029

10. Estimates for education teaching staff only include those paid and employed at the last pay period before the survey date of the Joint Staffing Watch Survey. Any changes in numbers of teaching staff will only be measured if they are included on the payroll at the survey date.

11. Public corporations are companies or quasi-corporations controlled by government. An example is the Post Office LTD. These companies receive more than half their income from sales of goods or services into the market place.

12. Public Corporations within this publication include Public Corporations based wholly in Scotland and UK wide Public Corporations with a presence in Scotland. Data for the UK wide Public Corporations with a presence in Scotland are estimated based on UK data and business survey information. This business survey information is updated in our series each year in Q3 which may result in step changes in the series.

The Public Corporations, as currently defined by the Office for National Statistics for National Account Purposes, which are based wholly in Scotland are:

Scottish Water

David MacBrayne Ltd

Highlands and Islands Airports LTD

The UK wide Public Corporations with a presence in Scotland are:

Civil Aviation Authority
British Waterways
The Financial Services Authority
The Crown Estate Commissioners
Post Office LTD
Horse Race Totalisator Board
Tote Bookmakers
Driving Standards Agency
Vehicle and Operator Services
Ordnance Survey
Defence Support Group
Army Base Repair Organisation
The British Council
Remploy LTD
OFCOM
Magnox Electric PLC
Channel Four Television Corporation
British Energy LTD
British Energy Generation ( UK) LTD
*Northern Rock PLC (reclassified to public sector October 2007)
Northern Lighthouse Board
Aberdeen Harbour Board

* From Q4 2008, Northern Rock is included within the Public Sector Financial Institutions category, along with Royal Bank of Scotland Group and Lloyds Banking Group. Prior to Q4 2008, Northern Rock is included within the public corporation category to avoid disclosure.

13. A number of financial institutions are now included in the Public Sector Employment series as UK-wide public corporations.

The Public Sector Financial Institutions included in the Scottish Public Sector Employment Release are:

Royal Bank of Scotland plc
Lloyds Banking Group plc
Northern Rock plc

Northern Rock has been included in the series from Q4 2007 following its earlier nationalisation. The Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group have been included for the first time from Q1 2009, with revisions also made to include them in the Q4 2008 estimates. The inclusion of these financial institutions in the public sector employment estimates are based on a judgement that government has the ability to control the respective banks' general corporate policy through the conditions associated with the agreements signed relating to recapitalisation. These agreements contain unconditional covenants and contractual arrangements, which include: restrictions on the declaration and payment of any dividends or distributions; restrictions on Directors' remuneration; and obligations relating to lending. These decisions are consistent with international statistical guidelines on national accounts. National accounts classification decisions relate to control rather than ownership. The decisions have been authorised by the National Statistician.

14. The agencies included in the category for Other Scottish Government Agencies as published in Table 4a and Table 5a are:

Historic Scotland
HM Inspectorate of Education
Office of Accountant in Bankruptcy
Scottish Court Service
Scottish Public Pensions Agency
Student Awards Agency for Scotland
National Archive for Scotland
Transport Scotland
Social Work Inspection Agency
Scottish Housing Regulator
Disclosure Scotland

The Scottish Prison Service ( SPS) is also a Government Agency. Figures are presented separately in Table 4a and Table 5a for the SPS as this is the largest Government Agency.

15. Following the Scottish Government's Simplification Programme the following changes have been since the previous publication:

16. Some organisations do not fall into any of the sub categories used in this publication. These organisations are classified within the Other Public Bodies category in Table 2 and Table 3.

Devolved Other Public Bodies, as currently defined by the Office for National Statistics for National Accounts Purposes, include:

Scottish Public Services Ombudsman
Standards Commission for Scotland
Audit Scotland
Strathclyde Partnership for Transport
UK wide Other Public Bodies with a presence in Scotland include:
British Broadcasting Corporation ( BBC)
Forestry Commission
Electoral Commission

The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body is included under its own category in Table 2 and Table 3 as it is funded from the Scottish Consolidated Fund but they are not accountable to Scottish Ministers.

17. Data on Armed Forces for Q1 2006 onwards are provisional and subject to review, due to ongoing validation of data from the Defence Analytical Services Agency's ( DASA) new Personnel Administration System ( JPA).

18. Headcount estimates are based on the number of employees with an employment contract who are being paid by the organisation. Employees can be permanent, on a fixed-term contract or employed on a casual basis. Self-employed, contract workers, and agency workers are excluded.

19. As well as the headcount estimates, estimates have also been produced for the number of employees on a full-time equivalent ( FTE) basis. This is based on converting part-time employees' hours into a full-time employee equivalent, and provides a better indicator of total labour input than a simple headcount.

20. Tables 4a, 4b, 5a and 5b contain data on Civil Service permanent staff only. The totals for Civil Service in tables 2 and 3 also include casual staff.

21. The statistics published here are derived from the relevant departments and devolved governments plus comprehensive quarterly surveys of the home Civil Service, Non-Departmental Public Bodies, and Public Corporations, carried out by ONS. The following list shows the data sources used to calculate total public sector employment.

Sources of Public Sector Employment estimates

Central Government

Department for Work and Pensions - Direct and Civil Service Statistics, Office for National Statistics
Department for International Development - Direct and Civil Service Statistics, Office for National Statistics
HM Revenue and Customs - Direct and Civil Service Statistics, Office for National Statistics
Other Central Government - Civil Service Statistics, Office for National Statistics

Local Government

Education Teachers - Joint Staffing Watch Survey
Education Others - Joint Staffing Watch Survey
Police and Related Services - Joint Staffing Watch Survey
Fire and Related Services - Joint Staffing Watch Survey
Social Work - Joint Staffing Watch Survey
Other staff - Joint Staffing Watch Survey

REVISIONS

22. Data in this publication are revised where appropriate. These revisions are generally caused by revisions to other sources of data, such as the Labour Force Survey due to new population estimates, and revisions to the projections in health data, as actual data becomes available. However some revisions are unforeseen due to revisions in survey estimates provided to the Office for National Statistics and revisions based on more up to date data. All revisions are highlighted in the data tables.

23. As previously announced, the classification of the following public bodies are being investigated by ONS following a review of the classification of public bodies in Scotland. Details below:

Strathclyde Partnership for Transport ( SPT)

SPT is a Regional Transport Partnership established under the Transport (Scotland) Act 2005. There is currently some uncertainty over the classification of SPT as a public corporation. The Sector Classification team at ONS are currently investigating the classification of this body. Until a formal decision has been made by ONS, it has been decided to classify SPT within the 'Other Public Body' category. This is because the current public corporation figure for Scotland is significantly inflated by the inclusion of SPT. Latest estimates for Q2 2009 show that SPT has the following number of staff:

Audit Scotland

The classification of Audit Scotland is also being investigated. ONS currently classify Audit Scotland as a public corporation which is inconsistent with the Scottish classification as a 'Devolved Other Public Body'.

It is expected that these issues will be resolved for next quarter and details will be provided in the next quarterly release.

24. A revisions policy outlining the timings of the different planned and unplanned revisions can be found at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/12/PSERevisionsPolicy

Any changes to the classifications (including SPT and Audit Scotland) and improvements to the methodology ( NHS workforce figures) will be made in line with our revisions policy.

FUTURE PUBLICATIONS

25. Public sector employment statistics will be published every quarter and the release timetable will be pre-announced in National Statistics Updates. The next quarterly first release will be published on the 16 December 2009.

26. The Scottish Government recently commissioned the Office for National Statistics to carry out a seasonal adjustment review of the Scottish Public Sector Employment estimates. We are currently reviewing the findings.

GENERAL

27. Details of the policy governing the release of new data are available from the press office. Also available is a list of the names of those given pre-release access to the contents of this release.

Further details are available at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00761

Public enquiries (statistical) contact: Denise Patrick 0141 278 8783 or 0300 244 6783

Public enquiries (policy) contact: Colin Miller 0131 244 0980

Media enquiries contact: Michael Berry 0131 244 2967

Date: September 16, 2009

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