HC Deb 12 March 1979 vol 964 cc91-2W
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the total manpower employed in the local government service in Scotland in each year since 1970, including 1978, the proportion of the employed population this represented in each year, and the proportion of total public sector employees this represented each year.

Mr. Gregor MacKenzie

The estimated manpower in local government in Scotland, and the percentage this represents of total employment, and of employees in central Government Departments, National Health Service and local government, is set out below.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES IN SCOTLAND
As a percentage of:
Full-time equivalent numbers(thousands) Central Government Departments, National Health Service and Local Government employees in Scotland Total employment in Scotland
1970 196.8 56.8 9.6
1971 202.7 56.7 10.1
1972 212.3 57.5 10.7
1973 213.1 57.1 10.5
1974 218.5 56.5 10.6
1975 234.5 56.7 11.5
1976 257.1 57.8 12.7
1977 248.1 57.0 12.2
1978 248.0 57.0 12.2

Notes:

  1. (1) Local government employees for years 1970–75 from Department of Employment and years 1976–78 from Scottish joint manpower watch survey. The two sets of figures are not directly comparable.
  2. (2) Local government figures do not include staff employed under the Government's job creation programme.
  3. (3) Local government figures for the years 1970–75 do not include some staff engaged in services transferred to local government in 1975 because of changes in responsibilities e.g. water, some health and social work and some public transport functions.
  4. (4) Full-time equivalent figures were used to derive the above percentages.
  5. (5) Percentages of total employment in Scotland for the years 1977 and 1978 are provisional. The total employment figures include employers and self-employed.