§ Mr. David MarshallTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the total number of local government employees, by category, in Scotland at 30 September in (i) 1979, (ii) 1989, (iii) 1994, (iv) 1995 and (v) 1996. [11870]
§ Mr. KynochThe available information, from the published results of Scottish joint staffing watch surveys, is given in the tables. Table 1 gives the full-time equivalent number of employees by category for September 1979, 1989, 1994 and 1995. These figures are not directly comparable. The footnotes to the table identify major774W breaks in comparability in the data over the period. Table 2 provides the latest available information, giving full-time equivalent number of employees by local authority service for July 1996. This is taken from the published results of the revised joint staffing watch survey introduced following local government reorganisation in Scotland.
Because of changes in definitions and coverage these data are not directly comparable with staffing figures for earlier periods. In particular the figures exclude some 7,000 full-time equivalent staff in services such as water and sewerage transferred from local authorities at the time of reorganisation.
The press release "Joint Staff Watch—July 1996 Return—Scotland", a copy of which is available in the Library, describes the results of the survey in more detail and explains the differences between this and earlier surveys. Joint staffing watch figures for September 1996 will be published shortly.
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Table 1: Full-time equivalent staff in Scottish local authorities: September 1979 September 1989 September 1994 September 1995 Education Lecturers and teachers 64,128 59,860 52,757 52,507 Other staff 42,407 35,912 24,433 24,628 Transport services 9,074 714 893 938 Social services 27,803 35,419 38,661 38,349 Cleansing 10,646 8,889 8,156 8,031 Environmental health 2,563 2,496 2,712 2,580 Housing 4,422 6,956 7,797 7,916 Libraries, museums, art galleries 3,677 4,349 4,704 4,734 Recreation, leisure, tourism 13,390 13,581 13,735 13,830 Policy planning 158 165 367 334 Physical planning 1,539 1,912 2,270 2,166 Technical services 1,094 1,190 2,199 2,259 Roads 12,533 10,184 9,241 8,862 Direct works 15,346 13,861 12,994 12,822 Water 3,986 4,626 5,128 5,121 Sewerage 2,157 1,537 1,618 1,562 Assessor and electoral registration 934 1,230 1,129 1,058 Consumer protection, weights and measures 390 476 618 609 Chief Executive's department 237 1,056 1,629 1,663 Finance 3,985 5,328 5,821 5,761 Legal and administrative services 3,700 4,186 4,844 5,144 Architecture and related services 3,677 3,670 3,454 3,432 Personnel 456 798 921 930
Table 1: Full-time equivalent staff in Scottish local authorities: September 1979 September 1989 September 1994 September 1995 Management services 957 530 384 322 Computer services 687 1,491 1,851 1,727 Public relations 90 88 128 120 Estates 349 694 758 772 Internal transport 864 1,335 1,447 1,401 Other central services 1,304 6,347 17,482 17,066 Fire services Regular firemen 4,441 4,587 4,669 4,643 Other staff 534 552 578 594 Police and related services Police officers 12,756 13,542 14,163 14,336 Police cadets 514 39 27 21 Other staff 3,594 4,253 4,679 4,723 Traffic wardens 640 528 553 523 Other services 1,587 1,382 2,347 2,287 Staff of district court 85 139 159 159 Total1 256,704 253,902 255,306 253,930 Total adjusted for breaks in comparability listed below 243,865 244,726 255,306 253,930 1 Major breaks in comparability over the period are: (a) From 1981 the figures include some 2,298 relief workers omitted by some authorities prior to 1981. (b) From 1987, this excludes some 5,961 full-time equivalent staff transferred from local authorities on the creation of public transport companies in October 1986.
(c) From 1993 the figures exclude some 6,347 full-time equivalent lecturers and teachers and some 2,829 full-time equivalent other education employees transferred from local authorities following the transfer of further education from local authority control.
(d) September 1995 staffing totals were affected as authorities prepared for local government reorganisation in the following spring. A number of staff had transferred to shadow councils, which were not covered in the JSW survey. Also authorities were generally not filling vacant posts in the period up to reorganisation. 1. The analysis excludes any staff on government training programmes who were not also local authority employees.
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Table 2: Full-time equivalent staff in Scottish local authorities July 1996 Corporate services 3,480 Central support services 13,083 Planning and economic development 3,667 Education Teachers 52,589 Other staff 22,123 Social work 38,387 Housing 7,928 Roads and transport 6,024 Arts, sport and leisure 7,787 Libraries, museums and galleries 4,183 Trading standards 939 Environmental services 3,448
Table 2: Full-time equivalent staff in Scottish local authorities July 1996 DLO/DSO 49,259 Police and related services 18,902 Fire services 5,805 Staff of District Court 204 Other staff 387 Total all staff 238,192 1. The joint staffing watch survey was revised following local government reorganisation. For most services the full-time equivalent staff estimates given in the new survey are not directly comparable with those supplied to the previous surveys.
2. From July 1996 the joint staffing watch excludes some 7,000 staff in services such as water, sewerage and the children's reporters service, transferred from local authority control at the time of reorganisation.