Methodology and definitions: Civil Service Staff Numbers Contents Definitions: departmental groups... 1 Methodology: calculating changes to resources under management... 4 Acronyms... 4 Staff numbers... 6 This note on methodology and definitions accompanies the Institute for Government s Whitehall Monitor publications on Civil Service staff numbers, available at http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/our-work/whitehall-monitor/inputs/people-civil-service and on the IfG blog at http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/. Definitions: departmental groups We have grouped bodies according to where ministerial responsibility lies. For instance, Ofsted is grouped with DfE and not as a separate department. The objective is to distinguish between the central department performing core central functions and civil servants in the wider departmental group, mostly delivering services. Where possible, we have defined Whitehall using the core department figures (excluding separately defined agencies & arms-length bodies) provided in the ONS data. The Welsh Assembly & Scottish Government have been excluded from the core Whitehall figures. Wales Office and Scotland Office are grouped in MoJ and classified as non-whitehall bodies. In MoD, and DWP, the figures for the core Whitehall element of the department are no longer reported separately. In HO, the excluding agencies figure has become of little use as delivery staff from agencies have been brought into the department. Instead MoD, HO and DWP are reported as a whole within the non-whitehall Civil Service category. To bring our groupings into line with the principle of aligning departmental groups with ministerial responsibility, we made the following changes, starting with Whitehall Monitor 42: Ofgem is defined as non-whitehall part of the DECC dept group (no longer BIS) ONS is defined as non-whitehall in Cabinet Office dept group (no longer HMT) OBR is defined as non-whitehall part of the HMT group (no longer Whitehall HMT) FCO Services are grouped as non-whitehall in the FCO group (no longer Whitehall FCO). Table 1 below shows the categorisation of each body. The data we publish alongside our analysis includes all figures going back to 2010 Q3 on this basis. Table 1: Civil Service bodies grouped by Whitehall departments
Dept Whitehall? Dept detail / Agency AGO Whitehall Attorney General's Office Crown Prosecution Service Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate Serious Fraud Office Treasury Solicitor BIS Whitehall Business, Innovation and Skills Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service Companies House Export Credit Guarantee Department HM Land Registry Insolvency Service Met Office National Measurement Office Office of Fair Trading Ordnance Survey Skills Funding Agency UK Intellectual Property Office UK Space Agency CO Whitehall Cabinet Office excl agencies Charity Commission Government Procurement Service Office of the Parliamentary Counsel UK Statistics Authority DCLG Whitehall Department for Communities and Local Government Fire Service College Planning Inspectorate Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre DCMS Whitehall Department for Culture Media and Sport Royal Parks DECC Whitehall Department for Energy and Climate Change Office of Gas and Electricity Market Defra Whitehall Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science Food & Environment Research Agency OFWAT Rural Payments Agency Veterinary Medicines Directorate DfE Whitehall Department for Education Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation Ofsted Standards and Testing Agency Education Funding Agency National College Teaching Agency DfID Whitehall Department for International Development DfT Whitehall Department for Transport Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency Driving Standards Agency Government Car and Despatch Agency Highways Agency Maritime and Coastguard Agency
Office of Rail Regulation Vehicle and Operator Services Agency Vehicle Certification Agency DH Whitehall Department of Health (excl agencies) Food Standards Agency Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency DWP The Health and Safety Executive Department for Work and Pensions FCO Whitehall Foreign and Commonwealth Office (excl agencies) Security and Intelligence Services Wilton Park Executive Agency Foreign and Commonwealth Office Services HMRC HM Revenue and Customs Valuation Office HMT Whitehall HM Treasury Asset Protection Agency Debt Management Office Government Actuary's Department National Savings and Investments Office for Budget Responsibility HO Criminal Records Bureau Identity and Passport Service UK Border Agency Home Office (excl agencies) National Fraud Authority MoD Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Defence Support Group Ministry of Defence UK Hydrographic Office MoJ Whitehall Ministry of Justice (excl agencies) Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service National Archives National Offender Management Service The Office of the Public Guardian UK Supreme Court Wales Office NIO Whitehall Northern Ireland Office Scot Gov Disclosure Scotland Scotland Office (incl. Office of the Advocate General for Scotland) Education Scotland Historic Scotland National Records of Scotland Office for the Scottish Charity Regulator Registers of Scotland Scottish Court Service Scottish Government (excl agencies) Scottish Housing Regulator Scottish Prison Service Headquarters Scottish Public Pensions Agency Student Awards Agency Transport Scotland Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal
Accountant in Bankruptcy Welsh Gov ESTYN Welsh Government Methodology: calculating changes to resources under management We have developed a methodology for calculating percentage changes to staff numbers in departments. This allows us better to account for reclassifications of staff between bodies. The methodology used in this report calculates rates of change in each period for each department, adjusted for reclassifications of staff between bodies. Reclassifications are usually noted by the ONS in footnotes to the data tables. The figures shown for each department in our change from baseline charts (Figure 3.6) are derived by taking a geometric average of per-period change rates over all periods from 2010 Q3 (our Spending Review baseline) and the latest period. As a result, figures in this publication showing percentage changes from the 2010 Spending Review to 2012 Q2 (the previous period) may differ from those we reported in Whitehall Monitor bulletins #19 and earlier. For visibility of absolute sizes of departments as currently reported by the ONS, Figures 3 and 4 show unadjusted totals and absolute changes on these totals since our Spending Review 2010 baseline. We will continue to use this methodology in future Whitehall Monitor bulletins on Civil Service staff numbers. Acronyms Table 2: List of acronyms Acronym AGO BIS CO DCLG DCMS DECC Defra DfE DFID DFT DH DWP FCO HMRC HMT HO MoD MoJ Department Name Attorney General s Office Business, Innovation and Skills Cabinet Office Department for Communities and Local Government Department for Culture, Media and Sport Department for Energy and Climate Change Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Department for Education Department for International Development Department for Transport Department of Health Department for Work and Pensions Foreign and Commonwealth Office Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs Her Majesty's Treasury Home Office Ministry of Defence Ministry of Justice
Staff numbers Table 3: Staff numbers in departments (full-time equivalents) at 31 March 2014 (Q1 2014) Department Whitehall Departmental Group AGO 40 7,670 7,710 BIS 2,990 13,510 16,500 CO 1,990 3,850 5,840 DCLG 1,620 760 2,380 DCMS 380 100 480 DECC 1,540 830 2,370 DEFRA 1,990 5,640 7,630 DfE 2,200 2,580 4,780 DfID 1,850 0 1,850 DfT 1,800 14,100 15,900 DH 1,850 7,540 9,390 DWP 0 87,020 87,020 FCO 4,540 6,360 10,900 HMRC 0 64,850 64,850 HMT 1,090 450 1,540 HO 0 29,820 29,820 MoD 0 55,130 55,130 MoJ 4,070 55,200 59,270 NIO 100 0 100 Scot Gov 0 16,100 16,100 Welsh Gov 0 5,520 5,520 Total 28,050 377,030 405,080