THE latest statistics for the Scottish Government workforce reveal that over half of staff are female, but the government is falling below its aims for a diverse workforce by 2025.
The statistics also cover staff sickness rates, the ages of workers, their religion or beliefs and their sexual orientation.
In March, the government stated that they aim to progress towards two outcomes by 2025, one being that their workforce will have increased in diversity to reflect the general Scottish population.
They also aim to improve workforce culture, saying that it will be more inclusive with employees from all backgrounds reporting to feel increasingly valued.
According to the recent statistics, by the end of September this year there were 9,014 full- time equivalent (FTE) directly employed staff, which is an increase of 2.8% on last year’s figure.
They also state that 56.5% of the workforce were female, which is just 0.1% less than that in the same period last year.
In the last quarter, which lasts from June to September, the majority of staff were aged between 30 and 59, with only 7% aged 60 or over.
9% of the government workforce report to be disabled, which follows closely the proportion of people reporting a physical disability in 2022, which was 9.7% (reported in the Scottish Census).
Despite this, only 3% of staff are from an ethnic minority background, much lower than the equivalent proportion in Scotland’s population, which was 12.9% in 2022.
Earlier in the year, the government released survey results which said that whilst their female staff were more likely to receive higher performance markings than their male counterparts, and were similarly likely to receive promotions, they still earned less than male staff on average.
Both disabled staff and staff from ethnic minorities said that they felt less included and experienced more discrimination, bullying, and harassment, than their non-disabled or white counterparts, respectively.
The Scottish Government has been contacted for further comment.
