Findings

Statistical governance and orderly release

2.1 To support trustworthiness, official statistics should be produced by organisations that are well led, well managed and open. Producers should assign a Chief Statistician/Head of Profession for Statistics (or lead official) who upholds and advocates the standards of the Code and publish policies, for example on revisions and corrections, to enhance transparency. The circulation of statistics in their final form ahead of their publication should be restricted to eligible recipients, in line with the rules and principles on pre-release access (PRA) set out in legislation.

2.2 In 2022, we identified some issues around statistical leadership and governance processes. As such, this area formed a focus of the current assessment. Overall, the team has made good progress in this area. For example, NES has put in place a lead official, who is responsible for decisions on the statistics, from methods to the content and timing of releases. However, we noted during the assessment that the organisation still relies on some of PHS’s statistical policies, such as those on revisions and statistical disclosure control. NES has publicly committed to developing its own governance policies.

2.3 Analytical staff at NES follow OSR’s regulatory guidance and can access further training and guidance on the Code from the PHS statistical governance team. New analysts recruited to NES currently do not have to undergo mandatory Code training, although job advertisements do ask for knowledge of the Code. NES agreed that it is important to ensure that relevant training is accessible to newer analysts. Given that NES is the education body within the NHS, it is working with PHS to determine whether it could play a central role in Code training in future.

2.4 All releases of workforce statistics are pre-announced in the publication timetable well in advance of publication. This timetable includes details of which categories of workforce are contained within each publication. NES also publishes a statement explaining that named individuals from certain organisations are receive pre-release access to the workforce statistics. The latest annual workforce statistics release now has a linked list setting out which roles receive pre-release access (PRA). These include Chief Executives, policy and communications professionals from all fourteen territorial health boards and the eight National and Special Boards, as well as organisations like PHS, Healthcare Improvement Scotland and the Scottish Ambulance Service. Around 25 individuals in the Scottish Government receive pre-release access, which is a relatively high number compared to that in many pre-release access lists.

Engagement with users

2.5 Official statistics should be useful, remain relevant to users, and support understanding of important issues. To enable this, producers should maintain and refresh their understanding of the use and potential use of the statistics and data and be transparent about their approach to user engagement. Statistics and data should also be published in forms that enable their reuse, with producers taking opportunities to share data wherever feasible.

2.6 NES has a good understanding of its key users, having undergone an extensive consultation in 2021 involving interviews with stakeholders from health boards, the Scottish Government and the Royal College of Nursing. It maintains a continuous dialogue with some of its users. The outcomes of its consultation led to:

• a redeveloped, single publication dashboard that replaces the five profession-specific dashboards from previous publications
• increased granularity in many statistics – for example, headcount inflows and outflows by source and destination, respectively
• the publication of more information on workforce data, methods and reports

2.7 These improvements have made it easier for users to build their own tables and extract the data that they require from the dashboards. The users we spoke to were generally content with these developments and informed us that the statistics teams were helpful and responsive to their requests. Users also appreciated NES’s openness in publicly explaining any errors identified in the statistics.

2.8 NES doesn’t currently routinely share data; however, it has done so when working with researchers in the past – for example, to do an analysis of the risk of hospital dmission with coronavirus disease in healthcare workers and their households. NES anticipates it will share more data for research purposes in future, with appropriate controls and anonymisation. For example, NES has started a process to share data with the General Medical Council (GMC) to support its work. To ensure that the data the GMC uses are consistently coded with the data that NES publishes, NES has offered to provide the GMC with the same data once they have processed them. This initiative is being developed with information governance colleagues within NES, ensuring that required security arrangements are in place.

2.9 NES has an area on its website entitled Future Development Plans. This page includes a lot of information about the future of the workforce statistics in response to user demand, for example producing turnover statistics for dental and GP practices and improving the granularity of the ‘other’ and ‘not known’ specialities. NES has also committed publicly to producing a quarterly newsletter, which will “better inform our users about our current and future work we are in the process of developing a quarterly newsletter to update people on what data has been released and is planned for release”. The estimated time frame for this development is given as December 2025, although NES told us that this will be dependent on resource availability.

2.10 Some users we spoke to considered that it would be beneficial for NES to conduct a more systematic assessment of user needs, covering not just the contents of the official statistics, but the full range of NHS workforce data that NES holds. This view was echoed by other users we spoke to who were either not aware of the future developments that NES has planned or not clear on which user needs informed these planned developments. More frequent and transparent engagement would give users greater confidence in the methods used to produce the statistics and help to ensure that any changes or decisions are more easily understood and communicated. In our view, a systematic assessment of user needs is important to ensure that NES’s workforce statistics reflect the full scope of demand and support strategic decision-making across the NHS.

Coherence and comparability

2.11 Where appropriate, producers should take opportunities to produce coherent statistics. Comparisons that support the appropriate use of the statistics should also be provided where useful – for example, by signposting to other related statistics and explaining the extent of consistency and comparability with these sources.

2.12 NES publishes information about UK comparability on its website, explaining that it works with an ONS-led group which aims to understand and explain the coherence and comparability of health statistics across the UK. The website page links to an ONS article summarising which organisations publish official statistics on the healthcare workforce, the size and makeup of the health workforce and differences in how the NHS workforce is structured in each nation.

2.13 NES explained to us that CAMHS data are directly comparable across the UK, but the other NES workforce statistics are not. However, the individual statistical publications do not include this kind of information; users would need to navigate to the ONS output to understand whether it is appropriate to make comparisons. Users also expressed an interest in the work being carried out on comparability, stating that they would like to know more about what is being done to streamline workforce data across the UK.

Data accessibility

2.14 Official statistics and related guidance should be easy to access. To enable this, the needs of different types of users should be considered when determining ways of presenting and releasing the statistics.

2.15 In 2021, NES acquired a new data warehouse to store all historic and new data on the NHS workforce. As part of this work, NES sought stakeholder views on the utility of the current statistics and modes of presentation. This feedback led NES to develop a single publication dashboard, replacing the five profession-specific dashboards from previous publications. Stakeholder feedback also informed the new website structure and improved navigation, increasing the granularity in many statistics and the publication of further information on data, methods, and reports.

2.16 Most users we spoke to access the workforce data via the dashboards and find them useful. However, some users identified issues with the dashboards and website that make it difficult to find the information that they need. For example, some of the data are excessively nested within the NES website (the current workforce dashboard is found at Home > Data and reports > Official workforce statistics > All official statistics publications > 04 March 2025 Workforce > Dashboards > NHS Scotland workforce), complicating navigation.

2.17 Some users also commented that once they became familiar with the dashboards, it became easier to find what they need, but that it took considerable time to navigate the dashboards. NES should look at ways of making these dashboards easier to use and enhance the user experience when looking for specific figures. This area should be included as a topic in future user engagement activities and reviewed as a new website is being panned for NES next year.

Communicating quality and methods

2.18 Official statistics should be based on data sources that are appropriate for the intended uses and produced to a level of quality that meets users’ needs. Producers should explain clearly how they assure themselves that statistics and data are accurate, reliable, coherent, and timely. The strengths and limitations of the statistics should be considered in relation to different uses and clearly explained alongside the statistics. Producers should also be transparent about methods used, giving the reasons for their selection.

2.19 NES’s workforce statistics are derived from sources that are suitable for their intended uses, including administrative and survey-based sources. For example, employment data are extracted from the Scottish Workforce Information Standard System (SWISS), which combines HR data and payroll data across the health boards, whereas vacancy data are collected via a quarterly survey for consultants, nursing and midwifery staff and the allied health professions.

2.20 On its website, NES clearly sets out the different data sources and its quality assurance processes. It has also assessed its approach to quality-assuring its administrative data using the Quality Assurance of Administrative Data (QAAD) regulatory standard. NES is also transparent about the data provision timetable from the health boards. The timetable includes the data submission dates and the quality assurance date so that users can see the timelines for collecting each dataset.

2.21 Generally, users told us that they are content that the quality of the statistics is sufficient for their needs. However, some users said that they found information on quality and methods difficult to locate. The NES website has a lot of information about methodology, notes, caveats, the user interface, and the data warehouse. But it previously required considerable navigation to find this information, as it is spread across several web pages. We suggested to NES that it would be more helpful to have a single technical document that is clearly linked to the statistics and collates this information, as well as providing a general overview of data sources and the methodology used to produce the statistics. In response to this feedback, NES produced a technical report linked to the June 2025 annual report of workforce statistics. linked to the June 2025 annual report of workforce statistics.

2.22 Workforce data include specialist terminology, and NES has helpfully published a glossary page. Users said that this document could be easier to find, and NES has agreed to review this when wider website changes are made. More information on whether these definitions are unique to Scotland or apply UK-wide may also prove helpful.

2.23 During the assessment, we heard that users were sometimes unclear about some of the methods used to produce the statistics and the reason for changes that are made. One example that users gave was the change in the NHS Agenda for Change’s staff working hours from5 hours to 37 hours a week. Although the impact of this change is explained in NES’s Events impacting data and reporting document, this explanation was not clear to all users. There will be a further reduction to 36 hours in a working week in 2026, and users want to know how this will affect the data. We raised this feedback with NES, and it included a further explanation regarding the change in conditioned hours in its new technical report.

Data definitions

2.24 Some users raised concerns about data definitions, for example the definition of vacancy data. NES has explained this as being “a post which has been cleared for advert after being through the redeployment process (internal or external advert) and remains a vacancy until an individual starts in the post”. Users told us that they want further clarity on how vacancy data are treated, for example, when an individual transfers to a different post within the NHS.

2.25 Similarly, we heard dissenting views from users about the methodology of counting doctor vacancies. NES’s approach to measuring vacancies is to reflect excess demand for labour, and therefore it includes posts that are actively seeking recruits. This aligns with ONS’s definition of job vacancies, but NES’s definition does not include locum doctors, posts that have not yet been advertised or posts that have remained vacant for so long that they are no longer advertised. The British Medical Association told us that it defines vacancies to include these three types of posts and that it considers that NES should do the same.

2.26 While we consider that NES’s definition of vacant posts is appropriate and consistent with other definitions across the UK, NES should be as open as possible regarding these differences in definitions and the rationale for its decisions.