The Role of The Public Sector
See also: Politics of Scotland, Barnett formula, Fiscal autonomy
The public sector, in Scotland, has a significant impact upon the economy and comprises central government departments, local government, and public corporations. In quarter 3 of 2005, there were 577,300 people employed in the public sector, which accounts for 23.4% of employment in Scotland - this includes all medical professionals employed within the National Health Service in Scotland, those employed in the emergency services and those employed in the state education and higher education sector. This is in addition to employees of the government in the civil service and in local government as well as public bodies and corporations.
There is a clear separation of responsibility of the powers of both the UK government and the devolved Scottish Government in relation to the formulation and execution of national economic policy as it affects Scotland - this is set out under Section 5 of the Scotland Act 1998.
Read more about this topic: Economy Of Scotland
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