Assessment against the Code of Practice
November 2025
The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) have completed their assessment of the NHS Scotland Workforce, the NHS Scotland CAMHS workforce and NHS Scotland Psychological Service Workforce in regard to changing their designation to Accredited Official Statistics (formerly known as National Statistics). Their assessment has been published on the OSR website. This lists six requirements for NES to complete prior to the changing of the designation.
These require NES to:
NES have begun the work to meet these requirements and we will keep users up to date of the progress on these through TDI and the newsletter that we are currently developing.
February 2025
We have now restarted this process and are currently gathering evidence and documentation. As part of this we will again be reaching out to stakeholders and suppliers but if you would you would like to be involved in this please let us know, either by contacting us through Datagroup@nes.scot.nhs.uk or contact the OSR at regulation@statistics.gov.uk.
August 2022
Our statistics have recently undergone an assessment by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). The assessment was related to a potential designation of the statistics as National Statistics. In light of NES’ plans to further develop our data and publications the OSR have decided to pause the assessment process. You can read their letter outlining their findings here. If you would like any further information about this outcome you can contact us at DataGroup@nes.scot.nhs.uk, or contact the OSR at regulation@statistics.gov.uk.
We would like to extend our warmest thanks to all data suppliers and users who provided feedback to the OSR in support of the assessment process.
Overview
NHS Education for Scotland is responsible for the production of three official statistics publications:
These publications report employment and training data for different workforce groups and are released quarterly. The data provided are used to support local, regional and national workforce planning and to support planning for education and training.
The information available in the publications are derived from different systems but adhere to the same definitions as far as reasonably possible.
The NHSScotland Workforce publication provides information on all staff directly employed by NHSScotland and covers a wide range of staff groups.
The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) Workforce and Psychology Services Workforce publications report information for the CAMHS and Psychology services in NHSScotland respectively. These data are collected in bespoke systems which allows more detailed occupation information to be reported.
There are some groups of staff who are included in more than one publication as explained below.
NHS Education for Scotland follows the Code of Practice for Statistics to ensure each publication meets the standards required.
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) provide essential assessment, care and treatment of children and young people (and their parents/carers) who are experiencing serious mental health problems.
CAMHS workforce information is sourced from the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service Workforce Database which is updated directly by staff employed in the CAMHS service. This captures clinical staff working in multi-disciplinary teams including nurses, psychologists, psychiatrists, support workers and therapists. Most of these staff are directly employed by NHSScotland, but some posts are funded by other sources.
CAMHS workforce in other publications
Staff will only be recorded in multiple publications provided they are captured in all source systems. The occupational coding is structured differently in these systems, which means it is not possible to accurately match the professional group across the publications.
NHSScotland has seen a steadily increasing demand for access to Applied Psychologists and Psychological Therapies due to the growing evidence base for the effectiveness of psychological interventions in delivering positive health change for people with a wide range of clinical conditions.
Psychology workforce information is sourced from the Clinical Psychology Services Workforce Database which is updated directly by staff employed in the Service. This captures clinical staff directly employed by NHSScotland working in multi-disciplinary teams including applied psychologists and those providing psychological therapy.
Psychology workforce in other publications
Staff will only be recorded in multiple publications provided they are captured in all source systems. The occupational coding is structured differently in these systems, which makes it difficult to accurately match the professional group across the publications.
The NHS is Scotland's largest employer. Its workforce has a significant role to play in the delivery of quality services that meet the needs of patients, their families and the general public in a modern health service.
All staff directly employed by NHSScotland are included in this publication, such as Doctors and Dentists, Nurses and Midwives and Allied Health Professionals. A range of information on the staff in post, vacancies, band and agency costs, sickness absence, turnover, and consultant contract are provided. These data are sourced from different systems and are released at different times throughout the year.
NHSScotland workforce in other publications