The ONS has confirmed a quarterly increase in public sector employment of over 23,000 people, to 6.1m employees.

The third quarter report indicates an overwhelming majority of new employees [1], around 31,000, were recruited for the NHS.  Other areas of the public sector recording an increase in employees were the Armed Forces and the Police (3,000 and 2,000 individuals respectively).

A decrease in local government employment and public corporations (such as Royal Mail and British Nuclear Fuels) offset the growth in the NHS, Armed Forces, and Police.  Local government employment experienced a reduction of 3,000, or 0.1%, while the education sector recorded a drop of 10,000 employees.