Historically, a range of factors, including newly devolved responsibilities such as establishing Social Security, EU Exit, and our response to the COVID-19 pandemic, are behind the growth in the workforce.UK Civil Service grew its directly employed FTE by 7.4% between March 2022 and December 2024 in comparison to the Scottish Government permanent civil service growing by 5.6%.In comparison to the UK Civil Service the growth in the equivalent grades (Grades 6 and 7) was the same as it was in the Scottish Government between 2020 and 2024 at 47%.The Scottish Government has reduced its workforce in the last two financial years, by 0.4% in 2022-3 and 3% in 2023-24 and from March 2022 to December 2024, the total workforce has reduced by 4%.