You asked

Please let me know how many economists are employed at the ONS, by grade. The latest figure please and a figure at the same point (April 1?) for each year since ONS was created. Please also supply any documents summarising plans for further recruitment?

We said

The ONS had, on 11th November 2015, 41 full members of the Government Economic Service (GES). In addition we have nineteen affiliated members of the GES and 23 sandwich students accessed through a GES selection process.

The grades of the 41 full members are presented in the attached table. In addition the second attached table also presents data from the 1st January of each year going back to 2002 as drawn from GES Annual Reports. The data in the GES Annual Reports refer to full members of the GES. But it is possible that records for earlier years may also have included some affiliate members as well.

The ONS currently has an advert live for 8 fixed term (two year) postings for provisional economists, who will become affiliated members of the GES on recruitment. These roles would be automatically converted to permanent roles if the individuals concerned can pass the entrance examinations to become full members of the GES. The ONS also anticipates significantly increasing its economist workforce in the coming years, to deliver against a number of priority areas. Exact figures will be dependent on our forthcoming Spending Review settlement and the outcome of the Bean Review.