SCOTLAND · PEOPLE, PLACES & SERVICES
Sources, downloads and counting methods
Inspect the source snapshots and counting definitions behind Scotland Scotland’s profiles and map.
Profiles are generated from the same local JSON snapshots used by the interactive map. Page generation does not refresh the underlying sources. Publication and reference dates below describe the data, not the date you visited.
Council population estimates
Reference / snapshot date: 2025-06-30 · National Records of Scotland / Public Health Scotland
Same reference year and population definition as NHS cards. Council totals reconcile to NHS Scotland controls for all 91 ages and both sexes. These are alternative geographic breakdowns of the same population; do not add council and NHS totals together.
Original source · Download JSONSource licence / reuse terms: Open Government Licence v3.0
Contains information from the named publisher under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Exclusions and attribution requirements in that licence apply.
NHS health-board population estimates
Reference / snapshot date: 2025-06-30 · National Records of Scotland / Public Health Scotland
Alternative breakdown of the same population as the council estimates.
Original source · Download JSONSource licence / reuse terms: Open Government Licence v3.0
Contains information from the named publisher under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Exclusions and attribution requirements in that licence apply.
Population projections
Reference / snapshot date: 2025-09-30 · National Records of Scotland
2022-based principal scenario, 2022–2047. Separate from mid-2025 estimates.
Original source · Download JSONSource licence / reuse terms: Open Government Licence v3.0
Contains information from the named publisher under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Exclusions and attribution requirements in that licence apply.
Political representation
Reference / snapshot date: 2026-10-05 · UK Parliament, Scottish Parliament and Open Council Data UK
Current representation and council administrations; dated snapshot, not a live feed.
Original source · Download JSONSource licence / reuse terms: Open Parliament Licence v3.0 · Scottish Parliament Copyright Licence · Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
Different terms apply to each component: UK Parliament information uses the Open Parliament Licence v3.0; Scottish Parliament information uses the Scottish Parliament Copyright Licence; council administration information from Open Council Data UK uses CC BY-SA 4.0. These are source-specific terms, not a choice of licences for the complete download. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0. Contains information licensed under the Scottish Parliament Copyright Licence. Council administration data is attributed to Open Council Data UK / Lawson Data Services; area matching and presentation have been adapted.
NHS workforce
Reference / snapshot date: 2026-06-30 · NHS Education for Scotland / Public Services Delivery Scotland
14 territorial health boards; national and specialist boards excluded. Headcount is distinct within each reported group and must not be added across groups or boards. Board totals come from a separate board-only export. WTE means whole-time equivalent. Medical specialties apply to Medical & dental staff; other groups use sub job families. Directorate is not available in this public export. Location of service delivery reporting is paused by the publisher due to data-quality issues. Omitted categories are not assumed to be zero.
Original source · Download JSONSource licence / reuse terms: NHS Education for Scotland copyright and reuse terms
© NHS Education for Scotland / Public Services Delivery Scotland. The publisher’s general terms permit accurate, attributed reproduction for educational purposes and prohibit commercial use of its text and images. Third-party material is excluded. No broader open-data licence is asserted here.
GP practices
Reference / snapshot date: 2026-07-01 · Public Health Scotland
Practices counted once at their published main address; branch surgeries are not separately counted. Registered patients may live outside this council. Types describe the GP contract. Practice websites are not supplied in this release.
Original source · Download JSONSource licence / reuse terms: Open Government Licence v3.0
Contains information from the named publisher under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Exclusions and attribution requirements in that licence apply.
Care homes
Reference / snapshot date: 2026-08-31 · Care Inspectorate
Active registered Care Home Services, including adult and children’s services. Counts are services, not necessarily separate buildings. Registered places are capacity, not occupancy. Contact details withheld by the source remain withheld. Individual website links are not supplied in the export.
Original source · Download JSONSource licence / reuse terms: Open Government Licence v3.0
Contains information from the named publisher under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Exclusions and attribution requirements in that licence apply.
NHS hospitals
Reference / snapshot date: 2026-09-03 · Public Health Scotland
Current NHS hospital-location records, including non-acute hospitals and specialist/resource centres classified in this reference file. Private hospitals are excluded. Hospital types and individual websites are not supplied in this release.
Original source · Download JSONSource licence / reuse terms: Open Government Licence v3.0
Contains information from the named publisher under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Exclusions and attribution requirements in that licence apply.
NHS dental practices
Reference / snapshot date: 2026-03-31 · Public Health Scotland
Active NHS dental practices at the snapshot date; may also offer private care. Counts practices, not individual dentists. Inclusion does not mean the practice is accepting new NHS patients. Registration counts are not council resident counts.
Original source · Download JSONSource licence / reuse terms: Open Government Licence v3.0
Contains information from the named publisher under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Exclusions and attribution requirements in that licence apply.
Schools
Reference / snapshot date: 2026-07-31 · Scottish Government
Publicly funded schools open at 31 July 2026 plus the independent register at 13 August 2026. Each nursery, primary and secondary provision is counted separately, even when sharing a school. Special schools form a separate view and are not added to the age-stage total. Source school records are counted once per council; independent school addresses may cover multiple sites.
Original source · Download JSONSource licence / reuse terms: Open Government Licence v3.0
Contains information from the named publisher under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Exclusions and attribution requirements in that licence apply.
Nurseries & childcare services
Reference / snapshot date: 2026-08-31 · Care Inspectorate
Active registered Day Care of Children services: includes nurseries, playgroups and out-of-school care. The export does not reliably distinguish nursery-only services. Childminders excluded. Local authority, private and voluntary sectors are shown separately; private providers may offer funded places. These services may overlap with school pre-school departments, so do not add the two lists.
Original source · Download JSONSource licence / reuse terms: Open Government Licence v3.0
Contains information from the named publisher under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Exclusions and attribution requirements in that licence apply.
Universities & higher education
Reference / snapshot date: 2026-09-15 · Universities Scotland / institutions
19 member higher-education institutions, placed using verified contact or campus locations from their own websites. Includes specialist HE institutions and the Open University’s Scottish office. This is not an exhaustive campus inventory; an institution may appear in multiple councils. Absence does not establish that no campus exists.
Original source · Download JSONSource licence / reuse terms: Universities Scotland terms and conditions
This is a compiled factual directory, with locations checked against institution websites. Universities Scotland reserves rights in its website material and restricts republication and redistribution without permission. Institution-supplied material remains subject to each institution’s terms. This download does not grant an open licence over those source materials.
Colleges & further education
Reference / snapshot date: 2026-09-15 · Colleges Scotland / institutions
24 colleges from the directory updated 20 August 2026, using verified contact/campus locations. SRUC is listed once under higher education. Colleges may teach both FE and HE; no duplicate count by course level. Not an exhaustive campus or private training-provider inventory; an institution may appear in multiple councils.
Original source · Download JSONSource licence / reuse terms: Colleges Scotland copyright and reuse conditions — December 2024
Colleges Scotland permits accurate reproduction of material it owns with source acknowledgement and without misleading context. This compiled directory also uses institution websites for locations; their material remains subject to their own terms. No blanket licence is granted over the combined download.
Counting checks and limitations
The build checks area coverage, population age/sex reconciliation, school provision totals, regional-list seat totals and unique health-service identifiers. Lists describe the loaded snapshots; missing records are not assumed to mean no service. Institutions may be linked to more than one council; do not sum council institution totals into a Scotland total. Source licences and reuse conditions remain those of the original publishers.
School source records: publicly funded schools, 31 July 2026; independent register, 13 August 2026. The counts in the map and profiles list age-stage provision separately, while special schools are a separate view.
Independent schools registerUpdated 2026-10-22 · Website navigation and page presentation updated; dataset reference dates are shown beside the figures.