The government and public administration sector is comprised of three main areas; central government and the Civil Service, local government and regional government. The public sector currently accounts for over 20% of all employment within the UK, with around 5.9 million people working across the sector. The biggest employers are local government, with 2.6 million jobs, and central government, with 2.7 million jobs.
The budget for defence in the UK currently accounts for around 3.5% of GDP. The UK spends a greater chunk of that budget on equipment, in comparison to other countries, at around 40-45%. The defence industry has an annual turnover of £23 billion annually in the UK, and employs 142,000 people directly. The sector is largely privatised, with three big companies; British Aerospace, GEC-Marconi, and GKN, dominating the market, alongside smaller companies with more niche activity.
More
The UK ranks in third place for the purchase of defence equipment globally, only behind the US and China. Meanwhile, the country has been the second largest exporter of defence equipment for the last ten years. In 2016 alone the UK received orders worth a total of £5.9 billion, with a share of the global market valued at around 9%. The main export markets for the country are the Middle East, Europe and North America.
Wondering who is making the biggest fortune in the public administration and defence sectors? We've used the data from our B2B platform to create a list of the top performing companies in the industry - here are the results.
