Great news, as this would suggest there's a bit of a jobs boom under way, and a welcome turnaround on the 27,000 reduction in employment recorded the previous quarter covering August to October.

The ONS figures for the three months to October suggested employment in Scotland stood at 2,463,000.

By the end of January 2013, the employment figure had risen to 2,483,000, or thereabouts as the ONS put the figure at 19,000.

Finance Secretary John Swinney welcomed the news, saying: "Employment is on the increase and our employment rate is the joint fifth highest of the UK nations and regions."

Of course, seasonal jobs in the run up to Christmas would account for a spike in employment.

But the ONS notes in its most recent update covering November to January it has postponed its estimates of workforce jobs for December until its April 2013 release "due to operational difficulties which have resulted in a need for further quality assurance".

A 19,000 rise in employment is not to be sniffed at, so we asked the Scottish Government for a breakdown of where these opportunities are being created.

As it turns out, the figures aren't quite as concrete as you might think.

The Scottish Government said the 19,000 rise in Scottish employment came from the ONS' figures.

Three phone calls to the ONS later, to three different departments, brought at least a partial explanation of how they arrived at this sizeable increase in Scottish employment.

Its taken from a phone survey of private UK households called the Labour Force Survey.

How that survey is conducted, and how the ONS backs up what is a relative jobs rush in the three month period is open to interpretation.

So we asked the ONS how it calculates the employment figures.

The government's statistician initially claimed the Labour Force Survey is taken from around 150,000 individuals and on average 60,000 UK households, selected randomly from a postcode listing.

The spokesperson also alluded to this Labour Force Survey also sent to businesses, "to gauge employment intentions", though the methodology states this to be a household survey.

After some prodding, the ONS came back and said a "major calculation change" in the second half of 2010 saw the survey sample drop by roughly a third to just under 100,000 people across roughly 42,000 households.

Those taking part in this survey, according to the ONS, agree to provide answers to the survey over a period of five quarters, and given the survey of 42,000 households is voluntary, allowances are given for drop off.

An example can be found here

The ONS apparently offers a book of stamps as an incentive to answer the questionnaire and claims regional response rates of between 40 and 60 per cent.

And the ONS admits "roughly one in five" of those surveys are conducted face to face, the rest taken over the phone.

It is also unclear how many 'agents' conducting these surveys are employed by the ONS directly and how many survey agents are contracted, and if contracted, who the third party companies are who provide these services and how stringent the governance is on third party provision.

The ONS was also unable to tell us at what time of the day these phone surveys are conducted, how phone numbers are selected or indeed how many people work directly for the ONS in compiling these survey results.

What is interesting is the ONS said respondents aged 65 and over, who are omitted from official labour statistics given they have reached retirement age, are included in Labour Force statistics because so many people who have reached retirement age are still in work.

That figure is highlighted in the ONS's own figures calculating employment by age, which show the number of workers aged 65 and over rose 14.7 per cent between October 2011 and September 2012.

Even taking the ONS figures at face value, the reality of the employment statistics 'on the ground' are worrying.

For the same 2011/12 period, of the 2.46 million people in employment in Scotland, ONS figures show 1.77 million are in full-time work, 685,000 in part-time work, 98,000 have second jobs and 119,000 are in temporary positions.

In early March 2013 the ONS published its latest Labour Market Survey for the period November 2012 to January 2013.

That report states, when comparing the period November to January, with the period August to October 2012, "there was a fall in the number of people 'not in the labour force' which has resulted in more people in employment and a small increase in the number of unemployed people".

The ONS added: "Comparing the period from November 2012 to January 2013 with August to October 2012, there was a 118,000 fall in the number of people aged from 16 to 64 classified as 'not in the labour force' and, compared with a year earlier, there were 320,000 fewer people not in the labour force.

"This was partly caused by fewer women retiring between the ages of 60 and 64 due to changes in the state pension age for women."

Clear enough so far?

The ONS goes on to claim UK employment rose by 131,000 between November and January compared with the previous quarter to a total of 29.73 million people in work.

Unemployment also rose by 7,000 UK wide in the same period to 2.52 million people in total.

And the ONS noted 8.95 million people aged between 16 and 64 are either not looking for work or are unavailable for work - a drop of 118,000 compared with the previous quarter.

The ONS describe this 8.95 million people of working age as being "economically inactive".

The ONS also notes in 'redundancies by industry' it has left out financial, insurance and real estate activities from its annual statistics, which show a 23 per cent reduction in redundancies in the three months from October to December 2012 compared with the previous year.

The ONS estimates 4.2 million people in the UK workforce are self-employed.

And most recent ONS figures to June 2012 estimate the number of people classed as underemployed - those in employment who want to work more hours - has risen by 980,000 since the 2008 banking crisis and now stands at 3.05 million - a 47 per cent increase or one in 10 of the UK workforce.

The highest rate of underemployment is among 16 to 24 year olds, representing 21.7 per cent of the total, with 42 per cent of that age group working part-time.

In the 25 to 34 age group, underemployment stands at 9.7 per cent and 19 per cent of the workforce in this age bracket working part-time; 9.6 per cent in the 35 to 49 age bracket with 24 per cent working part-time; and eight per cent of the 50 to 64 age bracket are underemployed with 29 per cent working part-time.

So, the official figures state UK unemployment stands at 2.52 million, a further 8.95 million people of working age are deemed to be "economically inactive" and 3.05 million people class themselves as being underemployed.

The Coalition Government cites ONS figures when claiming a million new private sector jobs have been created since 2010, which include those in higher education.

The TUC also states more than 200,000 at state-backed banks transferred to the public sector in 2008, meaning the official private sector jobs numbers were artificially deflated as a result.

Those jobs are also now being added to the private sector job statistics.

Secretary of State for Scotland, Michael Moore, commenting on the Chancellor's recent Budget announcement, provided a hint as to the quality of jobs which are being created in Scotland and led the Scottish Government to claim youth unemployment had fallen at its fastest rate since 1992 in the three months to January.

Championing the Budget announcement the tax threshold - the sum you can be paid before you begin to pay tax - will be raised to £10,000 from April 2014, Moore said this measure would take 224,000 Scots out of tax altogether - or nine per cent of the current Scottish workforce.

That's the 'word on the street' anyway, and confirmed - sort of - from discussions with four Scottish insolvency professionals this week.

HMRC has of course denied this - sort of.

A spokesman for the revenue told Business7: "HMRC do not lack funding to pay for insolvency services.

"In fact, in December HMRC released additional funding in Scotland to ensure legal action continued where it was appropriate."

So there you have it: HMRC hadn't run out of budget but thought it right to mention it was given "additional funding" in December.

The Edinburgh Gazette is one of three official newspapers of the UK government, along with the London Gazette -covering England and Wales - and the Belfast Gazette, which covers Northern Ireland.

The Gazette's remit is to make public notices on behalf of numerous arms of the state, and includes insolvency and bankruptcy notices on behalf of HMRC.

A Gazette notice, commonly known among the insolvency professionals as 'budget and petition', gives notice HMRC has moved to wind-up or liquidate a company which has failed to pay tax, PAYE or VAT.

And this is where it gets interesting.

HMRC filed a total of 614 notices with the Edinburgh Gazette last year, a 15 per cent fall on the 2011 figure of 727.

Edinburgh Gazette has confirmed the figures on its website are correct and current and its records are updated twice a week.

But 611 of the notices filed in the Edinburgh Gazette by the revenue in 2012 were filed between January 1 and September 30.

And since September 30 last year, and up to and including the first two weeks of 2013 - the revenue has filed just three notices in the Edinburgh Gazette.

This would either suggest something is amiss over at HMRC or Scotland is now in economic recovery and corporate failures have fallen away to nothing.

Insolvency practitioners Begbies Traynor publishes quarterly Red Flag Alert statistics showing the number of firms facing court action for non-payment on a scale from worrying to critical debt levels.

In its most recent report, covering the third quarter of 2012, Begbies found there had a 21 per cent year-on year drop in the number of Scottish firms showing signs of critical financial distress.

The fall in critical distress cases in Scotland - from 327 to 257 - was in line with a drop of 22 per cent reported for the rest of the UK.

Critical distress is defined as firms subject to County Court Judgments of more than £5,000, winding-up petitions or entering into Company Voluntary Arrangements.

But it should also be noted, the third quarter figures are typically the lowest of the year due to seasonal factors, including court holidays.

That said, year-on-year - accounting for the same seasonal constraints - the figures suggest at least some improvement in the fortunes of struggling businesses.

HMRC is, according to the insolvency professionals, "the most prolific" mover for insolvency and winding-up notices in their sector.

So were the same statistical anomalies evident in Scotland in the second half of 2012, and in particular in the last three months of the year - mirrored in the revenues other jurisdictions?

The answer is... well, sort of.

The London Gazette, covering England and Wales, shows a total of 1289 notices filed by HMRC in the last three months of 2012, down 57 per cent on the 2023 reported in the same quarter in 2011.

Last year the revenue filed a total of 6995 notices in the London Gazette, largely in line with the previous year's figure of 7049.

But over on the Belfast Gazette we see figures similar to those filed in Scotland in the last quarter of 2012 - just four notices from the revenue, though what is even more surprising is the revenue filed just 17 notices in the Belfast Gazette the entire 2012 year.

And the revenue filed just seven notices in the Belfast Gazette in the last quarter in 2011 out of a total of 14 for the 2011 year.

So there you have it. Revenue insolvency activity did fall sharply in England and Wales - 57 per cent - in the last quarter of 2012 year on year and by 17 per cent on the previous quarter.

And year-on-year, London Gazette figures for the second quarter of 2012 - covering July to September - show a drop of 15 per cent, from 1,821 notices to 1,551.

A Scottish-based insolvency practitioner told Business7 this week HMRC is "the most prolific budget and petitioner for insolvency and winding up orders" in their sector.

As such, HMRC activity can also move the official insolvency figures.

So in Scotland, revenue insolvency activity dropped by a whopping 98.3 per cent in the last three months of 2012, year-on-year, and by 97.1 per cent on the previous quarter figures.

And the mystery deepens when you look at the notice figures for the first half of the 2012 year.

Between January 1 and June 30 revenue insolvency activity rose by 41.6 per cent on the previous year, from 358 notices to 507.

But in the second half activity nosedived with just 107 notices filed between July 1 and December 31 2012 - a drop of 71 per cent compared with the second half of 2011 when 369 notices were filed.

So what caused this massive drop in activity? Well, of the four insolvency practitioners Business7 spoke with this week, none of them offered "economic recovery" as being the reason.

Here are two opinions of what might be going on from two Scottish insolvency professional - both of whom, not surprisingly, wish to remain nameless.

Our first practitioner said: "HMRC is the most prolific budget and petitioner for insolvency and winding up orders.

"I had heard in the run up to Christmas the level of activity from HMRC was down because they had run out of budget.

"I believe additional budget was then allocated at the turn of the year.

"We actually had an internal meeting just before Christmas to discuss the marked drop off in HMRC activity.

"Of course, there is a public interest in addressing tax delinquency issues, so the sharp drop in activity points to either budget issues or a marked shift in policy with respect to petitions.

"But if this is a change in policy, then it is encouraging a rise in the number of so-called 'zombie' firms by allowing those firms to struggle on.

"If those companies stop paying VAT and PAYE then the position is worsened for other tax payers if HMRC fails in their duty to act to deter that."

And our second practitioner told us much the same thing - the drop off in HMRC activity was either down to budget or "a shift in policy not to move for insolvency in an effort to make the economy look better than it actually is".

A report published by accountants KPMG in early January pointed to a fall in the number of Scottish companies going bust in the last quarter of 2012, down 27 per cent on the previous year and the first drop in insolvency figures since 2008.

Scottish insolvencies totalled 237 in the last quarter of 2012 compared with 324 the previous year, and liquidations were down 30 per cent year on year to 197.

The main Scottish newspapers - The Scotsman, Herald, Press & Journal and Courier - also carry HMRC notices - and all report a sharp fall in activity from October 2012.

However, none of the four newspapers contacted were able to provide figures, citing data protection law and commercial confidentiality.

If the drop in revenue insolvency activity really was down to budget constraints, and as the revenue said itself, "HMRC released additional funding in Scotland" in December, then you'd expect to see activity returning.

At the time of filing this copy, the revenue has yet to file a notice in Scotland in the 2013 year.

Who knows, maybe the worst of the financial crisis is finally behind us.

A gift voucher we had which had been languishing on a shelf was finally being put to good use.

It was only the second time I had eaten at James Thompson's lavishly decorated and opulent sanctum.

Even though the decoration has the capacity to overwhelm what I noticed most was that when we arrived at 6.30pm the dining rooms and bar areas were extremely busy.

That didn't change over three delightful courses and as parties left they were quickly replaced.

Indeed after we had finished eating staff had to help find a nook for us to sit and have some coffee.

Now when one of the more upmarket eateries in the capital is clearly having a bumper night at the tail end of February surely it's cause for celebration.

I'm sure it was for the management at least until the till system collapsed.

That electronic failure left many customers waiting far longer than normal to pay bills.

But kudos to the excellent staff who were very attentive and regularly came to apologise people who had been waiting patiently

Yet sitting in the whisky room at Prestonfield it occurred to me that these people - taken from all walks of life and a broad age range - were here to have a good time.

They would dress up, eat well and maybe even have a few drinks. Fears about inflation, cost of living and public sector cuts seemed a million miles away.

A lot of people still have money to spend. It's just they are going to be far more careful about where they spend it.

Other business could have learnt a lot from the staff at Rhubarb about how to deal with what could have been a disastrous IT failure.

Even though we waited for more than 30 minutes for our bill I still felt the staff had looked after us as best they could and a lovely evening had been prolonged rather spoiled.

And that kind of service will undoubtedly lead to repeat business at some point.