Scotland Office

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The Scotland Office (An Oifis Albannach in Scottish Gaelic) is a United Kingdom government department headed by the Secretary of State for Scotland and responsible for Scottish affairs. It is distinct entity within the Ministry of Justice.^[1]

Role

The office is responsible for the representation of Scotland in HM Government, facilitating the smooth operation of devolution, liaising between the government and the devolved Government in Edinburgh and the administering of certain reserved matters of government in relation to Scotland.

History

Until the advent of the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government, the precursor to the Scotland Office, the Scottish Office, was a major UK government department dealing with most aspects of the domestic governance of Scotland, a position known as "administrative devolution". Since devolution its powers have been limited to those relating to reserved matters that are not dealt with by other departments of the UK Government, and it, along with the Wales Office, was then absorbed into the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA), which in turn became the Ministry of Justice. The Secretary of State for Scotland also holds certain powers of oversight over the operation of the Scottish Parliament under the Scotland Act 1998.

Ministers

The Scotland Office Ministers are as follows:^[2]

Minister		Rank	Portfolio
	The Rt Hon Michael Moore MP	Secretary of State	Constitutional affairs, general economic policy, defence
	The Rt Hon David Mundell MP	Parliamentary-Under Secretary of State	Electoral law, general social policy, energy

Key		Conservative
		Liberal Democrat

The Rt Hon Lord Wallace of Tankerness QC (Lib Dem) is the Advocate General for Scotland, advising the United Kingdom Government on Scots law.^[3] He also speaks for the Scotland Office in the House of Lords.^[4] Lord Wallace was previously Deputy First Minister of Scotland (1999–2005).

Under the Blair Ministry and Brown Ministry, the office of Secretary of State for Scotland was often held along with another Secretaryship of State by a member of the Cabinet:

• Alistair Darling (2003–2006), also Secretary of State for Transport;
• Douglas Alexander (2006–2007), also Secretary of State for Transport; and
• Des Browne (2007–2008), also Secretary of State for Defence.

Danny Alexander was briefly the first Secretary of State in the Cameron Ministry (in May 2010), prior to his appointment as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, succeeding David Laws.

Michael Crockart (a Liberal Democrat MP) resigned his post as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State on 9 December 2010 over the United Kingdom Government's plan for an increase in tuition fees.

Location

Dover House, the headquarters of the Scotland Office in Whitehall.

The department is based at Dover House, in London's Whitehall, and employs around 40 permanent staff. Dover House also serves as a base for staff of the Scottish Government in London.

There is also an office of the department located in Melville Crescent, Edinburgh.

The Advocate General, as a Law Officer, shares the same offices in London and Edinburgh.

References

• The Scottish Secretaries, David Torrance. (Birlinn 2006)

1. ^ The Role of the Scotland Office
2. ^ Cabinet Office List of Government Departments and Ministers: Scotland Office
3. ^ Cabinet Office List of Government Departments and Ministers: Office of the Advocate General for Scotland
4. ^ Government Whips Office (House of Lords): Government Spokespersons

External links

• Official website