Everything about The Scottish Office totally explained
The
Scottish Office was a department of the
United Kingdom Government from 1885 until 1999, exercising a wide range of government functions in relation to
Scotland under the control of the
Secretary of State for Scotland. Following the establishment of the
Scottish Parliament in 1999, most of its work was transferred to the newly established
Scottish Executive, (now known as the
Scottish Government) with a small residue of functions retained by the
Scotland Office.
History
Following the
Act of Union 1707 and the abolition of the old
Scottish Parliament, the post of
Secretary of State for Scotland was established within the government of Great Britain. The Secretary of State was entrusted with general responsibility for the government of Scotland, with the
Lord Advocate acting as chief law officer in Scotland. The post of Secretary of State for Scotland was abolished in 1746, and the Lord Advocate assumed responsibility for government business in Scotland. In 1828 the
Home Secretary was formally put "in charge of Scotland", but the Lord Advocate continued to be the voice of Scotland in the government and took the lead in Scottish debates.
During the nineteenth century, the functions of government increased, particularly at a local level dealing with issues such as public health, poor law relief, roads and education, and local authorities were active in providing water supplies, drainage, hospitals and town planning. To exercise control over these local activities, a number of supervisory boards such as the Board of Supervision for Poor Relief (1845 - 1894), the General Board of Commissioners in Lunacy (1857 - 1913) and the Scotch Education Department (a committee of the
Privy Council) were established. However the accountability of these Boards wasn't clear, they were staffed by amateurs and they increased the scope for government patronage. In 1869 Scottish MPs asked
Gladstone to appoint a Scottish Secretary with responsibility for the boards, but the post of
Secretary for Scotland, and with it the Scottish Office, were not created until 1885.
Ministers
The post of
Secretary for Scotland was established in 1885. From 1892 the holder sat in Cabinet and in 1926 the post was elevated to the rank of Principal Secretary of State and retitled
Secretary of State for Scotland. The addition of responsibility for health functions in 1919 resulted in the creation of a junior ministerial post, the
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health for Scotland, which in turn became a
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland in 1926.
Additional Parliamentary Under-Secretary posts were added in 1940 and 1951 and a Minister of State post was established in 1951. In 1969-70 one of the Under-Secretary posts was replaced by an additional Minister of State. From 1974 to 1979 there were two Ministers of State and three Under-Secretaries, reverting to one Minister of State in 1979.
Further Information
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