Office of the Secretary of State for Wales

The Office of the Secretary of State for Wales (Welsh: Swyddfa Ysgrifennydd Gwladol Cymru), informally known as the Wales Office (Swyddfa Cymru), is a United Kingdom government department. It replaced the former Welsh Office, which had extensive responsibility for governing Wales prior to Welsh devolution in 1999.[1]

Office of the Secretary of State for Wales
Welsh: Swyddfa Ysgrifennydd Gwladol Cymru

Gwydyr House in Whitehall, London
Department overview
Formed1 July 1999[1][2]
Preceding Department
TypeDepartment of HM Government
JurisdictionWales
Headquarters
  • Wales
    • 1 Caspian Point, Caspian Way, Cardiff, CF10 4DQ
  • Westminster
Employees52 (2016–2017)
Annual budget~£4.7 million for 2016–2017
Minister responsible
Parent departmentMinistry of Justice
Websitewww.gov.uk/government/organisations/office-of-the-secretary-of-state-for-wales
Wales
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Wales
Welsh Government
Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament
Wales and the United Kingdom
HM Government
UK Parliament
Law and Justice
Administrative divisions
 Wales portal

History

In the past it has been called "Wales' voice in Westminster and Westminster's voice in Wales". However, it is significantly less powerful since the Government of Wales Act 2006: it is primarily responsible for carrying out the few functions remaining with the Secretary of State for Wales that have not been transferred already to the Welsh Parliament; and for securing funds for Wales as part of the annual budgetary settlement.[3]

The Secretary of State for Wales has overall responsibility for the office but it is located administratively within the Ministry of Justice (until 2007, the Department for Constitutional Affairs).

Ministers

The ministers in the Office of the Secretary of State for Wales are as follows:[4][5]

Minister Image Rank Portfolio
The Rt Hon. Simon Hart MP Secretary of State Overall responsibility; Welsh Government and Assembly Liaison; Constitutional and Electoral issues; Economy, Business & Inward Investment; Infrastructure; Exiting the EU; Foreign Affairs; Energy and Climate Change; Steel; Defence; Agriculture; Tourism; Public Appointments; Welsh Budget.
David Davies MP Parliamentary Under Secretary of State
(unpaid)		 TBD
The Rt Hon. The Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist Baroness-in-waiting
Government Whip		 Department Spokesperson for Lords.

Unlike Scotland and Northern Ireland, Wales does not have its own Law Officers of the Crown; it is part of the England and Wales legal jurisdiction. The Attorney General for England and Wales therefore advises the United Kingdom Government on its law.[6] His deputy is the Solicitor General for England and Wales.

Future

Following the 'yes' vote in the 2011 referendum on giving the Assembly direct law-making powers, some politicians in Wales, particularly from Plaid Cymru, have called for the abolition of the Wales Office.[7] Lord Elis-Thomas, Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales said:

I think it would be very useful to [wind up the Wales Office] before we start the next Assembly; that would be the logical time because that is the time when our new powers will become fully operational. The relationship then would be inter-governmental and inter-parliamentary. In other words it would be between the National Assembly and the Parliament at Westminster, where there are issues on laws which are made in Westminster which impinge on Wales and vice versa.[8]

However, Lord Elis-Thomas was accused of following a "separatist agenda" by the Conservative Cheryl Gillan, then Secretary of State for Wales. She was supported by her Labour predecessor Peter Hain, who declared that Wales "still needs a voice around the Cabinet in Westminster".[7]

References
  1. History Archived 3 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine – Walesoffice.gov.uk. Retrieved 8 March 2012
  2. "SERVICE DELIVERY AGREEMENT 2000". Office of the Secretary of State for Wales. 2000. Archived from the original on 25 February 2001. Retrieved 4 February 2017.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  3. About the Wales Office Archived 1 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine – Walesoffice.gov.uk. Last modified 14 December 2010. Retrieved 8 March 2012
  4. "Our ministers". GOV.UK. Wales Office. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  5. "Her Majesty's Official Opposition". UK Parliament. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
  6. Cabinet Office List of Government Departments and Ministers: Attorney General's Office
  7. Presiding officer suggests dropping Welsh secretary – BBC News. Published 7 March 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2012
  8. Wales Office 'hard to justify' says Plaid Cymru leader – BBC News. Published 07 March 2011. Retrieved 08 March 2012
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