Office of the Secretary of State for Wales

Office of the Secretary of State for Wales
Welsh: Swyddfa Ysgrifennydd Gwladol Cymru
	; Gwydyr House in Whitehall, London
Department overview
Formed	1 July 1999
Preceding Department	Welsh Office;
Type	Department of HM Government
Jurisdiction	Wales
Headquarters	Wales 1 Caspian Point, Caspian Way, Cardiff, CF10 4DQ; ; Westminster Gwydyr House, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2NP; ;
Employees	52 (2016–2017)
Annual budget	~£4.7 million for 2016–2017
Minister responsible	The Rt Hon. Simon Hart, Secretary of State for Wales;
Parent department	Ministry of Justice
Website	www.gov.uk/government/organisations/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]

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 Senedd (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	Rank	Portfolio
The Rt Hon. Simon Hart MP	Secretary of State	Overall responsibility; Welsh Government and Senedd Liaison; Foreign Affairs; Defence.
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[]

^ Jump up to: ^a ^b History Archived 3 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine – Walesoffice.gov.uk. Retrieved 8 March 2012
^ "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)
^ About the Wales Office Archived 1 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine – Walesoffice.gov.uk. Last modified 14 December 2010. Retrieved 8 March 2012
^ "Our ministers". GOV.UK. Wales Office. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
^ "Her Majesty's Official Opposition". UK Parliament. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
^ Cabinet Office List of Government Departments and Ministers: Attorney General's Office
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b Presiding officer suggests dropping Welsh secretary – BBC News. Published 7 March 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2012
^ Wales Office 'hard to justify' says Plaid Cymru leader – BBC News. Published 07 March 2011. Retrieved 08 March 2012

External links[]

Official website

[history-1] Jump up to: ^a ^b 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

[bbc1-7] Jump up to: ^a ^b 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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show v t Wales Office
Headquarters: Gwydyr House, Whitehall, London, and Caspian Point, Cardiff Bay
Secretary of State	Simon Hart
Under-Secretary of State	David T. C. Davies
Attorney General	Suella Braverman
Predecessor: Welsh Office

show v t Secretaries of State for Wales
Office of the Secretary of State for Wales
1964–1970	Griffiths Hughes G. Thomas
1970–1974	P. Thomas
1974–1979	Morris
1979–1997	Edwards Walker Hunt Redwood Hunt Hague
1997–2010	Davies Michael Murphy Hain^* Murphy Hain
2010–present	Gillan Jones Crabb Cairns Hart
^*Also Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (2005–2007)

show v t Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom
Ministerial	Attorney General's Office Cabinet Office Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Education Environment, Food and Rural Affairs International Trade Transport Work and Pensions Health and Social Care Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Treasury Home Defence Housing, Communities and Local Government Justice Northern Ireland Advocate General (Scotland) Commons Leader's Office Lords Leader's Office Scotland Office Wales Office UK Export Finance
Non-ministerial	Charity Commission for England and Wales Competition and Markets Authority Crown Prosecution Service Food Standards Agency Forestry Commission Government Actuary's Department Government Legal Department Land Registry Revenue and Customs National Crime Agency National Savings and Investments Ofsted Office of Gas and Electricity Markets Ofqual Office of Rail and Road Serious Fraud Office Supreme Court National Archives UK Statistics Authority Ofwat
Category Commons

Department overview
Welsh: Swyddfa Ysgrifennydd Gwladol Cymru

Gwydyr House in Whitehall, London
Formed	1 July 1999^[1]^[2]
Preceding Department	Welsh Office
Type	Department of HM Government
Jurisdiction	Wales
Headquarters	Wales 1 Caspian Point, Caspian Way, Cardiff, CF10 4DQ Westminster Gwydyr House, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2NP
Employees	52 (2016–2017)
Annual budget	~£4.7 million for 2016–2017
Minister responsible	The Rt Hon. Simon Hart, Secretary of State for Wales
Parent department	Ministry of Justice
Website	www.gov.uk/government/organisations/office-of-the-secretary-of-state-for-wales

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