HC Deb 17 July 2003 vol 409 cc469-70W
Annabelle Ewing

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs if he will list his Department's responsibilities for Scotland. [122515]

Mr. Leslie

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister to the hon. Member for Stone (Mr. Cash) on 19 June 2003,Official Report, column 391W.

Miss McIntosh

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs (1) where the Department of Constitutional Affairs will be housed; who will have responsibility within his Department for(a) constitutional matters, (b) Scottish matters, (c) Welsh matters and (d) matters relating to human rights; and when he intends to publish the list of ministerial responsibilities; [122702]

(2) whether the (a) Scotland and (b) Wales Offices will be housed in the same building as the Department of Constitutional Affairs. [122747]

Mr. Leslie

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister to the hon. Member for Stone (Mr. Cash) on 19 June 2003,Official Report, column 391W; and to the answer I gave the right hon. Member for Wokingham (Mr. Redwood) on 1 July 2003, Official Report, column 255W, regarding housing of the Department.

Miss McIntosh

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the relationship between(a) Constitutional Affairs, (b) Scotland Office and (c) Wales Office will be with regard to staffing and personnel matters. [122748]

Mr. Leslie

Staffing matters are the responsibility of the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA). There are 49 civil servants currently in post in the Wales Office and a total of 115 in the Scotland Office, of which 33 are staff of the Advocate-General for Scotland. They are all on loan or secondment principally from the National Assembly for Wales and the Scottish Executive respectively. Staff will be offered the options of transferring to DCA, remaining on secondment or loan or returning to their parent department or organisation in due course. Line management arrangements for these staff will not be affected by the new arrangements and, whilst we would generally expect DCA personnel policies to apply to staff transferring to my Department, this will depend on individual terms of employment. I also hope that all staff working within the DCA may find it beneficial to work within a wider corporate headquarters environment.

I expect that the Wales and Scotland Offices will continue to include a significant number of staff on secondment from the devolved administrations.