Devolution and Local Government

Abstract

Under the Treaty of Union, 1707, Scotland preserved her independent legal and judicial systems. Scotland developed arrangements for education and local government which were never assimilated to those of England and Wales. The established (Presbyterian) Church was also recognised by the Union settlement. After the abolition of the post of Secretary of State for Scotland in 1746, and between the date of the establishment of the Secretaryship for Scotland in 1885 (which became a full Secretaryship of State in 1926), a Scottish Development Agency, responsible to the Scottish Office, was set up in 1975. By 1977 most ‘United Kingdom’ Departments had regional offices in Scotland.