History
The first Secretary of State for Wales was officially appointed in 1964 and with this position he was given his own department – the Welsh Office.
Prior to this, moves towards devolution for Wales had been minimal, with Wales and England administered as a single entity.
The first move towards devolution came in 1907, with the establishment of the Welsh Department of the Board of Education. This was followed in 1919 by the Welsh Board of Health, and later by the Welsh Office of the Minister of Housing and Local Government.
From 1951, successive Home Secretaries were also designated Minister of Welsh Affairs, and co-ordinated work on a range of administrative functions that were undertaken by separate Government offices in Wales. In 1957 this role transferred to the Minister of Housing and Local Government and the arrangement was strengthened below Cabinet level by the creation of a new post of Minister of State for Welsh Affairs.
When the Welsh Office was eventually established in 1964, it initially had executive responsibility for local government, housing, planning, roads and the Welsh language.Over the ensuing three decades, its role was progressively widened as it assumed responsibility for economic development; agriculture; forestry, fisheries and food; industry and training; education; health and personal social services; arts and culture; the built heritage; sport and recreation; the environment and transport. By 1997-98 the Welsh Office had a total annual budget of £7billion.
In July 1997, detailed proposals for creating devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales were set out in the White Paper, A Voice for Wales. It proposed an Assembly of 60 members, which would assume executive responsibility for most of the former functions of the Secretary of State for Wales. This was approved by a referendum of Welsh voters on 18 September 1997 and the Government of Wales Bill introduced to Parliament on 26 November 1997.
The first National Assembly for Wales, established under the Government of Wales Act 1998, was elected on 6 May 1999. The executive responsibilities were delegated to a First Secretary (First Minister) and eight ministers, who came to be known collectively as the Welsh Assembly Government.
With the establishment of the National Assembly for Wales on 1 July 1999, the Welsh Office became the Wales Office.
The National Assembly for Wales
In July 2002, the Assembly First Minister appointed a Commission under the Chairmanship of Lord Richard to review powers of the Assembly and the adequacy of its electoral arrangements. The Richard Commission reported in the Spring of 2004 and, following a wide-ranging debate, in June 2005 the Government published its White Paper, Better Governance for Wales, setting out proposals to take forward Welsh devolution. The key changes proposed were:
- Legal separation between the National Assembly and the Welsh Assembly Government;
- Enhanced legislative powers;
- A ban on candidates standing both in the constituency and regional elections to the Assembly.
A Government of Wales Bill giving effect to those changes was introduced into Parliament in 8 December 2005 and received Royal Assent on 25 July 2006. Full details of the provisions of the Act can be found here.
The new structure with a legally separate Welsh Assembly Government came into effect following the election for the third National Assembly for Wales in May 2007.