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Scotland Act 1998

Reservation

Paragraph 8(1) states that the Civil Service of the State is a reserved matter.  The Civil Service includes the Home Civil Service and the Diplomatic Service.  The effect is that the Scottish Parliament is not able to legislate about matters relating to Civil Servants in Scotland, including their recruitment, selection, management, conduct, discipline, numbers, grading and terms and conditions of service.  Matters relating to Civil Service pensions are reserved by Section F3 in Part II of the Schedule.

The Home Civil Service is ultimately regulated by the Royal Prerogative, and its management has been delegated to the Minister for the Civil Service.  The Civil Service Management Code is issued under the authority of the Civil Service Order in Council 1995.  Under the Civil Service (Management Functions) Act 1992, the Minister for the Civil Service has further delegated management functions to Ministers and office holders in charge of Departments.  These include the authority to prescribe qualifications for appointment as Civil Servants, to determine the number and grading of posts (outside the Senior Civil Service) in such Departments and a wide range of other management functions. Those functions, which were delegated to the Secretary of State for Scotland in respect of Civil Servants who become staff of the Scottish Executive, have been delegated to the Scottish Ministers.  This is provided for in section 51(4) and (6).

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