John Reid takes on a much smaller role than his predecessor Donald Dewar, although the Scottish secretary remains a member of the UK cabinet.

The Scottish secretary has a liaison role between Westminster and Holyrood.

He negotiates with the chancellor of the exchequer on the amount of money Scotland will receive from the UK government, it is for the Scottish Parliament to decide how the cake is divided up.

Before Scottish devolution the Scottish secretary used to have responsibility for virtually all areas of public life in Scotland such as health, education, transport, local government.

These have all now been transferred to Edinburgh.

Minister of State: Brian Wilson

He is deputy to the Scottish secretary and helps Dr Reid administer his duties.

Baroness Ramsay of Cartvale speaks for the government on Scottish matters in the House of Lords, but she is not part of the Scotland Office.

The department

Devolution brought a change not only to Scotland but also to Westminster.

The Scottish Parliament now makes most of Scotland's legislation

The Scotland Office, formerly known as the Scottish Office, is now very much the junior partner to the Scottish Executive following devolution.

It's part of the Whitehall government and Civil Service.

The Scotland Office is now responsible for co-ordinating links between the UK government and the administration in Scotland.

The Scotland Office is now responsible for dealing so called 'reserved' matters, which are the preserve of Westminster.

These include macro economic affairs, foreign affairs, and defence.

These all have separate cabinet ministers, but where they would affect Scotland the relevant minister would hold talks with the Scottish secretary.