Guidance

Devolution: Guidance for civil servants

A guide for UK Government civil servants explaining devolution and how to take account of devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland when working on policies and managing services.

• From: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Cabinet Office, Civil Service and Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
• Published: 29 July 2015
• Last updated: 28 November 2025
  Show all updates

  1. 28 November 2025

     Updated the guidance

  2. 21 June 2023

     Updated the Home Office contact details in section 4: Devolution coordinator contact details

  3. 24 September 2019

     Some contact details updated.

  4. 12 July 2019

     Updated devolution contact details for Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Department of Health and Social Care and Department for International Trade.

  5. 9 May 2019

     Added 'Competition and Markets Authority' contact to the devolution coordinator contact details section.

  6. 24 April 2019

     Added Food Standards Agency to 'Devolution coordinator contact details' section.

  7. 14 March 2019

     Updated section 2 of attachment.

  8. 8 March 2019

     Updated contact details for Ministry of Defence devolution contact.

  9. 4 March 2019

     Updated devolution coordinator contact details.

  10. 4 February 2019

      Updated attachment.

  11. 17 April 2018

      Contact updated

  12. 11 April 2018

      Updated the guidance

  13. 9 March 2017

      Updated contact details

  14. 29 July 2015

      First published.

Documents

Devolution: Guidance for civil servants

HTML

Devolution factsheet

PDF, 232 KB, 2 pages

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Details

This guidance provides a very brief overview of: devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; why it is important for civil servants to understand how devolution operates in the UK; and best practice for intergovernmental working.