The Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Veterans, commonly referred to as the Justice Secretary, is a position in the Scottish Government

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

. The Cabinet Secretary has overall responsibility for law and order in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. The Cabinet Secretary is assisted by the Minister for Community Safety. The current Cabinet Secretary for Justice is Keith Brown, who was appointed in May 2021.

History

The position was created in 1999 as the Minister for Justice, with the advent of devolution and the institution of the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyr ...

, taking over some of the roles and functions of the former

Scottish Office The Scottish Office was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom from 1885 until 1999, exercising a wide range of government functions in relation to Scotland under the control of the Secretary of State for Scotland. Following the es ...

Minister of State for Home Affairs that existed prior to 1999. As with the UK

Secretary of State for Justice The secretary of state for justice, also referred to as the justice secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Ministry of Justice. The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the Un ...

, but unlike some other

justice minister A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

s, the Cabinet Secretary does not have any oversight of prosecutions - in Scotland these are handled by the

Lord Advocate His Majesty's Advocate, known as the Lord Advocate ( gd, Morair Tagraidh, sco, Laird Advocat), is the chief legal officer of the Scottish Government and the Crown in Scotland for both civil and criminal matters that fall within the devolved p ...

Overview

Responsibilities

The responsibilities of the Cabinet Secretary for Justice include: *Policing *Fire and rescue services *Courts & sentencing *The justice system and criminal law procedure *Violence reduction *Prison reform and prisoner policy *Reducing reoffending *Security *Youth justice *Access to justice *Civil law *Victim/witness support *Criminal injuries compensation *Legal aid fund *

Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service , type = , seal = , logo = 250px , logo_caption = , formed = , jurisdiction = Scotland , headquarters = Saughton House, Broomhouse Drive, Edinburgh EH11 3XD , employees = 1,374 , budget = £129.3 million (2015-2016) , chief1_name = Lord ...

*Bairn's Hoose *Justice reform *National Community Justice Strategy *Veterans

Public bodies

The following public bodies report to the Cabinet Secretary for Justice: *

Disclosure Scotland Disclosure Scotland is an executive agency of the Scottish Government, providing criminal records disclosure services for employers and voluntary sector organisations. Disclosure Scotland currently offers a range of products, starting with Ba ...

* Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland *

Judicial Complaints Reviewer The Judicial Complaints Reviewer is a Scottish official who is responsible for reviewing the handling of complaints against the judiciary of Scotland by the Judicial Office for Scotland. The post was established in 2011 as a result of the Judiciar ...

* Parole Board for Scotland * Police Investigations and Review Commissioner * Risk Management Authority *

Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government, established by the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 (as amended by the Crime and Punishment (Scotland) Act 1 ...

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS; gd, Seirbheis Smàlaidh agus Teasairginn na h-Alba) is the national fire and rescue service of Scotland. It was formed by the merger of eight regional fire services in the country on 1 April 2013. ...

Scottish Law Commission The Scottish Law Commission is an advisory non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. It was established in 1965 to keep Scots law under review and recommend necessary reforms to improve, simplify and update the country's legal sy ...

Scottish Legal Aid Board The Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government, responsible for managing legal aid. It was established in April 1987, under the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986, taking over function ...

Scottish Legal Complaints Commission The Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) ( gd, Coimisean Ghearanan Laghail na h-Alba) is a non-departmental public body responsible dealing with unresolved complaints against legal practitioners operating in Scotland. It was established un ...

Scottish Police Authority The Scottish Police Authority (SPA), ( gd, Ùghdarras Poilis na h-Alba), is a public body of the Scottish Government which holds Police Scotland, the national police service, to account. Both bodies were established on 1 April 2013 following a ...

Scottish Prison Service The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) is an executive agency of the Scottish Government tasked with managing prisons and Young Offender Institutions. The Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, currently Teresa Medhurst, is responsible f ...

Salary

The Cabinet Secretary for Justice is paid a total salary of , which is made up of for being a MSP, and an additional allowance of for the responsibility of being a Cabinet Secretary.

List of office holders

References

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Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

Scots law formal titles