The Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) was a

United Kingdom government department The Government of the United Kingdom is divided up into departments. These, according to the government, are responsible for putting government policy into practice. There are currently 23 ministerial departments, 20 non-ministerial department ...

. Its creation was announced on 12 June 2003; it took over the functions of the

Lord Chancellor's Department The Lord Chancellor's Department was a United Kingdom government department answerable to the Lord Chancellor with jurisdiction over England and Wales. Created in 1885 as the Lord Chancellor's Office with a small staff to assist the Lord Chancel ...

. On 28 March 2007 it was announced that the Department for Constitutional Affairs would take control of probation, prisons and prevention of re-offending from the Home Office and be renamed the

Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Justi ...

. This took place on 9 May 2007. Westminster City Hall, Victoria Street SW1 - geograph

It was primarily responsible for reforms to the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...

, relations with the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

and

Isle of Man ) , anthem = " O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europ ...

and, within

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is En ...

, it was concerned with the administration of the

Courts A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accorda ...

legal aid Legal aid is the provision of assistance to people who are unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system. Legal aid is regarded as central in providing access to justice by ensuring equality before the law, the right to c ...

, and the appointment of the

judiciary The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

. Other responsibilities included issues relating to

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

data protection Information privacy is the relationship between the collection and dissemination of data, technology, the public expectation of privacy, contextual information norms, and the legal and political issues surrounding them. It is also known as data p ...

, and

freedom of information Freedom of information is freedom of a person or people to publish and consume information. Access to information is the ability for an individual to seek, receive and impart information effectively. This sometimes includes "scientific, indigen ...

. It incorporated the

Wales Office , agency_type = Ministerial department , type = Department , logo = Wales Office logo.png , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = Gwydyr House, Whitehall (geograph 5590 ...

and the

Scotland Office The Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland ( gd, Oifis Rùnaire Stàite na h-Alba), often referred to as, and formerly officially called, the Scotland Office, is a department of His Majesty's Government headed by the Secretary of State ...

, but those offices remained the overall responsibility of the

Secretary of State for Wales The secretary of state for Wales ( cy, ysgrifennydd gwladol Cymru), also referred to as the Welsh secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Wales Office. The incumbent is a member ...

and

Secretary of State for Scotland The secretary of state for Scotland ( gd, Rùnaire Stàite na h-Alba; sco, Secretar o State fir Scotland), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the Unit ...

respectively. After the 2005 general election, it gained additional responsibilities for

coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within the coroner's jur ...

s and conduct of local government elections in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

Departmental executive agencies and public bodies

His Majesty's Courts Service Her Majesty's Courts Service (HMCS) was an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and was responsible for the administration of the civil, family and criminal courts in England and Wales. It was created by the amalgamation of the Magi ...

(for

) * Public Guardianship Office (for

) * Tribunals Service *

Official Solicitor and Public Trustee The Office of the Official Solicitor is a part of the Ministry of Justice of the Government of the United Kingdom. The Official Solicitor acts for people who, because they lack mental capacity and cannot properly manage their own affairs, are unable ...

Legal Services Commission The Legal Services Commission (LSC) was an executive non-departmental public body of the Ministry of Justice which was responsible for the operational administration of legal aid in England and Wales between 2000 and 2013. Overview The LSC was re ...

HM Land Registry His Majesty's Land Registry is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's Government, created in 1862 to register the ownership of land and property in England and Wales. It reports to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strate ...

Legislation enacted by the department

This is a list of

Acts of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of parliament be ...

enacted since 1997 that gave powers to the Department of Constitutional Affairs.

Constitutional acts

* Compensation Act 2006 * Criminal Defence Service Act 2006 *

Inquiries Act 2005 The Inquiries Act 2005 (c 12) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. According to the explanatory notes, published by the Department for Constitutional Affairs, the Act "is intended to provide a comprehensive statutory framework for ...

Constitutional Reform Act 2005 The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (c 4) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, relevant to UK constitutional law. It provides for a Supreme Court of the United Kingdom to take over the previous appellate jurisdiction of the Law L ...

Mental Capacity Act 2005 The Mental Capacity Act 2005 (c 9) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom applying to England and Wales. Its primary purpose is to provide a legal framework for acting and making decisions on behalf of adults who lack the capacity ...

Gender Recognition Act 2004 The Gender Recognition Act 2004 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that allows people who have gender dysphoria to change their legal gender. It came into effect on 4 April 2005. Operation of the law The Gender Recognition A ...

Courts Act 2003 The Courts Act 2003 (c.39) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom implementing many of the recommendations in Sir Robin Auld's (a Court of Appeal judgeReview of the Criminal Courtsin England and Wales (also known as the "Auld Review" ...

Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 The Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 (c.15) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It introduced commonhold, a new way of owning land similar to the Australian strata title or the American condominium, into English and Welsh ...

Land Registration Act 2002 The Land Registration Act 2002c 9 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which repealed and replaced previous legislation governing land registration, in particular the Land Registration Act 1925, which governed an earlier, though si ...

Freedom of Information Act 2000 The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (c. 36) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that creates a public "right of access" to information held by public authorities. It is the implementation of freedom of information legislation in ...

* Access to Justice Act 1999 *

Data Protection Act 1998 The Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA, c. 29) was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom designed to protect personal data stored on computers or in an organised paper filing system. It enacted provisions from the European Union (EU) Data Prote ...

Human Rights Act 1998 The Human Rights Act 1998 (c. 42) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which received royal assent on 9 November 1998, and came into force on 2 October 2000. Its aim was to incorporate into UK law the rights contained in the European Con ...

Election acts

Electoral Administration Act 2006 The Electoral Administration Act 2006 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, passed on 11 July 2006. Among its main provisions, the Act: * Provides a legislative framework for setting up a "Coordinated Online Record of Electors", kn ...

* European Parliamentary and Local Elections (Pilots) Act 2004 *

European Parliament (Representation) Act 2003 The European Parliament (Representation) Act 2003 (c.7) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The long title is "''An Act to make provision enabling alterations to be made to the total number of Members of the European Parliament ...

* European Parliamentary Elections Act 2002 *

Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (c. 41) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom that sets out how political parties, elections and referendums are to be regulated in the United Kingdom. It formed an important ...

Representation of the People Act 2000 The Representation of the People Act 2000 (c.2) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that changed the British electoral process in four minor amendments to the Representation of the People Act 1983: * It removed most restrictions on ...

References

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External links