Executive agencies are established by ministers as part of

Scottish Government The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in ...

to carry out a discrete area of work. They form an integral part of the Scottish Government, but have a specific, well-defined remit. They are staffed by civil servants and headed by a Chief Executive, who is a civil servant, and are directly accountable to the government. Executive agencies differ from

public bodies A statutory corporation is a government entity created as a statutory body by statute. Their precise nature varies by jurisdiction, but they are corporations owned by a government or controlled by national or sub-national government to the (in ...

, which are not considered to be part of the Government, although they are listed in the Scottish Government's directory of national public bodies alongside the public bodies. Executive agencies may be considered similar to the government's core directorates, but are generally more focused on the management and direct delivery of public services as opposed to policy formation (although they may also provide strategic policy input). Executive agencies were first established following Sir Robin Ibbs' (then head of the Efficiency Unit) "Next Steps" Report in 1988. The intention was that they would take responsibility for, and bring a new, more customer-focused approach to, individual executive (service delivery) functions within government. This would leave their parent departments to concentrate on policy development, although this boundary can be very blurred.

Current Agencies

The following bodies are executive agencies: *

Accountant in Bankruptcy The Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB) is the Scottish government agency responsible for administering the process of personal bankruptcy and corporate insolvency, administering the Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS), and implementing, monitoring and re ...

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 wit ...

Education Scotland Education Scotland () is an Executive agencies of the Scottish Government, executive agency of the Scottish Government, tasked with improving the quality of the country's Scottish education system, education system. Education Scotland is respon ...

Forestry and Land Scotland Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) () is an executive agency responsible for managing and promoting Scotland's national forest estate: land, predominantly covered in forest, owned by the Scottish Government on behalf of the nation. It was formed o ...

* Scottish Forestry *

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 ...

* Scottish Public Pensions Agency * Social Security Scotland *

Student Awards Agency for Scotland Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) () is an executive agency of the Scottish Government. It supports eligible Scottish students by paying their tuition fees, as well as offering bursaries and supplementary grants. It also assesses students ...

Transport Scotland Transport Scotland () is the national transport agency of Scotland. It was established by the Transport (Scotland) Act 2005, and began operating on 1 January 2006 as an executive agency of the Scottish Government. Transport Scotland, an execut ...

Selected Former Agencies

* Communities Scotland (part reabsorbed into Scottish Government, the remainder reorganised into the Scottish Housing Regulator) * Fisheries Research Services (now part of Marine Scotland, within core Scottish Government) * Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland *

Registers of Scotland Registers of Scotland (RoS) () is the non-ministerial department of the Scottish Government responsible for compiling and maintaining records relating to property and other legal documents. They currently maintain 21 public registers. The offic ...

(now a non-ministerial office of the Scottish Government ) * Scottish Agricultural Science Agency (now part of core Scottish Government) * Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency (now part of Marine Scotland, within core Scottish Government) * Scottish Court Service (now an NDPB under

Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008 The Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008 is an Act of the Scottish Parliament passed in October 2008 to reform the courts of Scotland, to give statutory force to judicial independence, and to establish the Lord President of the Court of Sessio ...

) * Scottish Building Standards Agency (now part of core Scottish Government) *

Scottish Housing Regulator The Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) () is an independent Non-Ministerial Department, directly accountable to the Scottish Parliament. The body was established on 1 April 2011 under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2010. SHR is the successor to the p ...

(now a non-ministerial office of the Scottish Government ) * Social Work Inspection Agency (now part of the Care Inspectorate, a non-ministerial department of the Scottish Government) * Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education (now part of Education Scotland)

References

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

Executive agencies An executive agency is a part of a government department that is treated as managerially and budgetarily separate, to carry out some part of the executive functions of the United Kingdom government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government or Nort ...

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