POLICY‐MAKING AND THE SCOTTISH OFFICE: THE DESIGNATION OF CUMBERNAULD NEW TOWN
| Published date | 01 December 1987 |
| Author | CHRISTOPHER CARTER,MICHAEL KEATING |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1987.tb00671.x |
| Date | 01 December 1987 |
POLICY-MAKING AND THE SCOTTISH
OFFICE:
THE
DESIGNATION
OF
CUMBERNAULD
NEW
TOWN
MICHAEL
KEATING
AND
CHRISTOPHER CARTER
The role
of
the Scottish Office in policy-making has been subject to a number
of
interpretations. It
is
difficult to regard it as having its own reserved policy spheres but
it
is clear that in certain circumstances it has the ability to forge its own policy lines. In
the
195Os,
in contradiction
to
the stated policy
of
the then Conservative Government.
the Scottish Office was able to secure the designation
of
a new town at Curnbernauld.
The main impetus for this policy came
from
the civil servants in the Departrncnt
of
Health
for
Scotland, seeking
to
preserve the philosophy
of
the
1946
Clyde Valley Plan. The case
study throws considerable light on the bargaining process within government, the role
of
the secretary
of
state as spokesman for Scottish interests and the way in which the
Scottish Office can gain Cabinet approval
for
its
proposals,
APPROACHES
TO
THE
STUDY
OF
SCOTTISH
GOVERNMENT
Scotland’s position within the British system of government has been subject to
a variety of interpretations over recent years.
It
appears to be a constitutional
anomaly, as a country with its own legal system, its own legislation but sharing
a legislature with the rest of the United Kingdom. Certainly,
it
is
an
administrative
conundrum, possessing its
own
administrative apparatus in the Scottish Office but
as an integral part of UK central government. Kellas (1973,1985) talks of a Scottish
political system, maintaining that the institutions of Scottish government allow
a
range
of
issues
to
be determined within Scotland by Scottish actors. Mackintosh
(1973) has taken issue with this, on the grounds that Scottish ministers can only
go
ahead with policies with the consent of English ministers and that the Scottish
committees in Parliament lack substance, given the subordination of Parliament
as a whole to the executive. Kellas, of course, does not claim that Scotland is a
completely independent polity. Rather, his ’Scottish political system’ operates as
a subsystem
of
the wider UK political system, with Scottish actors operating at
both levels. This theme is pursued in a rather different
form
by Keating
(1975,
1978), who shows Scottish politicians choosing roles and career routes at either
the Scottish or the
UK
’levels’, operating in one or other ’arena’. The use of the
Michael Keating
is
Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University
of
Strathclyde. Christopher Carter
is
vice-principal
of
the Duncan
of
Jordanstone College
of
Art,
Dundee.
Public Administration
Vol.
65
Winter
1987 (391-405)
@
Royal
Institute
of
Public Administration
ISSN
0033-3298 $3.00
To continue reading
Request your trial