Volume 9: Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
Part 3: Northern Ireland
13. Statutory framework and responsibilities
The Northern Ireland Office

13.7 In contrast to the arrangements in Wales and Scotland, the Departments in the Northern Ireland government were not part of the Northern Ireland Office and were staffed by a separate civil service. Although the Secretary of State was answerable in Parliament for these Departments, constitutionally he was head of the Northern Ireland Office, which was a Home Civil Service Department and, as such, separate from the Northern Ireland Departments.