The Office of the Secretary of State for Wales (Welsh: Swyddfa Ysgrifennydd Gwladol Cymru), informally known as the Wales Office (Swyddfa Cymru), is a department of His Majesty's Government. It replaced the former Welsh Office, which had extensive responsibility for governing Wales prior to Welsh devolution in 1999.^[1]

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Office of the Secretary of State for Wales

Welsh: Swyddfa Ysgrifennydd Gwladol Cymru
Gwydyr House in Whitehall, London
Department overview
Formed	1 July 1999[1][2]
Preceding Department	Welsh Office
Type	Ministerial department
Jurisdiction	Wales
Headquarters	Wales Tŷ William Morgan, 6 Central Square, Cardiff CF10 1EP Westminster Gwydyr House, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2NP
Employees	52 (2016–2017)
Annual budget	~£4.7 million for 2016–2017
Secretary of State responsible	The Rt Hon. David TC Davies MP, Secretary of State for Wales
Parent department	Ministry of Justice[citation needed]
Website	gov.uk/government/organisations/office-of-the-secretary-of-state-for-wales

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In the past, the Office was called "Wales's voice in Westminster and Westminster's voice in Wales". However, it is significantly less powerful since the Government of Wales Act 2006: it is primarily responsible for carrying out the few functions remaining with the Secretary of State for Wales that have not been transferred already to the Senedd (Welsh Parliament); and for securing funds for Wales as part of the annual budgetary settlement.^[3]

The Secretary of State for Wales has overall responsibility for the office, but it is located administratively within the Ministry of Justice (until 2007, the Department for Constitutional Affairs).

The ministers in the Office of the Secretary of State for Wales are as follows, with cabinet members in bold:^[4][5]

Unlike Scotland and Northern Ireland, Wales does not have its own Law Officers of the Crown; it is part of the England and Wales legal jurisdiction. The Attorney General for England and Wales therefore advises the United Kingdom Government on its law.^[6] His deputy is the Solicitor General for England and Wales.

Following the 'yes' vote in the 2011 referendum on giving the Assembly direct law-making powers, some politicians in Wales, particularly from Plaid Cymru, have called for the abolition of the Wales Office.^[7] Lord Elis-Thomas, Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales said:

Now that the responsibility of Ministers for administration of policy and indeed for legislation is here, it makes more sense for us to be organised in a proper inter-governmental and inter-parliamentary way. That is, Assembly to Westminster, Government to Government.^[8]

However, Lord Elis-Thomas was accused of following a "separatist agenda" by the Conservative Cheryl Gillan, then Secretary of State for Wales. She was supported by her Labour predecessor Peter Hain, who declared that Wales "still needs a voice around the Cabinet in Westminster".^[7]