The significance of social policy for the operation of devolution can be assessed by examining the nature and scope of devolved powers, the substance of programmes for government and the content of legislation, and also by considering to what extent the implementation and delivery capacity of the devolved administrations is configured around social policy. The key elements of the mechanisms for delivering social policy are described as the central bureaucracy in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast; the contribution of quangos and local government. The capacity to deliver social policies is also determined by availability of financial resources and expenditure allocations.

Social policy powers

The legislation that established devolution for Scotland and Northern Ireland adopted the same principle for the division of powers between the UK Parliament and the devolved bodies that had been used historically in setting up devolution for Northern Ireland in the 1920 and 1973 legislation. The powers that were retained by Westminster were listed in the legislation and every matter that was not listed became a devolved matter.

The list of matters reserved to Westminster in the 1998 Scotland Act included some social policy matters, specifically: social security, employment, equality legislation, regulation of professions, immigration, abortion and human fertilisation. Even with these exceptions the majority of devolved matters largely fell into the social policy category, including health, social care, education and training and housing (see Table 2.1). The remainder of devolved matters outside social policy mainly related to: the environment, agriculture, economic development, transport, sport and the arts.

Similarly the 1998 Northern Ireland Act defined as transferred (that is, devolved) all those matters not listed as retained to Westminster, which consisted of two categories. The first was reserved matters (which included some social policy-related matters, for example, criminal justice, human fertilisation and the National Minimum Wage), which might at some stage pass to the Northern Ireland Assembly (NIA) or could be legislated on with the Secretary of State's consent. The second was excepted matters (which included the Northern Ireland National Insurance Fund and immigration), which would remain permanently the responsibility of the UK Parliament and Government. All the main social services areas are formally devolved to Northern Ireland: health and social care, housing, education and training and also legally, if not in practice, social security (see also Chapter Six for discussion).