The Scottish Administration (Offices) Order 2026 is a narrow but necessary constitutional instrument within Scotland's justice reform programme. Made at Buckingham Palace on 14 October 2026, laid before both the UK Parliament and the Scottish Parliament on 16 October, it comes into force on 5 December 2026. The Order is made by His Majesty in Council under section 126(8)(b) of the Scotland Act 1998. That provision allows particular offices to be specified as offices in the Scottish Administration even where they are not ministerial posts.
The instrument does one specific thing. It designates the Clerk of the Sexual Offences Court and any Deputy Clerk of the Sexual Offences Court as offices in the Scottish Administration for the purposes of the 1998 Act. The drafting is technical, but the effect is straightforward. These court posts are formally placed inside the devolved administrative structure rather than being left as stand-alone statutory offices.
The offices themselves come from the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Act 2025. According to sections 86 and 87 of that Act, the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service is responsible for appointing the Clerk and Deputy Clerks of the Sexual Offences Court. This Order does not create those appointment powers and it does not alter the court's substantive jurisdiction. Its function is to give the new posts the constitutional status needed for them to sit within the Scottish Administration.
That step matters because the Scotland Act distinguishes between ministerial offices and other offices within the Scottish Administration. By using the section 126 mechanism, the devolution framework can accommodate new operational posts created by later Scottish legislation. In practical terms, the Order completes an administrative link in the chain from policy reform to day-to-day court operation. Without that link, the 2025 Act would provide for clerking roles, but their formal placement within the devolution settlement would remain incomplete.
The explanatory note to the instrument says the new Clerk and Deputy Clerk posts are to be treated in the same way as existing court administration roles. These include clerks in the Justiciary Office of the High Court of Justiciary, Sheriff Clerks and Sheriff Clerk Depute, and the Clerk and Deputy Clerks of the Sheriff Appeal Court. That comparison is useful because it shows the policy choice behind the Order. The new Sexual Offences Court is being fitted into established Scottish court administration arrangements rather than being given a separate constitutional model.
The Order extends to England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, although its subject matter is the staffing structure of a Scottish court. As with many devolution instruments, the territorial extent is broader than the day-to-day operational effect. The explanatory note states that no full impact assessment has been produced because no, or no significant, effect on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen. This leaves the measure firmly in the category of technical governance, but it still performs a necessary implementation function ahead of the 5 December 2026 commencement date.