Public Service Delivery: Devolved Governments

Lord Macintosh of Eastwood Excerpts

Tuesday 27th October 2026 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Macintosh of Eastwood]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to improve joint working between the UK Government and the devolved governments in the delivery of public services.

[The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office, and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (Baroness Twycross) (Lab)]

While the majority of public services are devolved in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the UK Government are committed to a collaborative relationship with the devolved Governments on how we deliver effective public services. As part of this, the Prime Minister will chair a meeting of the National Economic Council in Scotland for further talks on empowering the regions across the UK through deeper devolution.

[Lord Macintosh of Eastwood (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend for that positive reply. Does she agree that one of the biggest opportunities offered by devolution is for our respective Administrations to offer varied approaches to the common challenges that face us, and to learn from the successes, or sometimes the failures, of those respective approaches? To that end, what arrangements are the Government putting in place so that we can collaborate across Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and here in Whitehall to learn from successful innovation and good practice and improve the lives of the people we serve?

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

The vast majority of Scots, and indeed Welsh and Northern Irish people, want their devolved Governments and the UK Government to work together to increase living standards and improve public services. The Prime Minister set out his vision for deeper devolution in Scotland and has underlined the importance of engaging collaboratively with the Scottish Government to make that happen. We are looking forward to seeing the outcome of the meeting between the Prime Minister and the Heads of the devolved Governments at the National Economic Council this Friday.