Non Departmental Public Body (NDPB) | A national or regional public body, carrying out its day-to-day functions independently of Ministers, but for which Ministers are ultimately accountable. |
Public Body | Please see the above definition. |
Agencies | Are established by Ministers as part of Scottish Government directorates, or as departments in their own right, to carry out a discrete area of work. Agencies are staffed by civil servants. |
Non-Ministerial Departments | Are departments of a government that are not headed by a Minister and answer directly to legislature. |
Task Force | An advisory body established by Ministers to investigate and report on particular issues. Task Forces have a short lifespan, a maximum of two years, and should be abolished once they have reported. |
| Civil Service | The civil service (government employees) in Scotland remains part of the Home Civil Service. However, civil servants working for the Scottish Government owe their loyalty to the devolved administration rather than the UK government. |
| The Scottish Ministers | The Scottish Ministers currently have specific responsibilities eg Justice, Health, Education and it is their job to introduce legislation and policy in their given area. |
Administration Costs | Expenditure (and related income) that as a general rule is concerned with items such as staff costs and related overheads. |
Grant in Aid | Regular payments made by directorates to sponsored bodies (usually public bodies) to finance expenditure on agreed items or functions. |
Grant | Payment made by directorates to outside bodies or individuals to fund expenditure on specific items or functions for specific purposes. Any unspent balance of the sums issued during the financial year will be liable for surrender to the Scottish Government. |
External Auditor | An auditor whose main function is to give an opinion on financial statements over a specified period. The Auditor General for Scotland is the external auditor for the Scottish Government. |
Internal Audit | An independent appraisal function within a directorates etc. which operates as a service to management by measuring and evaluating the effectiveness of the internal control system. |
Terms of Reference | The function of an organisation - (what the body was set up to do). |
Board Member | A member of a governing board of a body. |