The Scotland Office was established on 1 July 1999. The cost to the Department of press office staff is as follows:
£ 1999-20001 44,078 2000-01 139,705 2001-02 134,702 2002-03 135,919 2203-04 114,643 2004-05 105,266 2005-06 93,114 2006-07 270,283 2007-08 113,236 2008-09 124,373 1 Part year. 2 Running under complement.
The press office provides support to Scotland Office Ministers and officials, as well as the Office of the Advocate General. It has also been involved in providing logistical support to the Commission on Scottish Devolution and the Boundary Commission for Scotland. It operates a 24-hour on-call service for Ministers and has the responsibility for maintaining the Scotland Office website and media planning across the office.