Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government
![]() Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government | |
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Social Security Scotland | |
Style | Cabinet Secretary (within parliament) Social Justice Secretary (informal) Scottish Social Justice Secretary (outwith Scotland) |
Member of |
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Reports to | Scottish Parliament |
Seat | Edinburgh |
Appointer | First Minister |
Inaugural holder | Shona Robison Cabinet Secretary for Commonwealth Games, Sport, Equalities and Pensioners' Rights |
Formation | April 2014 |
Deputy | Christina McKelvie (Minister for Equalities and Older People) Ben Macpherson (Minister for Social Security and Local Government) |
Salary | £112,919 annually (including £64,470 MSP salary) |
Website | www |
The Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government, commonly referred to as the Social Justice Secretary, is a position in the Scottish Government Cabinet. The Cabinet Secretary has overall responsibility for local government, community planning, housing, social security, the third sector.
The Cabinet Secretary is assisted by two junior Ministers, the Minister for Equalities and Older People and the Minister for Social Security and Local Government.[1]
The current Cabinet Secretary is Shona Robison, who was appointed in May 2021.
History[]
From 2007 to 2009 the Minister for Communities and Sport was a junior ministerial post in the Scottish Government. In 2009, sport was linked with public health and the role became the Minister for Housing and Communities.
Following the 2011 election, the role was reorganised as Minister for Housing and Welfare[2] but as a junior ministerial position, the Minister did not attend the Scottish Cabinet.[3]
A cabinet post was created in April 2014 as a result of Alex Salmond's gender-balancing cabinet reshuffle. The post was Cabinet Secretary for Commonwealth Games, Sport, Equalities and Pensioners' Rights with Shona Robison at the helm. This was short-lived, however, as the job was further restyled as Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Communities and Pensioners' Rights as a result of Nicola Sturgeon's first reshuffle after she became First Minister in November 2014, with Alex Neil being given the role.
This was further rebranded in May 2016 as Cabinet Secretary for Communities, Social Security and Equalities in the second Sturgeon government, and took on its current name at the start of the third Sturgeon government. Between 2018 and 2021 responsibility for social security was held by a separate cabinet-level post, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People.[4]
Overview[]
Responsibilities[]
The responsibilities of the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government include:
- welfare policy and social security
- social justice
- local government
- child poverty
- housing and housing strategy
- homelessness and rough sleeping
- building standards
- tackling inequalities
- violence against women and girls and domestic violence
- poverty action measures
- third sector and social economy
- mainstreaming equality
- human rights
- kinship carers
- minimum income guarantee
- equalities
- refugees and asylum
- Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator
Public bodies[]
The following public bodies report to the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government:
List of office holders[]
Cabinet Secretary for Commonwealth Games, Sport, Equalities and Pensioners' Rights[] | ||||||
Name | Portrait | Entered office | Left office | Party | First Minister | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Shona Robison | ![]() |
22 April 2014 | 21 November 2014 | Scottish National Party | Alex Salmond | |
Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Communities and Pensioners' Rights[] | ||||||
Alex Neil | ![]() |
21 November 2014 | 18 May 2016 | Scottish National Party | Nicola Sturgeon | |
Cabinet Secretary for Communities, Social Security and Equalities[] | ||||||
Angela Constance | 18 May 2016 | 26 June 2018 | Scottish National Party | Nicola Sturgeon | ||
Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Local Government[] | ||||||
Aileen Campbell | ![]() |
26 June 2018 | 20 May 2021 | Scottish National Party | Nicola Sturgeon | |
Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government[] | ||||||
Shona Robison | ![]() |
20 May 2021 | Incumbent | Scottish National Party | Nicola Sturgeon |
References[]
- ^ "New Scottish Cabinet". Scottish Government. 19 May 2021. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
- ^ "Scottish Parliament Fact sheet Ministers, Law Officers and Parliamentary Liaison Officers by Cabinet: Session 4" (PDF). Scottish Parliament. 21 August 2014. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
- ^ Scotland Act (1998), Only those appointed under Section 47 of the Scotland Act "attend" Cabinet. Junior ministers are appointed under Section 49 and may be "present".
- ^ "New Cabinet appointed". Scottish Government. 26 June 2018. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
External links[]
- Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Local Government on the Scottish Government website
- Scottish Parliament
- Cabinet Secretary posts of the Scottish Government