Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care (Scotland)

Scotland Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
Scottish Gaelic: Rùnaire a’ Chaibineit airson Slàinte is Cùram Sòisealta
Incumbent Neil Gray since 8 February 2024
Health and Social Care Directorates NHS Scotland Scottish Government Scottish Cabinet
Style	Cabinet Secretary (within parliament) Health Secretary (informal) Scottish Health Secretary (outwith Scotland)
Member of	Scottish Parliament Scottish Cabinet
Reports to	Scottish Parliament First Minister
Seat	Edinburgh
Appointer	First Minister (following approval from Scottish Parliament)
Inaugural holder	Susan Deacon Minister for Health and Community Care
Formation	19 May 1999
Deputy	Minister for Public Health and Women's Health Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport Minister for Drugs and Alcohol Policy
Salary	£126,452 per annum (2024)[1] (including £72,196 MSP salary)
Website	www.gov.scot

The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care,[2](Scottish Gaelic: Rùnaire a’ Chaibineit airson Slàinte is Cùram Sòisealta) commonly referred to as the Health Secretary (Scottish Gaelic: Rùnaire na Slàinte), is a cabinet position in the Scottish Government. The Cabinet Secretary is responsible for the Health and Social Care Directorates and NHS Scotland.

The current Cabinet Secretary is Neil Gray who has served since 8 February 2024.[3]

The Cabinet Secretary is assisted by:

• Minister for Public Health and Women's Health – Jenni Minto
• Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport – Maree Todd
• Minister for Drugs and Alcohol Policy – Christina McKelvie.

History

The position was created in 1999 as the Minister for Health and Community Care, with the advent of devolution and the institution of the Scottish Parliament, taking over some of the roles and functions of the former Scottish Office that existed prior to 1999. After the 2007 election the Ministerial position was renamed to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing.

After the 2011 election the full Ministerial title was Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Cities Strategy with the portfolio being expanded to include Cities Strategy which was part of the SNP manifesto to have a dedicated "Minister for Cities"; at the same time the responsibility for housing was removed and transferred to the new Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure and Capital Investment. Responsibilities for the cities strategy and the delivery of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow were later transferred to other members of the cabinet.[4]

After the 2016 election, the name of the post was changed to simply Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport. In the 2021 cabinet reshuffle, the post was retitled to Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care.

First Minister Humza Yousaf retitled the role as Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care, appointing Michael Matheson in March 2023 then Neil Gray in February 2024. Upon the formation of the Swinney government, the post was reverted to its previous Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care title.

Overview

Responsibilities

The responsibilities of the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care include:[2]

• acute services
• allied healthcare services
• centre of excellence for rural and remote medicine and social care
• community care
• eHealth
• health and social care integration
• health improvement and protection
• NHS estate
• NHS performance
• patient services and patient safety
• person-centred care
• primary care and GPs
• quality and improvement
• unscheduled care
• workforce, training, planning, and pay

Public bodies and Directorates

The following public bodies and directorates report to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care:

• NHS Scotland
• Care Inspectorate
• Healthcare Improvement Scotland
• Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland
• Scottish Social Services Council
• Sportscotland

Directorates

• Chief Medical Officer Directorate[5]
• Chief Nursing Officer Directorate[6]
• Chief Operating Officer, NHS Scotland Directorate[7]
• Digital Health and Care Directorate[8]
• Health Workforce Directorate[9]
• Health and Social Care Finance, Digital and Governance Directorate[10]
• Healthcare Quality and Improvement Directorate[11]
• Mental Health Directorate[12]
• Population Health Directorate[13]
• Primary Care Directorate[14]
• Social Care and National Care Service Development[15]

List of office holders

Name		Portrait	Entered Office	Left Office	Party	First Minister
Minister for Health and Community Care
	Susan Deacon[16]: 2–4		19 May 1999	28 November 2001	Labour Party	Donald Dewar
	Malcolm Chisholm[16]: 5–7 [17]: 2–4		28 November 2001	6 October 2004	Labour Party	Henry McLeish Jack McConnell
	Andy Kerr[17]: 3–8		6 October 2004	17 May 2007	Labour Party	Jack McConnell
Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing
	Nicola Sturgeon		17 May 2007	19 May 2011	Scottish National Party	Alex Salmond
Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Cities Strategy
	Nicola Sturgeon		19 May 2011	5 September 2012	Scottish National Party	Alex Salmond
Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing
	Alex Neil		5 September 2012	21 November 2014	Scottish National Party	Alex Salmond
Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Sport
	Shona Robison		21 November 2014	18 May 2016	Scottish National Party	Nicola Sturgeon
Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport
	Shona Robison		18 May 2016	26 June 2018	Scottish National Party	Nicola Sturgeon
	Jeane Freeman		26 June 2018	19 May 2021	Scottish National Party	Nicola Sturgeon
Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
	Humza Yousaf[18]		20 May 2021	28 March 2023	Scottish National Party	Nicola Sturgeon
Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care
	Michael Matheson		29 March 2023	8 February 2024	Scottish National Party	Humza Yousaf
	Neil Gray[3]		8 February 2024	8 May 2024	Scottish National Party	Humza Yousaf
Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
	Neil Gray[3]		8 May 2024	Incumbent	Scottish National Party	John Swinney

References

1. "MSP salaries". parliament.scot. The Scottish Parliament. 13 May 2024.
2. "Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care". www.gov.scot. Retrieved 13 June 2024. Text was copied from this source, which is available under an Open Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright.
3. "Neil Gray replaces Michael Matheson as Scottish health secretary". BBC News. 8 February 2024. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
4. "Cabinet and Ministers: biography and responsibilities". Scottish Government. 26 June 2014. Archived from the original on 7 September 2008. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
5. "Chief Medical Officer Directorate". www.gov.scot. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
6. "Chief Nursing Officer Directorate". www.gov.scot. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
7. "Chief Operating Officer, NHS Scotland Directorate". www.gov.scot. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
8. "Digital Health and Care Directorate". www.gov.scot. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
9. "Health Workforce Directorate". www.gov.scot. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
10. "*Health and Social Care Finance, Digital and Governance Directorate". www.gov.scot. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
11. "Healthcare Quality and Improvement Directorate". www.gov.scot. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
12. "Mental Health Directorate". www.gov.scot. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
13. "Population Health Directorate". www.gov.scot. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
14. "Primary Care Directorate". www.gov.scot. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
15. "Social Care and National Care Service Development". www.gov.scot. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
16. Scottish Parliament Fact sheet FS2-06. Ministers, Law Officers and Ministerial Parliamentary Aides by Cabinet: Session 1 (PDF) (Report). Scottish Parliament. 30 March 2007. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
17. Scottish Parliament Fact sheet FS2-07. Ministers, Law Officers and Ministerial Parliamentary Aides by Cabinet: Session 2 (PDF) (Report). Scottish Parliament. 8 June 2008. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
18. "Scottish Cabinet reshuffle: Nicola Sturgeon unveils new team". The National. Scotland. 19 May 2021. Retrieved 19 May 2021.

External links

• Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport on Scottish Government website