The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Text was copied from this source, which is available under a
Open Government Licence v3.0
© Crown copyright.() commonly referred to as the Health Secretary (), is a cabinet position in the

Scottish Government The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in ...

. The Cabinet Secretary is responsible for the

Health and Social Care Directorates The Health and Social Care Directorates are a group of directorates of the Scottish Government. They are responsible for NHS Scotland, as well as policies on the development and implementation of health and social care. The Chief Executive of NH ...

and

NHS Scotland NHS Scotland, sometimes styled NHSScotland, is the publicly–funded healthcare system in Scotland and one of the four systems that make up the National Health Service in the United Kingdom. It operates 14 territorial NHS boards across Scotland ...

. The current Cabinet Secretary is Neil Gray who has served since 8 February 2024. The Cabinet Secretary is assisted by:

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 The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...

, taking over some of the roles and functions of the former

Scottish Office The Scottish Office was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom from 1885 until 1999, exercising a wide range of government functions in relation to Scotland under the control of the Secretary of State for Scotland. Following the es ...

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 The 2014 Commonwealth Games (), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014 (; ), were an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwea ...

in Glasgow were later transferred to other members of the cabinet. 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 Humza Haroon Yousaf (; born 7 April 1985) is a Scottish politician who served as First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) from March 2023 to May 2024. He served under his predecessor Nicola Sturgeon as Scottish ...

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 John Swinney formed the Swinney government on 8 May 2024, following his appointment as First Minister of Scotland at the Court of Session. The government was approved by parliamentary vote thanks to the abstention of Green Party of Scotland, Scotti ...

, 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: *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: *

* Care Inspectorate *

Healthcare Improvement Scotland Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) () is the national healthcare improvement organisation for Scotland. It is a public body which is part of the Scottish National Health Service, created in April 2011. History NHS Quality Improvement Scotla ...

* Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland *

Scottish Social Services Council Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) is a non-departmental public body responsible for raising standards in the country's social work, social care, children and young people's workforce, registering people who work in social work, social car ...

* Sportscotland Directorates *Chief Medical Officer Directorate *Chief Nursing Officer Directorate *Chief Operating Officer, NHS Scotland Directorate *Digital Health and Care Directorate *Health Workforce Directorate *Health and Social Care Finance, Digital and Governance Directorate *Healthcare Quality and Improvement Directorate *Mental Health Directorate *Population Health Directorate *Primary Care Directorate *Social Care and National Care Service Development

List of office holders

References

External links

Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport
on Scottish Government website {{Scottish Cabinet Cabinet secretary posts of the Scottish Government