The Minister for Local Government Empowerment and Planning was a

junior minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry (government department), ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is desi ...

ial post 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 ...

. As a result, the Minister did not attend the

Scottish Cabinet The Scottish Cabinet is the main decision-making body of the Scottish Government, the devolved government of Scotland. It is headed by the first minister, and made up of the deputy first minister, cabinet secretaries of the Scottish Government ...

. The minister supported the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, who has overall responsible for the portfolio. The last Minister for Local Government Empowerment and Planning was

Joe FitzPatrick Joseph Martin FitzPatrick (born 1 April 1967) is a Scottish politician who most recently served as Minister for Local Government Empowerment and Planning from March 2023 to May 2024. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), he has been ...

MSP, who was appointed on 29 March 2023 and resigned on 8 May 2024 before the role was undertaken by the Public Finance Minister.

Overview

The Minister had responsibility for: *

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

* planning and National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) * town centre regeneration including business improvement districts * regeneration policy and the place-based investment programme * retail policy, recovery and strategy

History

In 2011, the position of Minister for Local Government and Planning was created; the portfolio changed in November 2014 following a reshuffle by

Nicola Sturgeon Nicola Ferguson Sturgeon (born 19 July 1970) is a Scottish politician who served as First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) from 2014 to 2023. She has served as a member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) sin ...

when she became

First Minister of Scotland The first minister of Scotland () is the head of government of Scotland. The first minister leads the Scottish Government, the Executive (government), executive branch of the devolved government and is th ...

. The post was rebranded at that point to Minister for Local Government and Community Empowerment. In September 2012, the junior post of Minister for Housing and Welfare was announced, with a portfolio intended to reflect the important role of housing in aiding economic recovery and the challenges that face those in poverty. In May 2016, Nicola Sturgeon reshuffled junior ministers and the post joined local government and housing in a new Minister for Local Government and Housing role. Planning was added to the title in June 2018. The title was changed in May 2021 to Minister for Social Security and Local Government at the start of the

third Sturgeon government Nicola Sturgeon formed the third Sturgeon government following her Scottish National Party's victory in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. Sturgeon was nominated by a vote of the 6th Scottish Parliament for appointment to the post of First ...

, with the post also taking responsibility for social security, which between 2018 and 2021 was the responsibility of a separate cabinet-level post, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People. In March 2023, the post became Minister for Local Government Empowering and Planning under the Yousaf government. In May 2024, the responsibilities were absorbed under the Minister for Community Wealth and Public Finance's portfolio under the leadership of

John Swinney John Ramsay Swinney (born 13 April 1964) is a Scottish politician who has served as First Minister of Scotland, first minister of Scotland since 2024. Swinney has served as Leader of the Scottish National Party, leader of the Scottish National ...

List of office holders

References

External links

The Scottish Cabinet
on Scottish Government website
Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning
on Scottish Government website Scottish Parliament Local government in Scotland Town and country planning in Scotland Community empowerment {{planning-stub