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 Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

. The Cabinet Secretary has overall responsibility for

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

, community planning,

housing Housing, or more generally, living spaces, refers to the construction and assigned usage of houses or buildings individually or collectively, for the purpose of shelter. Housing ensures that members of society have a place to live, whether i ...

social security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...

, the third sector. The Cabinet Secretary is assisted by two junior Ministers, the

Minister for Equalities and Older People The Minister for Equalities, Migration and Refugees ( gd, Ministear airson Co-ionannachdan, Imrich agus Fògarraich) is a Junior ministerial post in the Scottish Government. As a result, the Minister does not attend the Scottish Cabinet. ...

and the

Minister for Social Security and Local Government The Minister for Social Security and Local Government is a junior ministerial post in the Scottish Government. As a result, the Minister does not attend the Scottish Cabinet.Shona Robison Shona McRory Robison (born 26 May 1966) is a Scottish politician serving as the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government since 2021. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has been the Member of the Scottish ...

, who was appointed in May 2021.

History

From 2007 to 2009 the Minister for Communities and Sport 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. 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 but as a junior ministerial position, the Minister did not attend the Scottish Cabinet.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".'' A cabinet post was created in April 2014 as a result of

Alex Salmond Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond (; born 31 December 1954) is a Scottish politician and economist who served as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014. A prominent figure on the Scottish nationalist movement, he has served as leader ...

's gender-balancing cabinet reshuffle. The post was Cabinet Secretary for Commonwealth Games, Sport, Equalities and Pensioners' Rights with

Shona Robison Shona McRory Robison (born 26 May 1966) is a Scottish politician serving as the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government since 2021. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has been the Member of the Scottish ...

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 Nicola Sturgeon formed the second Sturgeon government following her Scottish National Party's victory in the 2016 Scottish Parliament election. Sturgeon was nominated by a vote of the 5th Scottish Parliament for appointment to the post of ...

, and took on its current name 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 Fi ...

. Between 2018 and 2021 responsibility for

was held by a separate cabinet-level post, the

Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People The Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People was a position in the Scottish Government Cabinet. The Cabinet Secretary had overall responsibility for social security, equality and human rights. The Cabinet Secretary was assisted by a ...

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: *

Boundaries Scotland Boundaries Scotland is an independent body in Scotland created as the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. According to its website, it is responsible for: carrying out reviews of boun ...

Scottish Housing Regulator The Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) is an independent Non-Ministerial Department, directly accountable to the Scottish Parliament. The body was established on 1 April 2011 under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2010. SHR is the successor to the prev ...

Social Security Scotland Social Security Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''Tèarainteachd Shòisealta Alba'') is an executive agency of the Scottish Government with responsibility for social security provision. History The devolved Scottish Parliament was established in 19 ...

List of office holders

References

External links

Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Local Government
on the Scottish Government website {{Scottish Cabinet Scottish Parliament

Communities and Local Government The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), formerly the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for housing, communities, local government i ...