Shona McRory Robison (born 26 May 1966) is a Scottish politician serving as the

Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government 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 governmen ...

since 2021. A member of the

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...

(SNP), she has been the

Member of the Scottish Parliament Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP; gd, Ball Pàrlamaid na h-Alba, BPA; sco, Memmer o the Scots Pairliament, MSP) is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament. Electoral system The ad ...

(MSP) for Dundee City East since

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

and was an additional member for the North East Scotland region from

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

. Born in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, Robison studied at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

and

Jordanhill College Jordanhill Campus is an historic estate within the boundaries of Jordanhill, Glasgow, Scotland, which developed as a country estate. It is best known and most recently used as the home to the Faculty of Education of the University of Strathcl ...

. She was an active member of the SNP's youth wing and worked in

Glasgow City Council Glasgow City Council is the local government authority for the City of Glasgow, Scotland. It was created in 1996 under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, largely with the boundaries of the post-1975 City of Glasgow district of the S ...

's Social Work Department, until her election to the Scottish Parliament. Having served on the Parliament's Health Committee, Robison was appointed Minister for Public Health. In 2011, she was appointed

Minister for Commonwealth Games and Sport , body = , insignia = , image = Official_portrait_of_social_justice_secretary_Shirley-Anne_Somerville.jpg , incumbent = Shirley-Anne Somerville , incumbentsince = 29 March 2023 , style = Cabinet Secretary (within parliament) Social Jus ...

, before the position was later promoted to the Scottish Cabinet. Sturgeon appointed Robison as Health Secretary, a position she held until 2018, when she resigned for personal reasons. After her resignation from government, she returned to the backbenches, where she served on the justice and health committees. In 2021, Robison returned to government as the Social Justice Secretary.

Early life

Shona McRory Robison was born on 26 May 1966 in

Redcar Redcar is a seaside town on the Yorkshire Coast in the Redcar and Cleveland unitary authority in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is located east of Middlesbrough. The Teesside built-up area's Redcar subdivision had a population of ...

, England. Robison attended

Alva Academy Alva Academy is a six-year comprehensive school serving the towns and villages of Alva, Menstrie, Tillicoultry, Coalsnaughton, Devonside, Dollar and Muckhart, all in Clackmannanshire, Scotland. The roll is over 900. The school is in the top ...

Clackmannanshire Clackmannanshire (; sco, Clackmannanshire; gd, Siorrachd Chlach Mhannainn) is a historic county, council area, registration county and Lieutenancy area in Scotland, bordering the council areas of Stirling, Fife, and Perth & Kinross and the hi ...

. She gained a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in Social Science at the University of Glasgow in 1989. The following year, she gained a Postgraduate Cert in Community Education at

. Robison was an active member of the Scottish National Party's youth wing, where she meet the likes of

Nicola Sturgeon Nicola Ferguson Sturgeon (born 19 July 1970) is a Scottish politician serving as First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) since 2014. She is the first woman to hold either position. She has been a member of ...

and

Fiona Hyslop Fiona Jane Hyslop (born 1 August 1964) is a Scottish politician who served as Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Fair Work and Culture from 2020 to 2021. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has been a Member of the Scottish Parliamen ...

. Before being elected to the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyro ...

, she worked in

's Social Work Department.

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Opposition

Robison contested in the first election to the

for the Dundee East constituency. Although she was unsuccessful, having came second to

Scottish Labour Scottish Labour ( gd, Pàrtaidh Làbarach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Labour Pairty; officially the Scottish Labour Party) is a social democratic political party in Scotland. It is an autonomous section of the UK Labour Party. From their peak of ...

John McAllion John McAllion (born 13 February 1948) is a campaigner for the Scottish Socialist Party, as well as a former Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP), Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP), and convenor of Tayside Regional Council. He is also co ...

, she was elected as an additional member for the North East Scotland region. In her first term, she was member of the Health and Community Care Committee and was the Deputy Convenor of the Equal Opportunities Committee. In the

2003 Scottish Parliament election The 2003 Scottish Parliament election was the second election of members to the Scottish Parliament. It was held on 1 May 2003 and it brought no change in terms of control of the Scottish Executive. Jack McConnell, the Labour Party MSP, rema ...

, Robison successfully defeated McAllion by just 100 votes in Dundee East. She served as the Shadow Minister for Health and Social Justice in the SNP's opposition benches. Robison was a member of the Health Committee.

Junior Minister

Summer Cabinet in Kirkcaldy - 6096488715

After the SNP's victory in the 2007 election, Robison was appointed as the Minister for Public Health. In 2009, she added

Sport Sport pertains to any form of Competition, competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and Skill, skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to specta ...

onto her portfolio. In the 2011 election, Robison was re-elected into the newly drawn, Dundee City East constituency. She was appointed

. In the run up to the

Scottish independence referendum A referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom was held in Scotland on 18 September 2014. The referendum question was, "Should Scotland be an independent country?", which voters answered with "Yes" or "No". The "No" side wo ...

in 2014, Robison wrote to the

University of Dundee The University of Dundee; . Abbreviated as ''Dund.'' for post-nominals. is a public university, public research university based in Dundee, Scotland. It was founded as a University college#United Kingdom, university college in 1881 with a donation ...

to complain that a Dundee professor had chaired an event for the Better Together campaign. Robison insisted that

Christopher Whatley Christopher Allan Whatley, OBE, FRHistS, FRSE, is a well-known and widely published Scottish historian. He has been Professor of Scottish History at the University of Dundee since 1997. He is a prominent opponent of Scottish independence and ...

's involvement in the Five Million Questions project about the implications of the referendum meant he should have taken a neutral stance on the constitutional issue. However,

Scottish Conservative The Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party ( gd, Pàrtaidh Tòraidheach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Tory an Unionist Pairty), often known simply as the Scottish Conservatives and colloquially as the Scottish Tories, is a centre-right political par ...

leader

Ruth Davidson Ruth Elizabeth Davidson, Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links (born 10 November 1978), is a Scottish politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party from 2011 to 2019 and Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party in the Scottish ...

said: “I'm not sure this kind of bullying and intimidation is the best advert for the SNP's vision of a future separate Scotland. In fact, it is chilling." In April 2014,

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 ...

promoted her to the full Cabinet position of Cabinet Secretary for Commonwealth Games, Sport, Equalities and Pensioners' Rights.

Health Secretary

Shona Robison speaks at QBR visit to Canadian Parliament (14070892691)

On 21 November 2014, Robison was appointed by Sturgeon as Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Sport, in Sturgeon's first government. Following the 2016 election, she was reappointed into Sturgeon's cabinet as Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport. In January 2018, during an appearance at Holyrood's Health and Sport Committee, she was warned by Labour MSP

Neil Findlay Neil Findlay (born 6 March 1969) is a Scottish politician who was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Lothian from 2011 to 2021. A member of Scottish Labour, he was previously a councillor in West Lothian from 2003 to 2012. Early l ...

of a "drugs disaster". In 2018, Scotland went on to record the highest number of drug deaths per head in the European Union, at a rate nearly three times higher than the UK average. On 26 June 2018, she announced her intention to resign from Cabinet. Shortly after a cabinet reshuffle was made by Sturgeon. BBC political correspondent Glenn Campbell wrote after the reshuffle: "The most widely anticipated departure was that of health secretary, Shona Robison. She's been under considerable pressure over NHS performance. She stood down on the day the Scottish government confirmed its worst cancer waiting times for six years."

Backbencher

Following her resignation from government, Robison returned to the

backbenches In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...

. She served on the Parliament's Justice Committee and Social Security Committee. Amid the outbreak of the

Coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, she served as a member of the COVID-19 Committee. In February 2021,

Audit Scotland Audit Scotland is an independent Scottish public bodies, public body responsible for auditing most of Scotland's public organisations. These include the Scottish Government, Local government of Scotland, local councils and NHS Scotland. Auditi ...

published a report that concluded the Scottish Government had not prepared adequately for a pandemic. The watchdog also noted that recommendations from pandemic planning exercises during Robison's time as Health Secretary had not been fully implemented. One particular failure it highlighted was that not enough had been done to ensure Scottish hospitals and care homes had enough personal protective equipment (PPE). Overall, it concluded that ministers "could have been better prepared to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic". Nicola Sturgeon said there were "lots of lessons to learn".

Return to Government

On 20 May 2021, Sturgeon announced her third government, with Robison returning as

Personal life

She was married to

Stewart Hosie Stewart Hosie PC (born 3 January 1963) is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Dundee East since 2005. He has served as the SNP Treasury Spokesperson since December 2022. He served as the SNP Sh ...

, who is the Westminster MP for Dundee East and was previously the SNP's Depute Leader. They have one daughter. It was announced on 15 May 2016 that the couple separated. This was followed by reports that Hosie had had an affair with Westminster-based freelance journalist

Serena Cowdy Serena Mary Cowdy (born 1980) is an English politician and writer. She lives in Scotland and represents the Scottish National Party, Scottish National Party (SNP) on Angus Council. Early life Serena Cowdy was born in Peterborough in 1980. Her f ...

Footnotes

References

External links