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 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 add ...

(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 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

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 s ...

. 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 ...

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

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 ...

. 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. ...

in Social Science at the University of Glasgow in 1989. The following year, she gained a Postgraduate Cert in Community Education at Jordanhill College. Robison was an active member of the Scottish National Party's youth wing, where she meet the likes of Nicola Sturgeon and Fiona Hyslop. 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 Holy ...

, she worked in Glasgow City Council'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 o ...

's John McAllion, 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, rem ...

, 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 The Minister for Public Health and Women's Health is a junior ministerial post in the Scottish Government. The minister is not a member of the Scottish Cabinet, however, they report to the Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Car ...

. In 2009, she added

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

onto her portfolio. In the 2011 election, Robison was re-elected into the newly drawn, Dundee City East constituency. She was appointed Minister for Commonwealth Games and Sport. 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 , mottoeng = "My soul doth magnify the Lord" , established = 1967 – gained independent university status by Royal Charter1897 – Constituent college of the University of St Andrews1881 – University College , ...

to complain that a Dundee professor had chaired an event for the Better Together campaign. Robison insisted that Christopher Whatley'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 leader Ruth Davidson 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 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 The Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care ( gd, Rùnaire a’ Chaibineit airson Slànachadh SNS, Slàinte agus Cùram Sòisealta), commonly referred to as the Health Secretary ( gd, Rùnaire na Slàinte), is a cabinet position ...

, 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 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. She served on the Parliament's Justice Committee and Social Security Committee. Amid the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic, she served as a member of the COVID-19 Committee. In February 2021,

Audit Scotland Audit Scotland is an independent public body responsible for auditing most of Scotland's public organisations. These include the Scottish Government, local councils and NHS Scotland. Auditing role It audits over 220 organisations, including ...

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 Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government.

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.

Footnotes

References

External links