The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, commonly referred to as the Health Secretary, is a cabinet position in the Scottish Government. 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 Cabinet Secretary is assisted by the Minister for Public Health, Women's Health and Sport, Maree Todd and

Minister for Mental Wellbeing and Social Care The Minister for Mental Wellbeing and Social Care is a member of the Scottish Government. The Minister reports to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport, who has overall responsibility for the portfolio, and is a member of cabinet. As a J ...

, Kevin Stewart. The current Cabinet Secretary is

Humza Yousaf Humza Haroon Yousaf (born 7 April 1985) is a Scottish politician serving as Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care since 2021. He is the first non-white and first Muslim cabinet minister in the Scottish Government. A member of the Scott ...

, who was appointed in May 2021.

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 ( 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 Holyr ...

, 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 The Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment and Cities was a position in the Scottish Government Cabinet. The Cabinet Secretary had responsibilities for infrastructure, procurement, transport, European Structural Funds, Scottish Water ...

. Responsibilities for the cities strategy and the delivery of the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

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.

Overview

Responsibilities

The responsibilities of the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care include: *

and its performance, staff and pay *health care and social integration *patient services and patient safety *primary care *allied Healthcare services *carers, adult care and support *child and maternal health *medical records, health improvement and protection

Public bodies

The following public bodies report to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care: *

* Care Inspectorate *

Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland The Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland is a non-departmental public body, responsible for safeguarding the rights and welfare of people in Scotland with a learning disability, mental illness or other mental disorder. The Commission was origi ...

Scottish Social Services Council The Scottish Social Services Council is responsible for raising standards in the country's social service workforce. The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) was established in October 2001 by thRegulation of Care (Scotland) Actand is resp ...

* Sportscotland

List of office holders

References

External links

Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport
on Scottish Government website Cabinet Secretary posts of the Scottish Government {{Scotland-gov-stub