Andy Kerr (born 17 March 1962) is a Scottish politician who served as Minister for Finance and Public Services from 2001 to 2004 and

Minister for Health and Community Care 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 and NHS Scotland. ...

from 2004 to 2007. A member of the

Scottish Labour Party 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 ...

, he was

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 the

East Kilbride East Kilbride (; gd, Cille Bhrìghde an Ear ) is the largest town in South Lanarkshire in Scotland and the country's sixth-largest locality by population. It was also designated Scotland's first new town on 6 May 1947. The area lies on a rais ...

constituency 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 ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Early years

Born in

, Kerr was educated at Claremont High School in

and obtained a BA in

Social Sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soci ...

Glasgow Caledonian University Glasgow Caledonian University ( gd, Oilthigh Chailleannach Ghlaschu, ), informally GCU, Caledonian or Caley, is a public university in Glasgow, Scotland. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of The Queen's College, Glasgow (founded in 1875) and G ...

. Prior to 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 ...

, he was a senior officer 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 ...

land services department and served as an adviser in the Leader's office. He was also founder and managing director of ''Achieving'', a quality assurance consultancy.

Parliamentary career

He was convener of the

's Transport and Environment

Committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

and served on the

Confederation of British Industry The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is a UK business organisation, which in total claims to speak for 190,000 businesses, this is made up of around 1,500 direct members and 188,500 non-members. The non members are represented through the 1 ...

working group designed to bring

Members 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) and business closer together as well as being on the cross-party group on ageing and the elderly. Kerr is considered to be an ally of Motherwell and Wishaw MSP

Jack McConnell Jack Wilson McConnell, Baron McConnell of Glenscorrodale, (born 30 June 1960) is a Scottish politician who served as First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Labour Party in Scotland from 2001 to 2007. McConnell served as the Minister ...

, working with him on his two successive bids for the leadership of Scottish Labour and the position of First Minister. Kerr was first appointed Minister for Finance and Public Services in the Scottish Executive in November 2001 and moved to become Minister for Health and Community Care in October 2004, replacing Malcolm Chisolm. As Health Minister, Kerr oversaw significant NHS restructuring. He was also responsible for the Scottish ban on smoking ban in public places which was introduced on 26 March 2006. In November 2006, he won the

Scottish Politician of the Year Scottish Politician of the Year is an annual award established in 1999. It is held by '' The Herald'' newspaper in Prestonfield House, Edinburgh. Although the awards ceremony has been held once at the Royal Museum, Prestonfield House Hotel is c ...

award in recognition of his work to bring in the smoking ban. Kerr retained the health portfolio in McConnell's shadow cabinet upon 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 ...

's victory at the 2007 election. Having ruled himself out of contention as a successor for Jack McConnell, Kerr voted for Wendy Alexander to become leader of the Scottish Labour Party. On 17 September 2007 he was appointed Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Public Services and Local Government. With

Wendy Alexander Wendy Alexander (born 27 June 1963) is a retired Scottish politician and the former Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Paisley North. She held various Scottish Government cabinet posts and was the Leader of the Labour Party in Scotland ...

's resignation as leader of the Labour Party in Scotland, Kerr stood for election as the next leader. However, following the victory of Iain Gray in the leadership election, Kerr was appointed Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth. At the

2011 Scottish Parliament election The 2011 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2011 to Members of the 4th Scottish Parliament, elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament. The election delivered the first majority government since the opening of Holyrood, ...

, Kerr was one of many Labour casualties, losing his seat after 12 years to

Linda Fabiani Linda Fabiani (born 14 December 1956) HonFRIAS OSSI FCIH is a Scottish politician who served as a Deputy Presiding Officer in the Scottish Parliament from 2016 to 2021. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she was the Member of the ...

of the SNP. Kerr did not stand on the regional list, so therefore did not return as an MSP.

After Politics

On 11 July 2011, it was announced that Andy had been appointed to the vacant CEO position at Scottish Charity Organisation, Sense Scotland. In April 2019, Andy Kerr was appointed Chief Operating Officer at the newly formed Piper Group of charities, partnering Sense Scotland with Enable Scotland. Five Months later, Sense Scotland would quit the partnership, however, Andy Kerr remained in post at The Piper Group. In November 2019, he was appointed to the Board of the Scottish Funding Council, and in 2020, Andy Kerr was appointed Chair of the Scottish Government's Fair Work in Social Care Group.

Personal life

Kerr lives in

Strathaven Strathaven (; from gd, Strath Aibhne ) is a historic market town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland and is the largest settlement in Avondale. It is south of Hamilton. The Powmillon Burn runs through the town centre, and joins the Avon Water to the ...

with his wife and he has 3 daughters.

References

External links

*
http://www.sensescotland.org.uk
Sense Scotland News Story re: appointment of Andy to CEO.
Andy Kerr
Scottish Labour website
No butts, it's our liberty that's going up in smoke

Scotland on Sunday ''Scotland on Sunday'' is a Scottish Sunday newspaper, published in Edinburgh by JPIMedia and consequently assuming the role of Sunday sister to its daily stablemate ''The Scotsman''. It was originally printed in broadsheet format but in 2013 ...

opinion piece on the effects of Scotland's smoking ban
Ban 'helping smokers to give up'

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Kerr, Andy 1962 births Living people Alumni of Glasgow Caledonian University Labour MSPs People from East Kilbride Members of the Scottish Parliament 1999–2003 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2003–2007 Members of the Scottish Parliament 2007–2011 Finance ministers of Scotland Health ministers of Scotland Politicians from South Lanarkshire