The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government (), commonly referred to as the Finance Secretary, is a member of the

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 * Filin ...

in the

Scottish Government The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in ...

. The Cabinet Secretary has Ministerial responsibility for the Scottish Government's Finance Directorates. The post has been held by

Shona Robison Shona McRory Robison (born 26 May 1966) is a Scottish politician who has served as Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government since 2023. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she previously served as Deputy First Minister of Sc ...

since March 2023, as Cabinet Secretary for Finance until 8 May 2024 when Local Government was added to her brief. Robison was additionally

Deputy First Minister of Scotland The deputy first minister of Scotland is the second highest minister in the executive branch of the Scottish Government, after the First Minister of Scotland, first minister of Scotland. The post-holder deputises for the first minister during ...

from March 2023 to May 2024. The Cabinet Secretary is supported by the Minister for Public Finance, since May 2024

Ivan McKee Ivan Paul McKee (born September 1963) is a Scottish politician who has served as Minister for Public Finance since May 2024. He previously served as Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise from 2021 to 2023. A member of the Sco ...

. Text was copied from this source, which is available under a
Open Government Licence v3.0
© Crown copyright.

History

Following

devolution Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territori ...

in 1999, the Government of First Minister Donald Dewar instituted the position as the Minister for Finance, which was renamed the Minister for Finance and Local Government in the Government of Henry McLeish from 2000 to 2001. In the first Government of Jack McConnell, from 2001 to 2003, the position was renamed as the Minister for Finance and Public Services, changed to the Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform after a reshuffle of the

Second McConnell government The second McConnell government (20 May 2003 – 16 May 2007) was formed following the 2003 general election to the 2nd Scottish Parliament. Jack McConnell was re-appointed as First Minister on 20 May 2003 and headed another Labour– Liber ...

in 2004. The first Government of Alex Salmond in 2007 combined the Minister for Finance element, with that of Enterprise and Transport to create the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth. After the 2011 election the position was named Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth and the transport portfolio was moved under the remit of

another Another may refer to: * anOther or Another Magazine, a culture and fashion magazine * ''Another'' (novel), a Japanese horror novel ** ''Another'' (film), a Japanese 2012 live-action film based on the novel ** ''Another'' (TV series), a Japanese ...

Cabinet position. In November 2014, the

first Sturgeon government Nicola Sturgeon formed the first Sturgeon government on 20 November 2014, following the resignation of previous SNP First Minister, Alex Salmond. Sturgeon, who had been Deputy First Minister under Salmond, was elected to succeed him by the ...

renamed the position to Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Economy, and in 2016 it was again renamed to Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Constitution. It was further renamed to Finance, Economy and Fair Work in June 2018, taking some additional responsibilities from the position of Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Jobs and Fair Work which was abolished, but losing some constitutional responsibilities to the Cabinet Secretary for Government Business and Constitutional Relations. The title was shortened to simply Cabinet Secretary for Finance in February 2020, with the responsibilities of the former Economy Secretary separated again and transferred over to the

Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Fair Work and Culture The Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic is a position in the Scottish government, Scottish cabinet since May 2024. The current Cabinet Secretary is Kate Forbes, who has served since May 2024 alongside her role as Deputy First Minister of Sco ...

. The economic responsibilities of the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Fair Work and Culture were again combined with those of the Cabinet Secretary for Finance on 19 May 2021 in the position of Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy. The title was renamed back to Cabinet Secretary for Finance upon the formation of the First Yousaf Government on 29 March 2023, with Deputy First Minister

taking the office. Following

John Swinney John Ramsay Swinney (born 13 April 1964) is a Scottish politician who has served as First Minister of Scotland, first minister of Scotland since 2024. Swinney has served as Leader of the Scottish National Party, leader of the Scottish National ...

's government formation Robison was given additional responsibilities for local government as the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government.

Overview

Responsibilities

The responsibilities of the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government are: *infrastructure policy cross-government co-ordination (policy, investment, and commission) *

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

*local government finance *

public sector The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, pu ...

reform policy, including civil service operations * Scottish Futures Trust Budget *exchequer and the public finances *fiscal and taxation policy including Scottish Income Tax *Fiscal Framework Review *

pay *Scottish Budget, budgetary monitoring and reporting, including Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) *

Scottish Fiscal Commission The Scottish Fiscal Commission () is a non-ministerial office. It was established by the Scottish Parliament to provide independent forecasts of taxes and social security expenditure, and GDP forecasts, to help inform the government's budget and it ...

Public bodies

The following public bodies report to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government: *

Registers of Scotland Registers of Scotland (RoS) () is the non-ministerial department of the Scottish Government responsible for compiling and maintaining records relating to property and other legal documents. They currently maintain 21 public registers. The offic ...

Revenue Scotland Revenue Scotland () is a non-ministerial office of the Scottish Government responsible for the administration and collection of devolved taxes in Scotland. It is accountable to the Scottish Parliament. History Prior to 1707, Scotland was an ...

Scottish Development International Scottish Development International (SDI) is the international arm of the Scottish Government and Scotland's enterprise agencies, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and South of Scotland Enterprise. The agency supports internat ...

* Scottish Futures Trust * Scottish Public Pensions Agency *

VisitScotland VisitScotland, formerly the Scottish Tourist Board (), is a national tourism organisation for Scotland. It is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government, with offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness, and ...

List of Office holders

There have been eight office holders since the establishment of

Scottish devolution Scottish devolution is the process of the UK Parliament granting powers (excluding powers over reserved matters) to the devolved Scottish Parliament. Prior to the advent of devolution, some had argued for a Scottish Parliament within the United ...

References

External links

Scottish Government - Business and IndustryScottish Government - EconomyScottish Government - PlanningScottish Government - Transport
{{Economy of Scotland

Finance Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and Academic discipline, discipline of money, currency, assets and Liability (financial accounting), liabilities. As a subject of study, is a field of Business administration, Business Admin ...

Economy ministers Transport ministers Public finance of Scotland