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 The Minister for Public Health, Women's Health and Sport is a Junior ministerial post in the Scottish Government. The post was first created as Minister for Public Health in May 2007 after the appointment of the Scottish National Party minority adm ...

Maree Todd Maree Todd is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross since May 2021. She was previously an MSP for the Highlands and Islands from the election in ...

and Minister for Mental Wellbeing and Social Care, Kevin Stewart. The current Cabinet Secretary is Humza Yousaf, 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, 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. Responsibilities for the cities strategy and the delivery of the 2014 Commonwealth Games 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 *

Scottish Social Services Council The Scottish Social Services Council is responsible for raising standards in the country's social service Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly incl ...

Sportscotland Sportscotland (officially styled sport), formerly the Scottish Sports Council, is the national agency for sport in Scotland. The Scottish Sports Council was established in 1972 by royal charter. The body works in partnership with public, pri ...

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