The Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity was a

junior minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry (government department), ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is desi ...

ial post 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 ...

. As a result, the minister did not attend the

Scottish Cabinet The Scottish Cabinet is the main decision-making body of the Scottish Government, the devolved government of Scotland. It is headed by the first minister, and made up of the deputy first minister, cabinet secretaries of the Scottish Government ...

but reported directly to the

First Minister of Scotland The first minister of Scotland () is the head of government of Scotland. The first minister leads the Scottish Government, the Executive (government), executive branch of the devolved government and is th ...

. The only individual who held the post was

Lorna Slater Lorna Slater (born 27 September 1975) is a Canadian-Scottish politician who served as Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity in the Scottish Government from 2021 to 2024. She has been co-leader of the Scottish Greens, alon ...

, who was appointed in August 2021 after the

Bute House Agreement The Bute House Agreement, officially the Cooperation Agreement between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Green Party Parliamentary Group was a Confidence and supply, power-sharing agreement between the Scottish National Party (SNP) Scotti ...

History

The office was created in August 2021 alongside the Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants’ Rights after the Scottish Government agreed a power-sharing deal with the

Scottish Green Party The Scottish Greens (also known as the Scottish Green Party; ) are a green party, green List of political parties in Scotland, political party in Scotland. The party has 7 MSPs of 129 in the Scottish Parliament, the party holds 35 of the 1226 ...

. Following the dissolution of the Bute House Agreement on 25 April 2024 the post was abolished.

Overview

Responsibilities

The specific responsibilities of the minister were: * Green Industrial Strategy * green skills *

circular economy A circular economy (also referred to as circularity or CE) is a model of resource Production (economics), production and Resource consumption, consumption in any economy that involves sharing, leasing, Reuse, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and ...

* Zero Waste Scotland * nature recovery targets *

NatureScot NatureScot () is an Scottish public bodies#Executive NDPBs, executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government responsible for Scotland’s natural heritage, especially its nature, natural, genetics, genetic and scenic diversity. ...

* biodiversity (along with the Minister for Environment, Biodiversity and Land Reform) * national parks and natural heritage * plant health * Serving as a member of Cabinet Sub-Committee on Climate Emergency

List of office holders

References

{{authority control Scottish Parliament