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New Scottish housing secretary appointed in reshuffle
Shona Robison has been appointed as Scotland’s new social justice, housing and local government secretary in a cabinet reshuffle today.
Ms Robison, who previously served as health and sport secretary from 2014 to 2018, has been tasked with overseeing the delivery of 100,000 affordable homes as promised by the Scottish National Party following the national elections two weeks ago.
The MSP for Dundee City East will take up the new role, which will largely oversee the brief covered by former local government and communities secretary Aileen Campbell, who did not stand for re-election.
Ms Robison will be supported by two junior ministers, Christina McKelvie, who will serve as minister for equalities and older people, and Ben MacPherson, who will serve as minister for social security.
Unlike in the previous government there will be no minister for housing as housing is now included directly in the cabinet secretary’s remit.
The previous housing minister Kevin Stewart has been moved to the role of minister for mental wellbeing and social care under Humza Yousaf, who is the new cabinet secretary for health and social care.
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Announcing her new cabinet, first minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “My cabinet team combines experience with new arrivals and fresh faces, giving us the range and depth of talent we need to tackle the pressing issues we need to tackle, from COVID to climate change.
“This term of office is unquestionably the most important one the nation has faced since devolution more than 20 years ago. We are dealing with the joint challenges of a global pandemic and recovery from it, the ongoing tests posed by Brexit and the urgent, pressing need to take forward our net-zero agenda as part of the global efforts to secure a greener future.”
Ms Robison resigned as health and sport secretary in June 2018, citing a “particularly challenging year” and “big changes” in her personal life. Ms Robinson had come under pressure in 2018 following the high-profile financial mismanagement of NHS Tayside.
The health board had run into financial difficulty in 2018 and was found to have raided £2m from its charitable endowment fund to cover day-to-day running costs, including a new IT system. Senior figures at the board were sacked by Ms Robison, but opposition MSPs at the time had called for Ms Robison herself to resign over the matter.
Elsewhere in the reshuffle, Kate Forbes has been given an expanded brief in her role as finance secretary. Ms Forbes will now take charge of the Scottish Budget, fiscal policy and taxation, economic strategy, the well-being economy, trade and inward investment, city and regional growth deals, enterprise and the digital economy.
Update at 14:20, 20.05.21:
This story was updated to clarify that Aileen Campbell did not lose her job, instead she did not stand for re-election.
Update: at 4.01pm, 20.05.21 This article has been updated to include information about the junior ministerial appointments.
