Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills

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Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills
Scottish Government Logo.svg
Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, Shirley-Anne Somerville, 2021.jpg
Incumbent
Shirley-Anne Somerville

since 20 May 2021
StyleCabinet Secretary
(within parliament)
Education Secretary
(informal)
Scottish Education Secretary
(outwith Scotland)
Member of
SeatEdinburgh
AppointerFirst Minister
Inaugural holderSam Galbraith
Minister for Education and Children
FormationMay 1999
DeputyMaree Todd
(Minister for Children and Young People)
Richard Lochhead
(Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science)
Salary£112,919 annually (including £64,470 MSP salary)
Websitewww.gov.scot

The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, commonly referred to as the Education Secretary, is a position in the Scottish Government Cabinet responsible for all levels of education in Scotland. The Cabinet Secretary is supported by the Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science and the Minister for Children and Young People which are both junior ministerial posts.[1]

The current Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills is Shirley-Anne Somerville, who assumed office on 20 May 2021.

History

The position was created in 1999 as the Minister for Children and Education; it was renamed as the Minister for Education, Europe and External Affairs in 2000 and given more responsibilities; those were taken away from the post in 2001 and it was renamed again as the Minister for Education and Young People. The current position of Cabinet Secretary was created following the 2007 election.

Overview

Responsibilities

The responsibilities of the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills include:

  • school standards, quality and improvement
  • school infrastructure & staffing
  • educational attainment, qualifications and closing the attainment gap
  • National Improvement Framework
  • teaching profession
  • behaviour and measures to combat bullying
  • modern languages and the Gaelic and Scots languages
  • Named Person
  • Skills Development Scotland
  • non-advanced vocational skills
  • historical abuse enquiry

Public bodies

The following public bodies report to the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills:

List of Office holders

Minister for Children and Education

Name Portrait Entered Office Left Office Party First Minister
Sam Galbraith 19 May 1999 28 November 2001 Labour Party Donald Dewar

Minister for Education, Europe and External Affairs

Jack McConnell JackMcConnellPortrait.jpg 28 November 2001 22 November 2002 Labour Party Henry McLeish

Minister for Education and Young People

Cathy Jamieson Cathy Jamieson.jpg 22 November 2002 20 May 2003 Labour Party Jack McConnell
Peter Peacock Peter Peacock.jpg 20 May 2003 14 November 2006
Hugh Henry Hugh Henry.jpg 14 November 2006 17 May 2007

Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning

Fiona Hyslop Fiona Hyslop, Minister for Culture and External Affairs (2).jpg 17 May 2007 1 December 2009 Scottish National Party Alex Salmond
Michael Russell Michael Russell (Scottish politician).jpg 1 December 2009 21 November 2014
Angela Constance AngelaConstanceMSP20110510.JPG 21 November 2014 18 May 2016 Nicola Sturgeon

Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills

John Swinney John Swinney (26487695363).jpg 18 May 2016 20 May 2021 Scottish National Party Nicola Sturgeon
Shirley-Anne Somerville Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, Shirley-Anne Somerville, 2021.jpg 20 May 2021 Incumbent

References

  1. ^ "Biographies and responsibilities: Ministerial responsibilities: Education portfolio". Scottish Government. 16 November 2012. Retrieved 6 August 2015.