Shona Robison

Shona McRory Robison (born 26 May 1966) is a Scottish politician who has been Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Sport since 2014 and Scottish National Party Member of the Scottish Parliament for Dundee City East since 2011. She was elected as a Scottish National Party candidate in the 2003 election. Previously she had represented the SNP as an Additional Members System member for North East Scotland, having been elected in the 1999 election.

Early life and career

Born in Redcar, England, she went to Alva Academy, and then gained an MA in Social Sciences at Glasgow University in 1989, and gained a Postgraduate Cert in Community Education, obtained in 1990 at Jordanhill College. She was active in the SNP Youth Wing along with figures such as Nicola Sturgeon and Fiona Hyslop.

In 2003 she became the SNP's Party Spokesperson on Health, remaining in this position until 2007.

After the SNP's victory in the 2007 Scottish Parliament Election, Robison was appointed as the Minister for Public Health. In 2009, she was made Minister for Public Health and Sport in a Ministerial reshuffle. Following the 2011 election, she was made Minister for Commonwealth Games and Sport, with Michael Matheson taking on the Minister for Public Health portfolio. In April 2014, Alex Salmond promoted her to the full Cabinet position of Cabinet Secretary for Commonwealth Games, Sport, Equalities and Pensioners' Rights. Robison was moved to the Health brief in Nicola Sturgeon's first Ministerial reshuffle in November 2014.