Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice and Housing
Shirley-Anne Somerville was appointed as Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice and Housing in May 2026.
Responsibilities
- social security policy and strategy and Social Security Scotland
- social justice, tackling poverty and inequalities
- child poverty and whole family support
- Baby Box
- Office of Chief Social Policy Advisor
- third sector and Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator
- human rights and UN treaty incorporation
- Affordable Housing Supply Programme
- Housing to 2040 strategy
- homelessness and rough sleeping
- cladding remediation
- regulation of existing housing systems
- tenants rights
- building standards
Supporting Ministers
Biography
Educated at Kirkcaldy High School, she then graduated from the University of Strathclyde with a BA (Hons) in Economics and Politics (1996), followed by a Diploma in Housing Studies at the University of Stirling and a Diploma in Public Relations from Queen Margaret University College.
She has worked as a parliamentary researcher, a Policy and Public Affairs Officer at the Chartered Institute of Housing, and as a Media and Campaigns Officer at the Royal College of Nursing.
Ms Somerville was previously an MSP for the Lothians region from 2007 to 2011, and returned to the Scottish Parliament in 2016 as MSP for Dunfermline. She was previously Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science, and was appointed Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People in June 2018. She was Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills until March 2023, when she was appointed Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice.
- Read more about Shirley-Anne Somerville on the Scottish Parliament website.