Minister for Employment and Investment

The Minister for Employment and Investment, commonly referred to as the Employment Minister is a junior ministerial post in the Scottish Government. As a result, the Minister does not attend the Scottish Cabinet. The incumbent reports to the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic.[2]

Minister for Employment and Investment
Scottish Gaelic: Ministear airson Cosnaidh agus Tasgaidh
Incumbent
Tom Arthur
since 8 May 2024
StyleMinister
(within parliament)
Employment and Investment Minister
(informal)
Scottish Employment and Investment Minister
(outwith Scotland)
Member of
Reports toScottish Parliament
SeatEdinburgh
AppointerFirst Minister
Inaugural holderAnnabelle Ewing
Minister for Youth and Women's Employment
Formation12 November 2014
Salary£106,185 per annum (2024)[1]
(including £72,196 MSP salary)
Websitewww.gov.scot

Responsibilities

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As well as supporting the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic, specific responsibilities of the Minister for Employment and Investment are:[2]

Fair work

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  • effective worker voice, including trade unions
  • employability programmes
  • four day working week
  • Living Wage and Living Hours
  • Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE)
  • workplace employment and equalities incl. gender, disability and race employment, addressing the pay gap[2]

Investment and regeneration

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  • cities investment and strategy
  • City Centre Recovery Taskforce
  • regeneration policy and the place based investment programme
  • retail policy, recovery and strategy
  • town centre regeneration including business improvement districts
  • community wealth building
  • social enterprise
  • employee-owned businesses[2]

History

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The post of Minister for Youth and Women's Employment within the Scottish Government was recreated on 21 November 2014, but had existed in the very recent past (until April 2014) under a different title. The post of Minister for Employability and Training was abolished as part of the cabinet reshuffle in June 2018. The post was reinstated for the Swinney government in 2024 under Minister for Employment and Investment to assist the newly appointed Deputy First Minister, Kate Forbes.

The Junior Ministerial post of Minister for Youth Employment was created on 7 December 2011 following the recommendations of the Smith Group.[3] From April 2014, this was promoted to a Cabinet Secretary position, as Cabinet Secretary for Training, Youth and Women's Employment. The November 2014 Cabinet reshuffle saw the Cabinet Secretary position changed to Cabinet Secretary for Fair Work, Skills and Training. In May 2016, Nicola Sturgeon retitled the post to Minister for Employability and Training.

List of office holders

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Name Portrait Entered Office Left Office Party First Minister
Minister for Youth and Women's Employment
Annabelle Ewing   21 November 2014 18 May 2016 Scottish National Party Nicola Sturgeon
Minister for Employability and Training
Jamie Hepburn   18 May 2016 27 June 2018 Scottish National Party Nicola Sturgeon
Minister for Just Transition, Employment and Fair Work[4]
Richard Lochhead   20 May 2021[5] 29 March 2023 Scottish National Party Nicola Sturgeon
Minister for Employment and Investment
Tom Arthur   8 May 2024 Incumbent Scottish National Party John Swinney

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "MSP salaries". parliament.scot. The Scottish Parliament. 10 May 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d "Minister for Employment and Investment". gov.scot. May 2024. Retrieved 12 June 2024.   Text was copied from this source, which is available under an Open Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright.
  3. ^ "Salmond announces youth jobs minister portfolio". BBC News. 1 December 2011. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  4. ^ "Minister for Just Transition, Employment and Fair Work - gov.scot". www.gov.scot. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  5. ^ "Sturgeon appoints Net Zero Secretary and Just Transition Minister". endsreport.com. ENDS Report. 20 May 2021. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
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