Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs

Scotland
Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs
Scotland; Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs
Scottish Gaelic: Rùnaire a’ Chaibineit airson Ceartas agus Cùisean na Dùthcha;
	Incumbent; Angela Constance MSP; since 29 March 2023
	Justice Directorate; Scottish Government; Scottish Cabinet
Style	Cabinet Secretary ; (within parliament) ; Justice Secretary ; (informal) ; Scottish Justice Secretary ; (outwith Scotland)
Member of	Scottish Cabinet
Reports to	Scottish Parliament
Seat	Edinburgh
Appointer	First Minister of Scotland
Inaugural holder	Jim Wallace ; Minister for Justice
Formation	19 May 1999
Deputy	Minister for Victims and Community Safety
Salary	£118,511 per annum (2023); (including £67,662 MSP salary)
Website	www.gov.scot

The Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs (Scottish Gaelic: Rùnaire a’ Chaibineit airson Ceartas agus Cùisean na Dùthcha), commonly referred to as the Justice Secretary (Scottish Gaelic: Rùnaire a' Cheartais), is a position in the Scottish Government Cabinet. The Cabinet Secretary has overall responsibility for law and order in Scotland. The current Cabinet Secretary for Justice is Angela Constance, who was appointed in March 2023.

The Cabinet Secretary is assisted by the Minister for Victims and Community Safety, Siobhian Brown.^[2]

History

The position was created in 1999 as the Minister for Justice, with the advent of devolution and the institution of the Scottish Parliament, taking over some of the roles and functions of the former Scottish Office Minister of State for Home Affairs that existed prior to 1999.

As with the UK Secretary of State for Justice, but unlike some other justice ministers, the Cabinet Secretary does not have any oversight of prosecutions - in Scotland these are handled by the Lord Advocate.

Overview

Responsibilities

The responsibilities of the Cabinet Secretary for Justice include:^[3]

Policing
Fire and rescue services
Courts & sentencing
The justice system and criminal law procedure
Violence reduction
Prison reform and prisoner policy
Reducing reoffending
Security
Youth justice
Access to justice
Civil law
Victim/witness support
Criminal injuries compensation
Legal aid fund
Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service
Bairn's Hoose
Justice reform
National Community Justice Strategy
Veterans

Public bodies

The following public bodies report to the Cabinet Secretary for Justice:

Salary

The Cabinet Secretary for Justice is paid a total salary of £112,919, which is made up of £64,470 for being a MSP, and an additional allowance of £48,449 for the responsibility of being a Cabinet Secretary.^[4]

List of office holders

Name		Entered office	Left office	Party
Minister for Justice [edit]
	Jim Wallace	19 May 1999	21 May 2003	Liberal Democrats	Donald Dewar Henry McLeish Jack McConnell
	Cathy Jamieson	21 May 2003	17 May 2007	Labour Party	Jack McConnell
Cabinet Secretary for Justice [edit]
	Kenny MacAskill	17 May 2007	21 November 2014	Scottish National Party	Alex Salmond
	Michael Matheson	21 November 2014	26 June 2018		Nicola Sturgeon
	Humza Yousaf	26 June 2018	20 May 2021
	Keith Brown	20 May 2021	29 March 2023
	Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs [edit]
	Angela Constance	29 March 2023	Incumbent		Scottish National Party	Humza Yousaf John Swinney

References

^ "MSP salaries". parliament.scot. The Scottish Parliament. 5 April 2023.
^ "Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs - gov.scot". gov.scot. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
^ "Cabinet Secretary for Justice". Scottish Government. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
^ "MSP and Office Holders Salaries" (PDF). parliament.scot. The Scottish Parliament. 1 April 2020. Retrieved 14 June 2020.

[1] "MSP salaries". parliament.scot. The Scottish Parliament. 5 April 2023.

[2] "Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs - gov.scot". gov.scot. Retrieved 10 May 2024.

[3] "Cabinet Secretary for Justice". Scottish Government. Retrieved 25 May 2021.

[salary2020-4] "MSP and Office Holders Salaries" (PDF). parliament.scot. The Scottish Parliament. 1 April 2020. Retrieved 14 June 2020.

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v t e Scottish Cabinet
Swinney government
First Minister	John Swinney
Deputy First Minister	Kate Forbes
Cabinet Secretaries	Kate Forbes (Economy and Gaelic) Shona Robison (Finance and Local Government) Neil Gray (Health and Social Care) Jenny Gilruth (Education and Skills) Màiri McAllan (Net Zero and Energy) Fiona Hyslop (Transport) Mairi Gougeon (Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands) Angus Robertson (Constitution, External Affairs and Culture) Shirley-Anne Somerville (Social Justice) Angela Constance (Justice and Home Affairs)
May attend cabinet	Dorothy Bain (Lord Advocate) John-Paul Marks (Permanent Secretary to the Scottish Government) Jamie Hepburn (Minister for Parliamentary Business) Colin McAllister (Chief of Staff to the First Minister)
Category Politics of Scotland

v t e Criminal justice system of Scotland
Administration	Scottish Government Justice Directorate Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs Minister for Victims and Community Safety
Investigation	Police Scotland Scottish Police Authority Police Investigations and Review Commissioner HM Inspectorate of Constabulary Specialist reporting agency National Crime Agency
Prosecution	Crown Office Lord Advocate Solicitor General for Scotland Advocate Depute Procurator Fiscal Precognition Criminal law
Criminal courts	Courts of Scotland Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service Scottish Sentencing Council High Court of Justiciary Lord Justice General Lord Justice Clerk Lords Commissioners of Justiciary Act of Adjournal Lord Advocate's Reference Sheriff Court Sheriff Appeal Court Justice of the Peace Courts
Punishment	Scottish Prison Service HM Inspectorate of Prisons Order for Lifelong Restriction Parole Board for Scotland Risk Management Authority Fiscal fine Admonition