Scottish Blog

The term "Scottish executive" refers to two different things, “the executive arm of Scotland’s national legislature” and also the civil services that are provided to support the executive.

In common terms this amounts to the Scottish executive being the Scottish government. This term has been used by all members of the Scottish executive since its inception, in the Scotland Act 1998.

The Scottish executive consists of a First Minister, who is in charge of a number of lower ranking ministers. Each of these minor ministers is responsible for their assigned portfolio.

The current ministers consist of:

* First Minister - Jack McConnell
* Deputy First Minister, Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning - Nicol Stephen
* Minister for Justice - Cathy Jamieson
* Minister for Health and Community Care - Andy Kerr
* Minister for Education and Young People - Peter Peacock
* Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform - Tom McCabe
* Minister for Environment and Rural Development - Ross Finnie
* Minister for Communities - Malcolm Chisholm
* Minister for Parliamentary Business - Margaret Curran
* Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport - Patricia Ferguson
* Minister for Transport and Telecommunications - Tavish Scott
* Lord Advocate - Lord Boyd of Duncansby
* Solicitor General - Elish Angiolini
* Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning - Allan Wilson
* Deputy Minister for Justice - Hugh Henry
* Deputy Minister for Health and Community Care - Lewis Macdonald
* Deputy Minister for Education and Young People - Robert Brown
* Deputy Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform - George Lyon
* Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural Development - Rhona Brankin
* Deputy Minister for Communities - Johann Lamont
* Deputy Minister for Parliamentary Business - George Lyon

The members of the Scottish Executive are chosen from those in the Scottish Parliament. The First Minister must be chosen by the Scottish Parliament itself, so he can be appointed by the Queen. After being appointed, the First Minister then assigns the portfolios that make up the Scottish Executive.

The term Scottish Executive is also often used in referring to the civil services which act to support the executive. These services consist of:

* Office of the Permanent Secretary
* Development Department
* Education Department
* Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Department
* Environment and Rural Affairs Department
* Finance and Central Services Department
* Health Department
* Justice Department
* Legal and Parliamentary Services