Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning

Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills
Incumbent John Swinney MSP since 18 May 2016
Style	Cabinet Secretary
Appointer	First Minister
Inaugural holder	Sam Galbraith
Formation	1999
Website	www.gov.scot

The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, commonly referred to as the Education Secretary, is a position in the Scottish Government Cabinet responsible for all levels of education in Scotland.

The Cabinet Secretary is supported by the Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science and the Minister for Childcare and Early Years which are both junior ministerial posts.

The current Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills is John Swinney, who was appointed in May 2016.

The responsibilities of the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills include:

The following public bodies report to the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning:

The position was created in 1999 as the Minister for Children and Education; it was renamed as the Minister for Education, Europe and External Affairs in 2000 and given more responsibilities; those were taken away from the post in 2001 and it was renamed again as the Minister for Education and Young People. The current position of Cabinet Secretary was created following the 2007 election.