Michael Matheson

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Michael Matheson MSP
Minister for Public Health
Incumbent
Assumed office 20 May 2011
First Minister	Alex Salmond
Preceded by	Shona Robison
Member of the Scottish Parliament for Falkirk West
Incumbent
Assumed office 3 May 2007
Preceded by	Dennis Canavan
Majority	5745 (20.4%)
Member of the Scottish Parliament for Central Scotland
In office 6 May 1999 – 3 May 2007
Personal details
Born	(1970-09-08) 8 September 1970 (age 41)
Political party	Scottish National Party
Alma mater	Queen Margaret University

Michael Matheson (born 8 September 1970) is the Public Health Minister in the Scottish Government. He has been an SNP Member of the Scottish Parliament since 1999, first representing Central Scotland and, since 2007, the Falkirk West constituency.

He was the Shadow Deputy Minister for Justice from May 1999 until September 2004. From September 2004 until September 2006 he was Shadow Minister for Culture, Media and Sport. Matheson served on the Parliament's Justice 1 Committee from January 2000 until October 2004. During the 2000 SNP deputy leadership election he was the campaign manager for Roseanna Cunningham.

Matheson first stood for the SNP in the 1997 general election for the Hamilton North and Bellshill seat. In 1999 and 2003 he contested the Falkirk West seat in the Scottish Parliament, which was won both times by independent Dennis Canavan, who had been rejected by the Labour Party.^[1] Matheson won the constituency in the 2007 election, after Canavan stepped down.^[1] Canavan has endorsed Matheson for re-election in 2011.^[1] Matheson is also ranked second on the SNP's regional list for Central Scotland.

Matheson was the Deputy Convener of the European and External Relations Committee, a member of the End of Life Assistance (Scotland) Bill Committee and a member of the Health and Sport Committee.

Before becoming a Minister Michael was actively involved in a number of Cross-Party Groups. Matheson is Co-Convener of the Cross-Party Group on Malawi, Deputy Convener of the Cross-Party Group on Sport, a member of the Cross-Party Group on Alzheimer's Disease, a member of the Cross-Party Group on International Development, a member of the Cross-Party Group on Russia and a member of the Cross-Party Group on Taiwan.

Matheson is a registered Occupational Therapist who trained at Queen Margaret University College. He is also an Honorary Vice President of English-Speaking Union Scotland.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Dinwoodie, Robin (30 April 2011). "The Canavan endorsement could swing it again for confident Nationalists". The Herald. http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/politics/the-canavan-endorsement-could-swing-it-again-for-confident-nationalists-1.1098792. Retrieved 30 April 2011.

External links

Scottish Parliament
Preceded by Dennis Canavan	Member of the Scottish Parliament for Falkirk West 2007–present	Incumbent

v t e Members of the Scottish Parliament in the Central Scotland region

Elected in the 2011 election

Constituency MSPs	Alex Neil (SNP, Airdrie and Shotts) · Elaine Smith (Lab, Coatbridge and Chryston) · Jamie Hepburn (SNP, Cumbernauld and Kilsyth) · Linda Fabiani (SNP, East Kilbride) · Angus MacDonald (SNP, Falkirk East) · Michael Matheson (SNP, Falkirk West) · Christina McKelvie (SNP, Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse) · John Pentland (Lab, Motherwell and Wishaw) · Michael McMahon (Lab, Uddingston and Bellshill)

Additional members	Clare Adamson (SNP) · Richard Lyle (SNP) · Mark Griffin (Lab) · Margaret Mitchell (Con) · Siobhan McMahon (Lab) · Margaret McCulloch (Lab) · John Wilson (SNP)

Labour (6 seats), SNP (9 seats), Conservative (1 seat)