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Maureen Watt Politician

Maureen Watt (born 23 June 1951) is a Scottish politician who is Minister of Public Health and has served as a Scottish National Party Member of the Scottish Parliament for North East Scotland since 2006.Born in Aberdeen to a farming family, she was a secondary school teacher in Social Studies in England and moved back to Scotland to work in the oil sector.She was sworn in as MSP on 19 April 2006 to replace Richard Lochhead who had resigned his seat to contest the Moray by-election. The next person on the SNP list from the 2003 election had been Alasdair Allan but he refused his place in Parliament as he had secured the SNP nomination for the Western Isles for the 2007 election. The next person on the list was Maureen Watt, who took up the place. She became the first MSP to swear their oath of allegiance in Doric.Watt made her maiden speech on 20 April 2006 on the subject of Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation. With a gap of only 17 hours 25 minutes since taking the Parliamentary oath she took over the record for the shortest wait from John Scott.She had previously been a Councillor on Grampian Regional Council and had served on the Visiting Committee of Aberdeen Prison.After the SNP's victory at the 2007 Scottish Parliament Election, Watt was appointed as the Minister for Schools and Skills. She left office on 10 February 2009.In May 2011, Watt was elected as SNP MSP for Aberdeen South and North Kincardine on a 15.77% swing from the Liberal Democrats.On 21 November 2014, she was appointed Minister of Public Health succeeding Michael Matheson who was promoted to the Cabinet.

Personal facts

Birth date	June 23, 1951
Nationality	Scotland

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