Health portfolio responsibilities include: • mental health wellbeing• Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAHMS)• suicide prevention• dementia• Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)• Mental Welfare Commission• survivors of childhood abuse• forensic mental health services and reform• adult support and protection• care, support and rights• social service workforce• delivering ‘Anne’s Law’• dentistry• e-health and My NHS Digital

The Committee scrutinises legislation and conducts inquiries on the following areas:• health services in Scotland, including performance, staffing and funding• NHS recovery and remobilisation• primary care, including dentistry, GPs, and pharmacy services• public health including mental health and wellbeing, and tackling drug and alcohol misuse• social care• sport and physical activity

Elected as the Labour and Co-operative Party Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Glasgow Region at the 2021 Scottish Election.Appointed as the Shadow Minister for Public Finance and Employment in May 2021.Appointed Shadow Minister for Mental Health in January 2023.Appointed Deputy Convener of the Scottish Parliament's Health, Social Care and Sport Committee in April 2023.

The Committee's work focuses on:• all public petitions submitted to Parliament • deciding what actions should be taken for all valid public petitions• reviewing the operation of the public petitions system• strengthening participatory democracy

Specific responsibilities included scrutiny of Scottish Ministers and development of policy across the following areas:• community wealth and community empowerment• public bodies policy• public sector pensions• Scottish Public Pensions Agency• community wealth building• cross government delivery of 20 minute neighbourhoods• local governance review and democratic renewal• budget revisions• outturn• consumer protection – Consumer Scotland policy and advice• social entrepreneurship and employee-owned businesses• Registers of Scotland• statutory debt management and debt relief, diligence and Accountant in Bankruptcy• procurement shared services• government procurement• propertyDevolved taxes and Revenue Scotland• non domestic rates• council tax• Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT), including Additional Dwelling Supplement (ADS)• Scottish Landfill Tax• Aggregates Levy• Air Departure Tax

The Committee’s work focuses on:• checking secondary legislation coming before Parliament for legal and technical accuracy• checking whether proposed powers to make secondary legislation in Bills are appropriate• reporting its findings to Parliament so all laws and proposals for laws get proper oversight from MSPs• looking at certain Bills which are based on reports from the Scottish Law Commission. The Commission recommends changes to the law so it keeps pace with the way we live and work.

Responsibilities included holding UK Government to account on the following areas of policy in Scotland:• devolution, constitutional reform and exiting the European Union• energy• business and economy• broadcasting• investment and infrastructure• higher education and research• immigration and asylum• social security• Ministry of Defence assets in Scotland

Elected as the Labour and Co-operative Party Member of the UK Parliament for the Glasgow North East constituency at the 2017 General Election.Appointed as the Shadow Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland on 3 July 2017.

Serving in the Army Reserve (52nd Lowland, 6th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland (6 SCOTS)) since the age of 17 has had a transformative effect upon my personal development, self-discipline and confidence, particularly as a result of developing my leadership abilities. My service in the Army Reserve has also enabled me to develop other skills, from gaining a full driving licence, participating in overseas exercises in Poland, Norway, Gibraltar and France, to achieving the Defence Instructional Techniques teaching qualification.

Having developed significant operational experience within one of the world's leading defence, aerospace, naval shipbuilding and engineering companies, I joined Scottish Enterprise, Scotland's economic development, enterprise, innovation and investment agency, as a Senior Executive managing a portfolio of accounts within the Company Growth, Innovation and Infrastructure team.Drawing on my operational skills and experience, I worked intensively with the leadership of ambitious companies in the Defence, Marine, Shipbuilding, Aerospace and Engineering sectors based in Scotland, ranging from start-ups with high growth potential to established first tier global firms, in order to enable them to identify and provide state support to key projects to grow sustainably and better compete within the global marketplace - maximising value for those firms and the wider Scottish economy. While working with a wide range of partners across the public and private sectors, this was mainly achieved by utilising the capability, expertise and resources of Scottish Enterprise; particularly in terms of product development and capital investment support from the Scottish Investment Bank, delivery of operational process improvements with the Scottish Manufacturing Advisory Service, organisational development consultancy, innovation consultancy and international business development support by Scottish Development International in order to increase global market share and generate export growth.Key objectives include:• Providing an appropriate range of support to companies throughout their growth, varying the skills and intensity required in line with business needs.• Improving the performance of high growth companies, measured in terms of sales growth over a 3 year period.• Delivering clear performance improvements in companies that would not have been achieved without Scottish Enterprise support, in key areas such as Leadership, Innovation, Internationalisation and Productivity.

On completion of BAE Systems' Graduate Development Framework, I took up a permanent exit role within the Operations Strategic Capability and Resourcing Team, which oversees the long-term development of all Manufacturing and Production activities across BAE Systems Maritime - Naval Ships.Major tasks and activities included:• Supporting the creation of a strategic plan for how the Operations Function will evolve to anticipate and meet future needs by undertaking evaluations and options appraisals, using strategic analysis tools.• Driving and sustaining collaborative, integrated working between Operations Strategy and Production Delivery, Transformation, Shipbuilding Facilities Modernisation, Production Engineering, Type 26 Programme and Business Development Teams to ensure alignment in reaching ‘Upper Quartile’ benchmark status in global shipbuilding.• Supporting the creation/cascade of information to the Operations team on relevant topics including: Functional Plan, Operations Strategy, Core Competencies and Objectives.• Supporting the Operations Make vs. Buy evaluation process to ensure a clear consistency of approach across the business in order to support optimal and accurate decision making within the Make vs. Buy Transformation workstream team.• Developing and updating performance norms to cover all Operations Core Competencies; offering innovative opportunities and solutions to continuously improve performance by researching and benchmarking internally as well as global shipbuilding and other industrial sectors.• Delivering detailed understanding of the Integrated Business Planning (IBP) process to the Operations team and managing functional input to the IBP.• Deputising for Operations Strategic Capability Manager as required.• Collating Capacity and Capability analysis for Operations Processes and Competencies.• Reviewing Operations Functional Plan and providing monthly updates.• Reporting IBP submission requirements to schedule/target.

On completion of my degree at Glasgow University, I was successful in securing a position with BAE Systems on their Graduate Development Framework (GDF). This is a two year programme designed to give future managers and executives broad exposure within BAE Systems through a series of placements across various businesses and operational functions in the UK, developing key skills for a career within the engineering and maritime sector.Placements on the programme included:• Type 26 Global Combat Ship - Production Engineering and Product Innovation Team. Developed Design for Manufacture rules and undertook Build Strategy analysis for optimum production of the future Type 26 vessels.• Internal Lean Capability Team - Lean Learning Academy Coach.• Type 45 Anti-Air Warfare Destroyer Programme - Duncan (Ship 6) - Shipbuild Outfitting Operations and Stage 1.1 Sea Trials Management.• Production Engineering and Production Optimisation Team. Activities included Process Mapping, Value Stream Mapping and Development of Quality Standards within the Govan Steel Preparation and Fabrication Facility.Undertook additional role as the shipyard's Glasgow University engagement lead.Achieved an Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) - Level 2 NVQ Certificate in Team Leadership.Achieved a pass in the BAE Systems' ILM Endorsed 'Graduate Developing You' course.

Initially selected through the Saltire Foundation programme run by Scottish Enterprise, I was offered a direct position by BAE Systems Surface Ships in Portsmouth. Working in the Business Development department, I had the opportunity to become involved in a number of projects; including taking responsibility for ensuring compliance on a bid that was in the final stages of preparation for submission to the UK MoD. I also had the opportunity to join a joint Business Development/Commercial team tasked with drafting a Capture Plan and response to a Request for Proposal (RFP) involving a major export opportunity in Brazil, culminating in the sale of three Amazonas class Offshore Patrol Vessels to the Brazilian Navy.Additional projects during my internship included the update, redrafting and restructuring of the department's Quarterly Business Review report and planning the implementation of a cloud-based Customer Relationship Management system.I also volunteered to represent Surface Ships at the company's exhibition during Navy Days 2010; an opportunity to test what I had learned about the company’s capabilities by articulating that to a public audience. I was also able to work closely with the Communications team, as well as graduate engineers from Submarine Solutions, learning how they have benefited from the GDF scheme and about their experiences of working in another business unit of the company. As a result of my experiences on the internship, I gained a remarkable insight into how best practice has been determined and standardised in capturing new business for BAE Systems Surface Ships, which has been particularly rewarding, as my research project during my final year at university was on how British shipbuilding firms identify, communicate and deliver improvements in performance and innovation within the high value added manufacturing sector, of which BAE Systems is a pre-eminent example within the Scottish and UK economy.