Fiona McLeod
Fiona Grace McLeod is a Scottish politician. She is a former Scottish National Party Member of the Scottish Parliament who served two sessions, first representing the West of Scotland region 1999−2003, then the Strathkelvin and Bearsden constituency 2011−16. She served as acting Minister for Children and Young People December 2014−August 2015.Background
She was born on 3 December 1957 in Glasgow, Scotland. She studied History at University of Glasgow, before gaining a Postgraduate Diploma in Librarianship at University of Strathclyde. She worked as a librarian at Glasgow North College of Nursing and the Marie Curie Huntershill Hospice. She was appointed to Ofcom's Scottish Advisory Committee from 2004 to 2006, and was a founding member of Westerton Junior Youth Club.In the 1999 election she stood as a constituency candidate in Strathkelvin and Bearsden, where she was runner-up to Labour candidate Sam Galbraith. However her number four position on the SNP West of Scotland list was enough to take her to Holyrood. She served as Deputy Party Spokesperson on the Environment.
Galbraith resigned his seat in 2001 but McLeod did not stand in the subsequent by-election as this would have meant resigning her seat. However she did contest the seat in the 2003 election but finished fourth, behind Jean Turner, Brian Fitzpatrick and Jo Swinson. She also only placed 7th on the SNP list for West of Scotland and so also lost her top-up place in parliament.
In the 2011 Scottish Parliament general election she won the constituency of Strathkelvin and Bearsden following the SNP landslide victory, defeating David Whitton on a swing of 7.7%.
She served as acting Minister for Children and Young People, from 18 December 2014 until 31 August 2015, during Aileen Campbell MSP's maternity leave. This was the first time that a Minister of the Scottish Government had taken maternity leave.
In November 2016 she was announced as a member of the Commission on Parliamentary Reform, having been nominated to represent the SNP.Personal life
McLeod is married with one son.
