Stewart Maxwell

William Stewart Maxwell(born 24 December 1963) is aScottish National Party(SNP) politician. He was theMinister for Communities and Sportfrom 2007 to 2009 and aMember of the Scottish Parliament(MSP) for theWest of Scotlandregion from 2003 to 2016.

Stewart Maxwell
Convener of theScottish Parliament Education and Culture Committee
In office 14 June 2011 – 24 March 2016
Preceded by	Karen Whitefield
Minister for Communities and Sport
In office 17 May 2007 – 10 February 2009
First Minister	Alex Salmond
Preceded by	Rhona Brankin
Succeeded by	Alex NeilasMinister for Housing and Communitiesand Shona Robison asMinister for Public Health and Sport
Member of the Scottish Parliament forWest Scotland
In office 1 May 2003 – 24 March 2016
Personal details
Born	(1963-12-24)24 December 1963 Glasgow,Scotland
Political party	Scottish National Party
Other political affiliations	Labour(until 1988)
Alma mater	Glasgow College of Technology

Early life

Maxwell was born on 24 December 1963 inGlasgow,Scotland. Maxwell attendedKings Park Secondary Schoolbefore graduating fromGlasgow College of Technologywith a BA Honours Social Sciences. He worked forStrathclyde Fire Brigadebetween 1993 and 2003 before being elected.

Political career

He stood as the SNP candidate in the2003 electionand was elected by the regional list.

After his election in 2003, Stewart Maxwell became the Deputy Convener of the Parliament's Justice 1 Committee and a member of the Subordinate Legislation Committee. He transferred from Justice 1 to Justice 2 Committee in 2004 and was also appointed to the post of SNP spokesperson on Public Health and the Shadow Deputy Minister for Health. In September 2006 he was promoted to the SNP's Shadow Cabinet when he became the Party Spokesperson for Sport and Culture.At the end of 2006 he moved from the Justice 2 Committee to the Parliament's Enterprise and Culture Committee and remained on the Subordinate Legislation Committee. After the SNP's victory at the2007 Scottish Parliament Election,he became theMinister for Communities and Sport.However, he returned to the backbenches in the SNP Ministerial reshuffle on 10 February 2009.After leaving Ministerial office he became one of two representatives from the Scottish Parliament on the European Committee of the Regions and became a member of the Parliament's Justice Committee. After the 2011 election he was appointed to the post of Convener of the Education and Culture Committee and as one of the SNP members of the Scotland bill Committee.

Stewart Maxwell is best known for being the architect of the ban on smoking in enclosed places in Scotland. He laid a motion in the Scottish Parliament stating that he intended to bring forward a bill to ban smoking in public places in July 2003 and went on to introduce the Bill to bantobacco smokingin enclosed public places in February 2004.TheScottish Executiveat first opposed this proposal, but were eventually forced to accept the idea after it received widespread support. They eventually published their own bill which was passed on 30 June 2005 and the ban came into effect on 26 March 2006.

For the last few years he has also been campaigning onknife crimeand has made various proposals to tackle this issue in Scotland, including the mandatory reporting of knife attacks by hospitals to the police and the use of hand-held metal detectors at the doors of some pubs and clubs. He successfully moved an amendment to thePolice, Public Order and Criminal Justice Billwhich doubled the maximum sentence for carrying a knife in public.

He was a member of the SNPs National Executive Committee as well as serving as the Vice Convenor in charge of Publicity during 2003–2004. During the 2003–2007 session of Parliament he was a member of six Parliamentary cross party groups; Tobacco Control, Sport, Contemporary Scottish Music Industry, Culture and Media, Cancer and Food. He is currently a member of the following CPGs: Tobacco Control, Veterans, Golf and Universities and Colleges.

The SNP hold a 'One Member One Vote' ballot of all Party members to determine the order of their candidates on the regional lists for the Scottish Parliament elections. Stewart Maxwell, who was third on the SNP list for the West of Scotland in 2003, was elected to first place on the SNP list for 2007 and topped the list again in 2011.

In November 2006 he was made Honorary Vice-President of the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland for his work on the introduction of the ban on smoking in public places.

Ahead of the2016 elections,Maxwell was confirmed as the SNP's candidate for theEastwoodconstituency in July 2015.In October it was announced that he would be second on the SNP's list of candidates for West Scotland.In a close contest, ConservativeJackson Carlawwon the seat and Labour'sKen Macintoshwas pushed into third.Maxwell was not re-elected.

Armed Forces Legal Action

Maxwell was appointed as an honorary patron of Armed Forces Legal Action (AFLA) in April 2014. AFLA is a network of law firms committed to offering discounted legal services to members of the UK Armed Forces community. AFLA was founded by Scottish solicitor Allan Steele WS, who stood against Maxwell as the Scottish Liberal Democrat candidate in the Westminster Parliamentary election of 2001 and the Holyrood Parliamentary election of 2003.

He is married with one daughter.

External links

• Scottish Parliament profiles of MSPs:Stewart Maxwell
• Personal website of Stewart Maxwell, MSP
• Scottish National Party
• Sunday Times – MSP advocates Mandatory Reporting