Education
Born in Aberdeen to a farming family, she was educated at Keith Grammar School and studied at University of Strathclyde, graduating with an Honours degree in Politics.
Born in Aberdeen to a farming family, she was educated at Keith Grammar School and studied at University of Strathclyde, graduating with an Honours degree in Politics.
She went on to gain a Postgraduate Certificate in Education from the University of Birmingham. She was a teacher in Social Studies at a Comprehensive school in England from 1974−1976 and moved back to Scotland to work in the oil sector. In the mid-1990s she worked as Rector’s Assessor for Allan Macartney when he was Rector of the University of Aberdeen.
In 1998 she was appointed to the Independent Commission on Local Government and the Scottish Parliament.
She was a Councillor on Grampian Regional Council and had served on the Visiting Committee of Aberdeen Prison. Watt stood a a candidate in the Scottish Parliament election, 2003 but was not elected.
Before the term ended, Richard Lochhead resigned his seat to contest the Moray by-election. The next person on the Scottish National Party list from the 2003 election had been Alasdair Allan but he refused his place in Parliament as he had secured the Scottish National Party nomination for the Western Isles for the 2007 election.
The next person on the list was Maureen Watt, who took up the place.
Watt was sworn in as Managing Successful Programmes on 19 April 2006, becoming the first Managing Successful Programmes 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.
After the Scottish National Party"s victory at the 2007 Scottish Parliament Election, Watt was appointed as the Minister for Schools and Skills.
She left this office on 10 February 2009. On 21 November 2014 she was appointed Minister of Public Health, succeeding Michael Matheson who was promoted to the Cabinet.
Watt is the daughter of former Scottish National Party Member of Parliament (1974–1979) Hamish Watt. One of them, Stuart Donaldson, was elected to the United Kingdom Parliament in 2015.
In May 2011, Watt was elected as Scottish National Party Managing Successful Programmes for Aberdeen South and North Kincardine on a 15.77% swing from the Liberal Democrats.
She served as a Scottish National Party regional Member of the Scottish Parliament for North East Scotland from 2006 until 2011, and in 2011 was elected to represent the constituency of Aberdeen South and North Kincardine in the fourth Scottish Parliament.