Jeane Tennent Freeman was born on 28 September 1953 in Ayr.[1][2] Freeman was raised in South Ayrshire with her two brothers, to a trade union, Labour supporting family.[4] Her mother was a nurse and her father, son of an immigrant family, was an aircraft fitter and was in the RAF during WWII.[12][18] After coming back from war, he was determined to create social justice, something that Freeman aspired to continue from her father.[18][5]
Freeman was a leading member of the Communist Party's student wing and in 1979 she became the first woman to chair the National Union of Students Scotland.[7] In 1983 Freeman was a member of the Communist party's Congress Arrangements Committee which oversaw the running of that year's party congress.[21]
Early career
In 1987, Freeman established Apex Scotland, a criminal justice employment organisation for which she served as Chief Executive for twelve years. She was appointed as a member of the Parole Board for Scotland in 2006[22] and has also played roles on the Scottish Police Services Authority Board. She was appointed as a Lay Member to the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland, commencing November 2011 for a four-year period.[8]
In 2008 she was appointed to the board of the National Waiting Times Centre, the special health board that runs the Golden Jubilee National Hospital.[23] In January 2015 she was reappointed as the Chair to the National Waiting Times Centre Board.[24] In March 2016 she stepped down from this role.[25]
In the 2013/14 financial year Freeman worked for a number of bodies, including Police Scotland, the NHS National Waiting Time Centre and the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland.[26] She billed taxpayers for 376 days work - leading her to be dubbed 'the Quango Queen' in the press.[26][27] A spokesman for Freeman said, "A contracted day does not mean sitting in an office – indeed, many boards meet during the evening. It is entirely routine for members of public boards to have a number of other interests."[26]
Early political career
Senior political advisor
Official parliamentary portrait, 2016
Later Freeman joined the Scottish Labour Party and was a member until the late 1990s.[28] Between 2001 and 2005, Freeman served as a senior political adviser to First MinisterJack McConnell.[9] In this role, she worked on the Scottish Budget, the government's legislative programme, relations with the UK government, and in the Finance, Health and Justice portfolios.[8] She left the position voluntarily, though there were reports of a row between Freeman and John Elvidge, which were dismissed by the Scottish Executive.[29] Months after she left, the Scottish Executive hired her consultancy firm, Freeman Associates, in a consultancy capacity, generating accusations of cronyism.[30]
In November 2014, when the SNP voted in favour of allowing non-members to stand as their candidates in the general elections, Nicola Sturgeon named Freeman as an example of the sort of person that might be chosen by a constituency branch.[11] In August 2015, Freeman was selected to be the SNP candidate for the Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley constituency in the 2016 Scottish elections.[12]
In April 2016, former Labour politician Brian Wilson covered the topic of Freedom of information (FOI) requests in his column in The Scotsman, observing that her company Freeman Associates had recently been the subject of a request to the Scottish Government.[34] The Ministers had responded to the applicant that the cost of replying to this specific request would exceed £600 and they were therefore not obliged to comply.[13] Following a review, the applicant remained dissatisfied and applied to the Information Commissioner for a decision.[13]
In 2019, Freeman faced calls for her resignation following ten cases of infections linked to water contamination at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde later reported two deaths of children, who had been linked to infection from the hospital. When asked if she would resign on an interview with the BBC, she stated: "No I'm not because my focus is on fixing these matters and restoring public confidence. That's the right thing for me to do."
Death threat
In February 2020, Freeman was forced up her security presence amid death threats against her. The threats were in relation to the Glasgow hospital infection crisis and Police Scotland had charged a man. She told Holyrood Magazine: “I think the threats are a symptom of this notion that I am personally responsible for everything that happens. I cannot be personally responsible, but I am accountable for how well our health service performs and how well I act to resolve those areas where it’s not doing as it should do."[35]
Freeman served as Health Secretary during the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland and briefed the public in press conferences.[16] In April 2020, she said in a statement in the Scottish Parliament a network of COVID-19 local assessment centres was to be set up across Scotland with 50 planned in the first wave.[36][37][38][39] A network of "humanitarian assistance centres" were also set up, working with GPs and other local partners to arrange delivery of medicine, care services and grocery delivery.[40]
COVID-19 vaccination programme
In November 2020, Freeman delivered a statement to the Scottish Parliament on vaccines. She announced that Scotland was ready to administer the first vaccine for COVID-19 in the first week in February, if the vaccine is given safety clearance.[41] Freeman also announced the priorities list for the first wave of vaccinations, which ran from December to February 2021. The priorities are: “frontline health and social care staff, older residents in care homes, care home staff, all those aged 80 and over, unpaid carers and personal assistants & those delivering the vaccination.”[42]
Care home deaths
During the pandemic, 1,300 elderly patients were transferred into care homes without receiving a negative coronavirus test result.[43] Many had the disease and ended up passing the virus onto other care home residents.[44] Over three thousand care home residents died from coronavirus;[45] in some care homes dozens of pensioners died - contributing significantly to Scotland recording one of the highest death tolls in Europe.[44] Gary Smith, Scotland secretary of the GMB, said the policy turned “care homes into morgues”[45] and in March 2021 Freeman admitted to the BBC: "We [the Scottish Government] didn’t take the right precautions to make sure that older people leaving hospital going into care homes were as safe as they could be and that was a mistake."[44][43] After leaving office Freeman said that the characterisation of the policy as a "death sentence" for the elderly had hurt her personally and that the criticism from opposition parties was "not fair".[46]
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