Salmond unveils ministerial team

The names of the 16 ministers nominated to run Scotland's first minority SNP administration were announced less than five hours after Alex Salmond was elected First Minister in a historic vote in the Scottish Parliament.

After his election he told MSPs: "I commit myself to leadership wholly and exclusively in the Scottish national interest. We will appeal for support policy by policy across this chamber."

Simultaneously with the ministerial nominations, details were disclosed of an organisational shake-up of the upper reaches of the civil service, in line with an SNP election pledge of smaller, better focused government.

There will be a total of six "directorates" each headed by a director general. This will effectively reduce nine departments to six but there will be no job losses, officials said.

The names of the ministerial nominees - they will be voted on in Parliament - were issued four hours after Alex Salmond arrived at St Andrew's House, the Executive's administration nerve centre, to put together his new minority administration.

Nicola Sturgeon will be Deputy First Minister, and will also be responsible for health as one of five senior ministers or "cabinet secretaries". John Swinney will be responsible for finance and sustainable growth, Fiona Hyslop for education and lifelong learning, Kenny MacAskill for justice, and Richard Lochhead for rural affairs and the environment.

Bruce Crawford will be minister for parliamentary business, Linda Fabiani will handle Europe, culture and external affairs, Jim Mather will be minister for enterprise, energy and tourism, and Stewart Stevenson will be responsible for transport, infrastructure and climate change.

Maureen Watt will be minister for schools and skills, Adam Ingram will be minister for children and early years, Shona Robison will be minister for public health, Stewart Maxwell will be minister for communities and sport, Fergus Ewing will be minister for "community safety", and Mike Russell, who ran against Alex Salmond for the SNP leadership in 2004, will be responsible for the environment.

The announcement followed hours of hectic activity which began after Mr Salmond was voted into office at 11.11am in a historic Scottish Parliament vote that installed him as the first leader of a Nationalist government in Scotland in the history of the UK. Shortly after the vote, Buckingham Palace announced that the Queen has signed the warrant which formally appoints him.