Edwin Poots MLA was appointed Minister of the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety in the Northern Ireland Executive on 16 May 2011.

Edwin Poots was born in 1965 and was educated at the Wallace High School, Lisburn, and then Greenmount Agricultural College. He is married with four children. He is a farmer and was a member of Lisburn City Council from 1997 to 2010. He was elected as member for Lagan Valley to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1998.

Edwin was a member of the Environment Committee and chaired the Committee of the Centre (i.e. Committee for the Office of the First and Deputy First Ministers) in the 1998-2003 Assembly. On 8 May 2007, he was appointed Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure in the Northern Ireland Executive, a post he held until 9 June 2008. He was appointed Minister of the Environment in the Northern Ireland Executive on 30 June 2009, until May 2011.