DUP: Who are the new members of Edwin Poots' ministerial team?

Paul Givan accompanied Edwin Poots to meet the taoiseach in Dublin last week

Edwin Poots made clear his desire to reshuffle the Democratic Unionist Party's (DUP) ministerial line-up soon after he was chosen as party leader.

Those changes have now been announced, with Lagan Valley MLA Paul Givan nominated as first minister.

BBC News NI looks at the new members of the DUP's ministerial team as Mr Poots moulds the party more in his image.

Paul Givan

Paul Givan took blows with a smile at a boxing club in 2016 when he was communities minister

Paul Givan's political trajectory has taken him from working in Edwin Poots' constituency office to first minister.

The Lagan Valley assembly member said it was a "huge task" to follow in the footsteps of DUP founder Ian Paisley, and his successors Peter Robinson and Arlene Foster, whom he referred to as "giants".

Aged 39, he will become the youngest person to hold the position of Northern Ireland's first minister.

Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster's Evening Extra after his appointment, Mr Givan's father Alan said he worried the role of first minister had come too soon for his son and his "young shoulders".

A staunch supporter of the DUP leader, Mr Givan was one of the early names to be tipped for the post of first minister when the Mr Poots made it known that he would not take on the role.

His working relationship with the new DUP leader goes back two decades and when he was first elected to public office in 2005 Mr Givan served alongside Mr Poots on Lisburn City Council.

Mr Givan's assembly career began in 2010, when he was co-opted in the Lagan Valley constituency to replace Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, again working alongside Mr Poots.

The two men share a constituency office in Lisburn.

This is not Mr Givan's first ministerial role. In 2016 he was appointed as communities minister, although his time in the post was cut short by the collapse of Stormont in January 2017.

As communities minister, his decision to cut funding to an Irish language scheme was cited by Martin McGuinness as one of the reasons for his resignation in January 2017.

Mr Givan endorsed Mr Poots' bid for leadership of the DUP.

He studied at Laurelhill Community College in Lisburn and holds a degree in business studies alongside an advanced diploma in management practice.

A married father of three, he is a member of the Free Presbyterian Church.

Read more: How will Paul Givan handle the top job?

Paul Frew

Paul Frew has been a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly since 2010

Paul Frew has been selected as economy minister, replacing Diane Dodds who has occupied the post since 2020.

He tweeted that he was "honoured and humbled" to be given the opportunity and praised Mrs Dodds who "led the department and supported businesses through the most challenging of times".

However, during the pandemic he has been critical of executive decisions taken to keep businesses closed as part of measures designed to restrict the spread of Covid-19.

An electrician by trade, the North Antrim assembly member (MLA) powered Edwin Poots' successful campaign for the DUP leadership.

A native of Broughshane, County Antrim, he has represented his constituency since 2010, when he replaced Ian Paisley, who had been elected to Westminster.

Prior to that, he served as a councillor on Ballymena Borough Council.

A member of the DUP since 2000, he was in the running for the deputy leader position in May but eventually pulled out of the race.

He is married to his childhood sweetheart Julie and is the father of three children.

Michelle McIlveen

Michelle McIlveen - pictured in 2011 with Jonathan Bell and Peter Robinson - has represented Strangford since 2007

Michelle McIlveen has been chosen as the new education minister.

She replaces Peter Weir, who took up the role in 2020.

A former student at Belfast's Methodist College, Ms McIlveen holds a masters in Irish politics and a certificate in education from Queen's University Belfast.

No stranger to the classroom, she is a former teacher of history and politics to A-level students at Grosvenor Grammar School in Belfast.

The Strangford MLA, who has been a member of the assembly since her election in 2007, said she "does not underestimate the challenges ahead".

Ms McIlveen's first ministerial role was that of junior minister to the then DUP leader and First Minister Peter Robinson in 2015.

In January of that year she was appointed as minister for regional development, a post she held until March 2016.

From May 2016 to Stormont's collapse in 2017, she served as the minister of agriculture, environment and rural affairs, the position currently occupied by Edwin Poots.

Gary Middleton

Gary Middleton - pictured celebrating his re-election in 2016 - has already briefly served as a junior minister

Formerly a computer science student, the soon-to-be new junior minister Gary Middleton was elected to Derry City Council in 2011 when he was just 20 years old.

He served as the city's deputy mayor from 2013 until his co-option to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2015.

As a supporter of Sir Jeffrey Donaldson in the DUP leadership campaign, his appointment has been seen as an attempt by Edwin Poots to reach out beyond his core support base.

Before joining the assembly, Mr Middleton worked in several different roles including with NYSE Technologies, NI Water and as a youth coordinator.

Aged 24-years-old, he became the DUP MLA for Foyle making him the youngest assembly member at the time.

Mr Middleton has also stood as the party's Westminster candidate for Foyle in the last three general elections.

He brings some previous experience to the role of junior minister having briefly held the role while Gordon Lyons stepped into the agriculture brief at the start of this year while Edwin Poots received treatment for cancer.

Paula Bradley

Paula Bradley's positions on issues like same sex marriage and abortion are more liberal than those of some DUP colleagues

Paula Bradley, who was selected by her party colleagues to replace Lord Dodds as the deputy leader of the DUP in May, will will stay in her role as chair of the Communities Committee at Stormont.

She began work in the DUP's communications office in 2002 and her career branched into the political sphere from there.

She has served as an assembly member for North Belfast since 2011, having previously served on Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council.

She was chosen as mayor of the council in 2010.

Ms Bradley's positions on issues such as same sex marriage and abortion access in Northern Ireland are more liberal than those of some DUP colleagues.

She recently abstained from an assembly vote calling on gay conversion therapy to be banned, which the rest of her party voted against.

Outside of the party, Ms Bradley has worked as a social worker at Antrim Area Hospital.