Secretary of State for Education
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| United Kingdom Secretary of State for Education | |
|---|---|
_(St_Edwards_Crown).svg) Arms of Her Majesty's Government | |
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| Department for Education | |
| Style | The Right Honourable |
| Appointer | Elizabeth II |
| Inaugural holder | William Cowper-Temple Committee of the Council on Education John Patten Secretary of State for Education |
| Formation | 5 February 1857 10 April 1992 |
| Website | DfE |
| This article is part of a series on |
| Politics of the United Kingdom |
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Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Education (frequently shortened to the Education Secretary) is the chief minister of the Department for Education in the United Kingdom government. The current position is held by Nicky Morgan. The position was re-established on 12 May 2010. Under the provisions for devolved government in the UK its remit applies only to England, covering;[1]
- Early years
- Adoption and child protection
- Teachers’ pay
- The school curriculum
- School improvement
- The establishment of academies and free schools.
A Committee of the Privy Council was appointed in 1839 to supervise the distribution of certain Government grants in the education field. The members of the Committee were the Lord President of the Council, the Secretaries of State, the First Lord of the Treasury, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. From 1857 a Vice President was appointed who took responsibility for policy.
In 1899, the Board of Education Act abolished the Committee and instituted a new Board, headed by a President, as of 1 April 1900. The members were initially very similar to the old Committee and the President of the Board was the Lord President of the Council; however, from 1902 this ceased to be the case and the President of the Board was appointed separately (although the Marquess of Londonderry happened to hold both jobs from 1903 to 1905).
The Department of Education and Science was created in 1964 with the merger of the offices of Minister of Education and the Minister of Science. In 1992 the responsibility for science was transferred to Cabinet Office’s Office of Public Service, and the department was renamed Department of Education. In 1995 the department merged with the Department of Employment to become the Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) and in 2001 the employment functions were transferred to a newly created Department for Work and Pensions, with the DfEE becoming the Department for Education and Skills (DfES). In 2007 under Gordon Brown's new premiership, the DfES was split into two new departments; the Department for Children, Schools and Families, and a Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, under two new Secretaries of State.
The ministerial office of the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills was, in late 2009, amalgamated into the new ministerial office of the resurgent politician, Peter Mandelson, ennobled as Lord Mandelson as the newly created Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills – itself an amalgamation of the responsibilities of the Secretaries of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and Innovation, Universities and Skills – the Secretary of State has remit over Higher Education policy as well as British business and enterprise. As of 12 May 2010, it is headed by Secretary of State Vince Cable.
List
Vice-President of the Committee of the Council on Education
Colour key (for political parties):
Whig
Conservative
Liberal
President of the Board of Education
Colour key (for political parties):
Liberal Unionist
Conservative
Liberal
Labour
National Labour
Minister of Education
Minister of Education 1957
Secretary of State for Education and Science 1964
Colour key (for political parties):
Conservative
Labour
| Name | Term of office | Political party | Prime Minister | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | R. A. Butler | 3 August 1944 | 25 May 1945 | Conservative | rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | Winston Churchill (War Coalition) |
| style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | Richard Law | 25 May 1945 | 26 July 1945 | Conservative | Winston Churchill (Caretaker Min.) | |
| style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" | | Ellen Wilkinson | 3 August 1945 | 6 February 1947 (died in office) |
Labour | rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" | | Clement Attlee |
| style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" | | George Tomlinson | 10 February 1947 | 26 October 1951 | Labour | ||
| style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | Florence Horsbrugh | 2 November 1951 | 18 October 1954 | Conservative | rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | Sir Winston Churchill |
| rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | David Eccles | 18 October 1954 | 13 January 1957 | Conservative | ||
| style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | Sir Anthony Eden | |||||
| style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | The Viscount Hailsham | 13 January 1957 | 17 September 1957 | Conservative | rowspan=4 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | Harold Macmillan |
| style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | Geoffrey Lloyd | 17 September 1957 | 14 October 1959 | Conservative | ||
| style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | David Eccles | 14 October 1959 | 13 July 1962 | Conservative | ||
| rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | Sir Edward Boyle, Bt | 13 July 1962 | 1 April 1964 | Conservative | ||
| style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | Sir Alec Douglas-Home | |||||
Secretary of State for Education and Science
Secretary of State for Education and Science 1970–1974
Secretary of State for Education and Science 1990–1992
Colour key (for political parties):
Conservative
Labour
Secretary of State for Education
Colour key (for political parties):
Conservative
| Name | Term of office | Political party | Prime Minister | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | John Patten | 10 April 1992 | 20 July 1994 | Conservative | rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | John Major |
| style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | Gillian Shephard | 20 July 1994 | 5 July 1995 | Conservative | ||
Secretary of State for Education and Employment
Secretary of State for Education and Employment 1997–2001
Colour key (for political parties):
Conservative
Labour
| Name | Term of office | Political party | Prime Minister | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | Gillian Shephard | 5 July 1995 | 2 May 1997 | Conservative | style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | John Major |
| style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" | | David Blunkett | 2 May 1997 | 8 June 2001 | Labour | style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" | | Tony Blair |
Secretary of State for Education and Skills
Colour key (for political parties):
Labour
| Name | Portrait | Term of office | Political party | Prime Minister | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" | | Estelle Morris | 
|
8 June 2001 | 24 October 2002 (resigned) |
Labour | rowspan=4 style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" | | Tony Blair |
| style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" | | Charles Clarke | 
|
24 October 2002 | 15 December 2004 | Labour | ||
| style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" | | Ruth Kelly | 
|
15 December 2004 | 5 May 2006 | Labour | ||
| style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" | | Alan Johnson | 
|
5 May 2006 | 27 June 2007 | Labour | ||
Secretaries of State for Children, Schools and Families; and Innovation, Universities and Skills
In 2007, the education portfolio was divided between the Department for Children, Schools and Families (responsible for infant, primary and secondary education), and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (responsible for further, higher and adult education). In 2009, the latter department was merged into the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
Colour key (for political parties):
Labour
Labour Co-operative
| Sec.State for Children, Schools and Families |
Sec.State for Innovation, Universities and Skills |
Term of office | Political party | Prime Minister | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Labour Co-operative/meta/color" | | Ed Balls | 
|
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" | | John Denham | 
|
28 June 2007 | 5 June 2009 | Labour Co-op (Balls) Labour (Denham) |
rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" | | Gordon Brown |
| Post abolished; duties transferred to Sec.State for Business, Innovation and Skills. |
5 June 2009 | 11 May 2010 | ||||||||
Secretary of State for Education
The Department for Education and the post of Secretary of State for Education were recreated in 2010. Responsibility for higher and adult education remains with the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, currently Vince Cable.
Colour key (for political parties):
Conservative
| Name | Portrait | Term of office | Political party | Prime Minister | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | Michael Gove | 
|
11 May 2010 | 15 July 2014 | Conservative | rowspan="2" style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | David Cameron (Coalition) |
| style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | Nicola Morgan |
|
15 July 2014 | Incumbent | Conservative | ||
External links
References
- ^ "Responsibilities of the Secretary of State for Education", accessed January 6, 2014