Secretary of State for Education
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| Secretary of State for Education | |
|---|---|
_(St_Edwards_Crown).svg) | |
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| Department for Education | |
| Style | Education Secretary (informal) The Right Honourable (within the UK and the Commonwealth) |
| Appointer | The Monarch on advice of the Prime Minister |
| Formation | 10 April 1992 |
| First holder | William Cowper-Temple as Committee of the Council on Education (5 February 1857) John Patten as Secretary of State for Education |
| Website | www.gov.uk |
| 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 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.
History
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.
On 1 April 1900, the Board of Education Act 1899 abolished the committee and instituted a new board, headed by a president. 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 Education Act 1944 replaced the Board of Education with a new Ministry of Education.
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, made a peer and given the title 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. From 14 July 2016 to January 8, 2018 the post was held by Justine Greening, as her predecessor, Nicky Morgan, was sacked by Theresa May. Greening resigned after rejecting a reshuffle to the Department for Work and Pensions. [2]
List of office holders
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
Colour key (for political parties):
Conservative
Labour
Secretary of State for Education and Science
Colour key (for political parties):
Conservative
Labour
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Secretary of State for Education
Colour key (for political parties):
Conservative
| Name | Term of office | 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
Colour key (for political parties):
Conservative
Labour
| Name | Portrait | Term of office | 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 | 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 | 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 Labour Co-op (Balls) |
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 remained with the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Vince Cable 2010–2015, Sajid Javid 2015–2016), until reunited with the Department for Education in 2016.
Colour key (for political parties):
Conservative
| Name | Portrait | Term of office | Party | Prime Minister | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | Michael Gove | 
|
11 May 2010 | 15 July 2014 | Conservative | rowspan=3 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | David Cameron (Coalition) |
| rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | Nicky Morgan | 
|
15 July 2014 | 14 July 2016 | Conservative | ||
| David Cameron (II) | |||||||
| style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | Justine Greening | 
|
14 July 2016 | 8 January 2018 | Conservative | style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | Theresa May |
| style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | Damian Hinds |
|
8 January 2018 | Incumbent | Conservative | style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | Theresa May (II) |
References
- ^ "Responsibilities of the Secretary of State for Education", accessed January 6, 2014
- ^ "Reshuffle: Greening quits government". BBC News. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
- ^ "No. 27172". The London Gazette. 9 March 1900. p. 1609.
External links
