Department for Education

History

The DfE was formed on 12 May 2010 by the incoming Cameron ministry, taking on the responsibilities and resources of the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF).

In June 2012 the Department for Education committed a breach of the UK's Data Protection Act due to a security flaw on its website which made email addresses, passwords and comments of people responding to consultation documents available for download.

In July 2016, the Department took over responsibilities for higher and further education and for apprenticeship from the dissolved Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Predecessor bodies

Responsibilities

The department is led by the Secretary of State for Education. The Permanent Secretary is Jonathan Slater. DfE is responsible for education, children’s services, higher and further education policy, apprenticeships and wider skills in England, and equalities. The predecessor department employed the equivalent of 2,695 staff as of April 2008 and as at June 2016, DfE had reduced its workforce to the equivalent of 2,301 staff. In 2015-16, the DfE has a budget of £58.2bn, which includes £53.6bn resource spending and £4.6bn of capital investments.

Ministers

The Department for Education's ministers are as follows:

Board

As of 2 August 2016 the management board:

Non-executive board members:

Locations

As of 2 August 2016, the DfE has five main sites:

The DfE is due to vacate Sanctuary Buildings in September 2017, relocating staff to the Old Admiralty Building

Education Funding Agency

The Education Funding Agency (EFA) is responsible for distributing funding for state education in England for 3-19 year olds, as well as managing the estates of schools and colleges. The EFA was formed on 1 April 2012 by bringing together the functions of two non-departmental public bodies, the Young People's Learning Agency and Partnerships for Schools.

National College for Teaching and Leadership

The National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) is responsible for administering the training of new and existing teachers in England, as well as the regulation of the teaching profession and offers headteachers, school leaders and senior children's services leaders opportunities for professional development. It was established on 1 April 2013, when the Teaching Agency (which replaced the Training and Development Agency for Schools and parts of the General Teaching Council for England) merged with the National College for School Leadership.

Skills Funding Agency

The Skills Funding Agency is responsible for funding skills training for further education in England, as well as running the National Apprenticeship Service and the National Careers Service. The SFA was formed on 1 April 2010, following the closure of the Learning and Skills Council. It shares a Chief Executive, Peter Lauener, and Chief Financial Officer with the Education Funding Agency.

Standards and Testing Agency

The Standards and Testing Agency (STA) is responsible for developing and delivering all statutory assessments for school pupils in England. It was formed on 1 October 2011 and took over the functions of the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency. The STA is regulated by the examinations regulator, Ofqual.

Public bodies

The DfE is also supported by 10 public bodies:

Devolution

Education, youth and children's policy is devolved elsewhere in the UK. The department's main devolved counterparts are as follows:

Scotland

Northern Ireland

Wales

National Curriculum 2014

The Department for Education released a new National Curriculum for schools in England for September 2014, which included 'Computing'. Following Michael Gove's speech in 2012, the subject of Information Communication Technology (ICT) has been disapplied and replaced by Computing. With the new curriculum, materials have been written by commercial companies, to support non-specialist teachers, for example, '100 Computing Lessons' by Scholastic. The Computing at Schools organisation has created a 'Network of Teaching Excellence' to support schools with the new curriculum.