Appointer Elizabeth II | Website DfE | |
 | ||
Style The Right Honourable
(formal prefix)
Education Secretary 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 | ||
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;
Contents
- History
- Vice President of the Committee of the Council on Education
- President of the Board of Education
- Minister of Education
- Secretary of State for Education and Science
- Secretary of State for Education
- Secretary of State for Education and Employment
- Secretary of State for Education and Skills
- Secretaries of State for Children Schools and Families and Innovation Universities and Skills
- References
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. As of 14 July 2016, the position is held by Justine Greening as her predesseccesor, Nicky Morgan was sacked by Theresa May.
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
Secretary of State for Education
Colour key (for political parties):
Conservative
Secretary of State for Education and Employment
Colour key (for political parties):
Conservative Labour
Secretary of State for Education and Skills
Colour key (for political parties):
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
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