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Secretary of State for Education and Skills

The Secretary of State for Education and Skills is the chief minister of the Department for Education and Skills in the United Kingdom government.

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 April 1, 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).

The current Secretary of State for Education and Skills is Ruth Kelly following the promotion of Charles Clarke to Home Secretary on December 15, 2004. Kelly is a graduate of Oxford University which gives rise to the hope that she will work more smoothly together with Andrew Adonis who is to be said the real Secretary of State for Education, but not to be promoted since he has not any voters support.

Contents

List

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

See also

Last updated: 05-07-2005 03:29:34
Last updated: 05-13-2005 07:56:04