Corresponding to what is generally known as an education minister in many other countries, the education secretary's remit is concerned primarily with England. This includes:
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 position of Secretary of State for Education and Science was created in 1964 with the merger of the offices of Minister of Education and the Minister of Science. The postholder oversaw the Department of Education and Science.
From June 1970 to March 1974, this post was held by future prime minister Margaret Thatcher.[7]
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.
On 7 July 2022, Michelle Donelan became the shortest-serving cabinet member in British history, when she resigned as Education Secretary 35 hours after being appointed.[9]
List of office holders
Vice-President of the Committee of the Council on Education (1857–1902)
^"Work of the Education Secretary Committee". BBC PARLIAMENT. 30 April 2012. Retrieved 21 February 2022. Recorded coverage of the Education select committee on the work of the Secretary of State with Education Secretary Michael Gove
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