Vikki Howells
Vikki Howells is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative politician serving as Minister for Further and Higher Education since September 2024. Since May 2016, she has also been the Member of the Senedd for Cynon Valley. Howells is a former teacher. Background and personal lifeHowells was brought up in Cwmbach, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales.[1] She was educated at St John the Baptist School, a Church in Wales secondary school in Aberdare.[2] She studied International and Welsh history at the University of Wales, Cardiff, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree.[2] She remained at Cardiff to undertake postgraduate study in Modern Welsh History, and graduated with a Master of Arts degree.[2] Her partner was Hefin David, former MS for the neighbouring Caerphilly constituency.[3] CareerTeaching careerBefore her election to the Senedd, Howells was a history teacher and the assistant head of sixth form at St Cenydd Comprehensive School in Caerphilly, South Wales. Political careerHowells has been a Member of the Labour Party since she was 17.[2] In December 2015, it was announced that Howells had been selected as the Welsh Labour candidate for the Cynon Valley constituency of the Senedd.[4] On 5 May 2016, she was elected as a Member of the Welsh Assembly, she received 9,830 votes (51.1% of the votes cast, and a majority of 5,994).[1] She was re-elected as a Labour and Co-operative Party candidate[5] at the 2021 Senedd election with an increased majority of 7,468 votes.[6] Howells supported Vaughan Gething in the 2018 and February–March 2024 Welsh Labour leadership elections.[7][8] Howells chaired the Welsh Labour Group of MSs from 2017 to 2024.[9] She is also president of the mental health charity Friends R Us and vice-president of Cwmbach Male Voice Choir.[9][3] Vikki is also a member of the Cynon Valley History Society, the social justice thinktank the Bevan Foundation, the Co-operative Party, the GMB and USDAW.[9][3] Howells chaired the Senedd Standards of Conduct Committee between 2021 and 2024.[10] She was appointed as Minister for Further and Higher Education under First Minister Eluned Morgan in September 2024.[11] References
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