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.

List

Vice-President of the Committee of the Council on Education

• William Cowper (February 5, 1857 - February 21, 1858)
• Charles Adderley (March 12, 1858 - June 11, 1859)
• Robert Lowe (June 24, 1859 - April 26, 1864) (Resigned)
• Henry Bruce (April 26, 1864 - June 26, 1866)
• Henry Lowry-Corry (June 26, 1866 - March 19, 1867)
• Lord Robert Montagu (March 19, 1867 - December 1, 1868)
• William Forster (December 9, 1868 - February 17, 1874)
• Viscount Sandon (March 2, 1874 - April 4, 1878)
• Lord George Hamilton (April 4, 1878 - April 21, 1880)
• Anthony Mundella (May 3, 1880 - June 9, 1885)
• Edward Stanhope (June 24, 1885 - September 17, 1885)
• Sir Henry Holland (September 17, 1885 - January 28, 1886)
• Sir Lyon Playfair (February 13, 1886 - July 20, 1886)
• Sir Henry Holland (August 3, 1886 - January 25, 1887)
• Sir William Hart Dyke (January 25, 1887 - August 11, 1892)
• Arthur Acland (August 25, 1892 - June 21, 1895)
• Sir John Eldon Gorst (July 4, 1895 - August 8, 1902)

President of the Board of Education

• Duke of Devonshire (April 1, 1900 - August 8, 1902)
• Marquess of Londonderry (August 8, 1902 - December 4, 1905)
• Augustine Birrell (December 10, 1905 - January 23, 1907)
• Reginald McKenna (January 23, 1907 - April 12, 1908)
• Walter Runciman (April 12, 1908 - October 23, 1911)
• Joseph Albert Pease (October 23, 1911 - May 25, 1915)
• Arthur Henderson (May 25, 1915 - August 18, 1916)
• Marquess of Crewe (August 18, 1916 - December 10, 1916)
• H.A.L. Fisher (December 10, 1916 - October 19, 1922)
• Edward Wood (October 24, 1922 - January 22, 1924)
• Charles Philips Trevelyan (January 22, 1924 - November 3, 1924)
• Lord Eustace Percy (November 6, 1924 - June 4, 1929)
• Sir Charles Philips Trevelyan (June 7, 1929 - March 2, 1931) (Resigned)
• Hastings Bertram Lees-Smith (March 2, 1931 - August 24, 1931)
• Sir Donald Maclean (August 25, 1931 - June 15, 1932) (Died in office)
• Baron Irwin (Edward Wood) (Viscount Halifax from 1934) (June 15, 1932 - June 7, 1935)
• Oliver Stanley (June 7, 1935 - May 28, 1937)
• Earl Stanhope (May 28, 1937 - October 27, 1938)
• Earl De La Warr (October 27, 1938 - April 3, 1940)
• Herwald Ramsbotham (April 3, 1940 - July 20, 1941)
• Rab Butler (July 20, 1941 - August 3, 1944)

Minister of Education

• Rab Butler (August 3, 1944 - May 25, 1945)
• Richard Law (May 25, 1945 - July 26, 1945)
• Ellen Wilkinson (August 3, 1945 - February 6, 1947) (Died in office)
• George Tomlinson (February 10, 1947 - October 26, 1951)
• Florence Horsbrugh (November 2, 1951 - October 18, 1954)
• David Eccles (October 18, 1954 - January 13, 1957)
• Viscount Hailsham (January 13, 1957 - September 17, 1957)
• Geoffrey Lloyd (September 17, 1957 - October 14, 1959)
• David Eccles (October 14, 1959 - July 13, 1962)
• Sir Edward Boyle (July 13, 1962 - April 1, 1964)

Secretary of State for Education and Science

• Quintin Hogg (formerly Viscount Hailsham) (April 1, 1964 - October 16, 1964)
• Michael Stewart (October 18, 1964 - January 22, 1965)
• Anthony Crosland (January 22, 1965 - August 29, 1967)
• Patrick Gordon Walker (August 29, 1967 - April 6, 1968)
• Edward Short (April 6, 1968 - June 19, 1970)
• Margaret Thatcher (June 20, 1970 - March 4, 1974)
• Reginald Prentice (March 5, 1974 - June 10, 1975)
• Fred Mulley (June 10, 1975 - September 10, 1976)
• Shirley Williams (September 10, 1976 - May 4, 1979)
• Mark Carlisle (May 5, 1979 - September 14, 1981)
• Sir Keith Joseph, Bt. (September 14, 1981 - May 21, 1986)
• Kenneth Baker (May 21, 1986 - July 24, 1989)
• John MacGregor (July 24, 1989 - November 2, 1990)
• Kenneth Clarke (November 2, 1990 - April 10, 1992)

Secretary of State for Education

• John Patten (April 10, 1992 - July 20, 1994)
• Gillian Shepherd (July 20, 1994 - July 5, 1995)

Secretary of State for Education and Employment

• Gillian Shepherd (July 5, 1995 - May 2, 1997)
• David Blunkett (May 2, 1997 - June 8, 2001)

Secretary of State for Education and Skills

• Estelle Morris (June 8, 2001 - October 24, 2002) (Resigned)
• Charles Clarke (October 24, 2002 - December 15, 2004)
• Ruth Kelly (December 15, 2004 onwards)

See also

• UK topics