Department for Education and Skills

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The Department for Education and Skills is a department in the United Kingdom government created in 2001.

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, with Herbert Bowden (later to become Baron Aylestone) as minister.

In 1992 the responsibility for science was transferred to the Cabinet Office's Office of Public Service and the Department of Trade and Industry's Office of Science and Technology, and the department was renamed Department of Education.

In 1995, in the reshuffle after the Conservative leadership election of that year, the department merged with the Department of Employment to become the Department for Education and Employment (DfEE).

Most recently, after the 2001 general election, 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).

DfES civil servants work in either one of four locations: London (Sanctuary Buildings or Caxton House, both close to Westminster Abbey), Sheffield (Moorfoot) Darlington (Mowden Hall)as well as in Government Offices.

Contents 1 Ministers 2 Permanent Secretary 3 See also 4 External links

[edit] Ministers

Ministers in the Department for Education and Skills as of 5 May 2006:

• Secretary of State for Education and Skills - The Rt Hon. Alan Johnson MP
• Ministers of State:
  • ... for Schools - Jim Knight MP
  • ... for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education - Bill Rammell MP
  • ... for Children, Young People and Families - Beverley Hughes MP
• Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State
  • ... for Schools - Lord Adonis
  • ... Skills and Vocational Education - Phil Hope MP
  • ... Children - Parmjit Dhanda MP

[edit] Permanent Secretary

Permanent Secretaries in the Department for Education and Skills:

• David Bell: Jan 2006 - current (DfES)
• Sir David Normington: May 2001 - Dec 2005 (Department for Education and Employment / DfES)
• Sir Michael Bichard: July 1995 - May 2001 (DfEE)
• Sir Timothy Patrick Lankester: Feb 1994 - July 1995 (Department for Education / DfEE)
• Sir Geoffrey Holland: Jan 1993 - Jan 1994 (DfE)
• Sir John Caines: July 1989 - Jan 1993 (Department of Education and Science / DfE)
• Sir David Hancock: May 1983 - June 1989 (DES)
• Sir James Hamilton: May 1976 - May 1983 (DES)
• Sir William Pile: Aug 1970 - May 1976 (DES)

[edit] See also

• British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta)

[edit] External links

• Official website
• Science Learning Centres website The national network of Science Learning Centres provides Continuing Professional Development for everyone involved in science education. The network is a joint initiative by the Department for Education and Skills and the Wellcome Trust.