Kit Malthouse appointed as new Secretary of State for Education
As Prime Minister and new Conservative Party leader Liz Truss appoints her new cabinet, Kit Malthouse, Member of Parliament for North West Hampshire, has been appointed as the new Secretary of state for Education.
Kit Malthouse was appointed Secretary of State for Education on 6 September 2022
The Member of Parliament for North West Hampshire has worked as Work and Pensions Ministers, Crime and Policing Minister, and served as chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
He is the fourth education secretary in the past two months, and the fifth in the past year. The previous holder James Claverly and MP for Braintree in Essex has been appointed as new Foreign Secretary.
We are expecting more announcements on further Department for Education appointments including Children and Families Minister soon.
National Day Nurseries Association Chief Executive Purnima Tanuku said of the appointment: “We welcome the new Secretary of State for Education, Kit Malthouse, and look forward to working with him. As the fifth education secretary in the past year, he has an overflowing in-tray. We now hope to see some continuity and stability in this department.
“His priority must be to invest sufficiently in the early years sector and its workforce, because they make all the difference to children’s education and ultimately, life chances. We will share our First Five Years Count campaign with him which focuses on raising awareness of this critical window of opportunity and encouraging more talent into the profession.
“All children deserve to have the best start in life. Evidence shows that high quality early education reduces the attainment gap and saves further investment in children’s later school life.
“But the early years sector is facing huge challenges with rising costs. Any package of support for businesses must include childcare providers in both the private and voluntary sectors. Nurseries need to be made exempt from paying business rates and VAT, which would put them on a level playing field with local authority settings and schools. In order to remain sustainable and avoid more hikes in parental fees, Mr Malthouse should ensure government funding rates for two, three and four-year-olds are given a meaningful boost, then must keep pace with inflation.
“In her first speech as Prime Minister, Liz Truss referred to the need to help families. One vital way of doing this is to make childcare and early education more affordable by bringing the government contribution into line with other OECD countries. This will enable more parents to work or increase their hours and will improve children’s outcomes especially literacy and numeracy, as outlined in her six point education plan during the leadership race.”
- England
- Department for Education
- education
- Kit Malthouse
- Liz Truss
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