Ministerial role
Minister of State (Minister for Schools and Childhood)
Organisations:
Department for Education
Current role holder:
Kelly Tolhurst MP
Responsibilities
The minister’s responsibilities include:
- strategy for schools, including standards and selection
- qualifications (including links with Ofqual)
- curriculum including relationships, sex, and health education and personal, social, health and economic education
- admissions and school transport
- early years and childcare
- children’s social care
- children in care, children in need, child protection, adoption and care leavers
- disadvantaged and vulnerable children
- families, including family hubs and early childhood support
- special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including high needs funding
- alternative provision
- school food, including free school meals
- children and young people’s mental health, online safety and preventing bullying in schools
- policy to protect against serious violence
Current role holder
Kelly Tolhurst MP
Kelly Tolhurst was appointed Minister of State (Minister for Schools and Childhood) at the Department for Education on 7 September 2022.
She was previously appointed Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip) from 1 July 2022 to 7 September 2022.
Prior to this Kelly served as:
- Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government - September 2020 to January 2021
- Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Transport -February to September 2020
- Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy - July 2018 to February 2020
Kelly was elected as Conservative MP for Rochester and Strood on 7 May 2015.