Department for Children, Schools and Families Ministerial Team

Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families
Rt HON Ed Balls MP

Ed Balls was appointed Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families on 28 June 2007. His principal focus will be to ensure that every child gets the best possible start in life, that they are safe and healthy, that they secure the highest standards of achievements, that they enjoy their childhood and that they can make a positive contribution to society free from the effects of poverty.

Ed Balls was previously Economic Secretary to the Treasury, taking up appointment on 5 May 2006. He has been a Member of Parliament for Normanton since 2005. He was born in 1967 and educated at Nottingham High School; Keble College, Oxford; and the John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard.

Ed Balls was a teaching fellow Department of Economics, Harvard 1989-90; and an Economics Leader writer and columnist for the Financial Times 1990-94. He was Economic Adviser to the then Shadow Chancellor Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP 1994-97; Secretary Labour Party Economic Policy Commission 1994-97; Economic Adviser to the Chancellor of the Exchequer 1997-99; Chief Economic Adviser to HM Treasury 1999-2004; and Research Fellow, Smith Institute 2004-05.

Ed Balls has had a number of publications including Towards a New Regional Policy and Reforming Britain’s economic and financial policy: towards greater economic stability and Microeconomic Reform in Britain: Delivering Opportunities for All. He is a member of the TGWU, Unison and the Co-operative Party.

Ed Balls is married to Yvette Cooper MP and has three children. Outside work his interests include music, cooking and playing football with his children.

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Minister of State for Schools and Learners
Jim Knight MP

Jim Knight’s principal policy areas include raising school standards including public examinations and national tests, the national curriculum, 14-19 education and Diplomas, school funding and capital including Building Schools for the Future, and school workforce issues.

Jim Knight was first appointed as Minister of State to the then Department for Education and Skills in May 2006. Previously Minister for Rural Affairs, Landscape and Biodiversity since the 2005 General Election, Jim Knight was elected MP for Dorset South in June 2001.

He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Rosie Winterton at the Department of Health between 2003 and 2004, before going on to serve as PPS to the Department of Health’s Ministerial Team.

Jim Knight, 41, was educated at Cambridge. Before entering Parliament, he managed a publishing company, based in the West Country, for 10 years. Prior to that, he managed arts venues and worked for a small scale travelling theatre company. He is married with two children.

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Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Schools and Learners
Sarah McCarthy-Fry MP

Sarah McCarthy Fry’s principal policy areas include admissions, the National Curriculum and SEN.

Sarah was elected as Labour and Co-operative MP for Portsmouth North in the 2005 general election, succeeding Syd Rapson. Born in 1955, she is the daughter of a defence worker of Scottish descent.

Educated at Portsmouth High School, Sarah qualified as a chartered accountant while working for multi-national defence engineering company GKN Westland. Before being elected as an MP, she was financial controller for GKN Aerospace Services, based at Cowes, Isle of Wight.

Sarah was elected to Portsmouth City Council in 1994 following a successful campaign against plans to build an incinerator in Portsmouth , and she chaired the council’s Environment Committee. She then spent five years as deputy leader, taking responsibility for Finance and Resources.

In her free time she enjoys tap dancing, dog walking and amateur dramatics. Sarah is also a fan of The Who.

She married her second husband, Tony McCarthy, in 1997 and has four grown up children.

In 2006, Sarah was made PPS to John Healey, Financial Secretary to the Treasury and in the 2007 reshuffle she was appointed PPS to Chief Whip, Geoff Hoon.

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Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families
Rt HON Beverley Hughes MP

Beverley Hughes' principal policy areas include leading the cross-Government agenda for children's well-being, safety, protection and care; family policy including parenting support; teenage pregnancy strategy; Sure Start, childcare and early education, the Every Child Matters agenda, and extended schools. She shares joint responsibility with other government departments for youth justice and child poverty.

Beverley Hughes was first appointed as Minister of State to the then Department for Education and Skills in May 2005. She continues in the role and will now attend Cabinet when social policy issues are being discussed, as well as holding additional responsibilities as Minister for the North West.

Her most recent previous appointment was in May 2002 as Minister of State with responsibility for Citizenship, Immigration and Counter Terrorism. In June 2001, she was appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Home Office. In July 1999, she was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the then Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, with responsibility for local government, regeneration, regions, planning and construction.

From June 1997 she served as a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee until her appointment as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Hilary Armstrong, Minister of State for Local Government and Housing in July 1998. Beverley Hughes was elected Member of Parliament for Stretford and Urmston in 1997.

Before entering Parliament Beverley Hughes qualified and worked in Merseyside as a probation officer and subsequently became Senior Lecturer and Head of Department in the Department of Social Policy and Social Work at the University of Manchester.

She was elected to Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council in 1986, and was Leader of the Council from 1995 until her election to the House of Commons in 1997. Beverley Hughes was educated at Ellesmere Port Girls' Grammar School, Manchester University and Liverpool University. She is married with three children who all attended local primary and secondary schools.

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Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children, Young People and Families
Baroness Delyth Morgan

Delyth Morgan’s principal policy areas include safeguarding and child protection, drugs and alcohol, sport and healthy eating.

Delyth Morgan has joined the department from the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills where she was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Intellectual Property and Quality.

Born in London on 30 August 1961, Baroness Morgan was educated at Elliot Comprehensive, London and then at Putney College of Further Education.  She went on to study for a BSc in Physiology at Bedford College and University College London, and she was President of the London University Union from 1985 to 1986.

Delyth Morgan became a peer in 2004 while she was Chief Executive of Breakthrough Breast Cancer (1996-2005) and before that she was Director of Communications for the National Asthma Campaign (1992-96).  Prior to this she held the post of Director of the Workplace Nurseries Campaign (1988-92) and was Campaigns Organiser at Shelter (1986-88).

Other positions she has held include Chair of the Childcare Umbrella (1989-92) and membership of the Cancer Task Force (2000-05) and the NHS Modernisation Board (2002-05).

Outside politics Baroness Morgan enjoys walking, listening to music and has just passed her one star kayak course.

Baroness Morgan is married to Jim Shepherd and they have one daughter. She divides her time between west Wales and north London.

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