Department for Education

The Department for Education (DfE) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for child protection, child services, education (compulsory, further, and higher education), apprenticeships, and wider skills in England.

A Department for Education previously existed between 1992, when the Department of Education and Science was renamed, and 1995, when it was merged with the Department for Employment to become the Department for Education and Employment.

The Secretary of State for Education is the Rt. Hon. Bridget Phillipson MP and Susan Acland-Hood is the Permanent Secretary.

The expenditure, administration, and policy of the Department of Education are scrutinised by the Education Select Committee.

History
The DfE was formed on 12 May 2010 by the incoming Coalition Government, taking on the responsibilities and resources of the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF).

In June 2012 the Department for Education committed a breach of the UK's Data Protection Act due to a security flaw on its website which made email addresses, passwords and comments of people responding to consultation documents available for download.

In July 2016, the department took over responsibilities for higher and further education and for apprenticeship from the dissolved Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Predecessor bodies

 * Committee of the Privy Council on Education, 1839–1899
 * Education Department, 1856–1899
 * Board of Education, 1899–1944
 * Ministry of Education, 1944–1964
 * Department of Education and Science, 1964–1992
 * Department for Education, 1992–1995
 * Department for Education and Employment (DfEE), 1995–2001
 * Department for Education and Skills (DfES), 2001–2007
 * Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), 2007–2010

Responsibilities
The department is led by the Secretary of State for Education. The Permanent Secretary from December 2020 is Susan Acland-Hood. DfE is responsible for education, children's services, higher and further education policy, apprenticeships, and wider skills in England, and equalities. The predecessor department employed the equivalent of 2,695 staff as of April 2008 and as at June 2016, DfE had reduced its workforce to the equivalent of 2,301 staff. In 2015–16, the DfE has a budget of £58.2bn, which includes £53.6bn resource spending and £4.6bn of capital investments.

Ministers
The Department for Education's ministers are as follows, with cabinet members in bold: On 5 July, Anneliese Dodds MP and Catherine McKinnell MP were announced as Ministers of State in the Department, with their briefs not specified.

Board
The management board is made up of:


 * Permanent Secretary – Susan Acland-Hood
 * Director-General, Social Care, Mobility and Disadvantage – Indra Morris
 * Director-General, Higher and Further Education Group – Paul Kett
 * Director-General, Early Years and Schools – Andrew McCully
 * Chief Financial and Operating Officer, Operations Group – Mike Green
 * Chief Executive, Education & Skills Funding Agency – David Withey

Non-executive board members:
 * Marion Plant OBE; CEO of the Midland Academies Trust and Principal
 * The Baroness McGregor-Smith CBE; former Chief Executive of Mitie Group
 * Ian Ferguson CBE; businessman

Locations
As at 2 August 2016, the DfE has five main sites:
 * DepartmentForEducationLondon.jpguary Buildings, Great Smith Street, London
 * Piccadilly Gate, Manchester
 * 2 St Paul's Place, Sheffield
 * Bishopsgate House, Darlington
 * Cheylesmore House, Coventry

Education and Skills Funding Agency
The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) was formed on 1 April 2017 following the merger of the Education Funding Agency and the Skills Funding Agency. Previously the Education Funding Agency (EFA) was responsible for distributing funding for state education in England for 3- to 19-year-olds, as well as managing the estates of schools, and colleges and the Skills Funding Agency was responsible for funding skills training for further education in England and running the National Apprenticeship Service and the National Careers Service. The EFA was formed on 1 April 2012 by bringing together the functions of two non-departmental public bodies, the Young People's Learning Agency and Partnerships for Schools. The SFA was formed on 1 April 2010, following the closure of the Learning and Skills Council. David Withey is the agency's Chief Executive.

Teaching Regulation Agency
The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) is responsible for regulation of the teaching profession, including misconduct hearings. Its predecessors include the National College for Teaching and Leadership (to 2018), the Teaching Agency (to 2013) and the Training and Development Agency for Schools (from 1994).

Standards and Testing Agency
The Standards and Testing Agency (STA) is responsible for developing and delivering all statutory assessments for school pupils in England. It was formed on 1 October 2011 and took over the functions of the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency. The STA is regulated by the examinations regulator, Ofqual.

Public bodies
The DfE is also supported by 10 public bodies:

Devolution
Education, youth and children's policy is devolved elsewhere in the UK. The department's main devolved counterparts are as follows:

Scotland


 * Scottish Government – Learning and Justice Directorates

Northern Ireland
 * Department of Education
 * Executive Office (children and young people)

Wales
 * Welsh Government – Department for Education and Skills

National Curriculum 2014
The Department for Education released a new National Curriculum for schools in England for September 2014, which included 'Computing'. Following Michael Gove's speech in 2012, the subject of Information Communication Technology (ICT) has been disapplied and replaced by Computing. With the new curriculum, materials have been written by commercial companies, to support non-specialist teachers, for example, '100 Computing Lessons' by Scholastic. The Computing at Schools organisation has created a 'Network of Teaching Excellence'to support schools with the new curriculum.

Post-16 area reviews
In 2015, the department announced a major restructuring of the further education sector, through 37 area reviews of post-16 provision. The proposals were criticised by NUS Vice President for Further Education Shakira Martin for not sufficiently taking into account the impact on learners; the Sixth Form Colleges' Association similarly criticised the reviews for not directly including providers of post-16 education other than colleges, such as school and academy sixth forms and independent training providers.

Funding and grants
In 2018, The Department for Education confirmed their commitment to forming positive relationships with the voluntary and community sector.

In 2020 the department began funding the National Tutoring Programme which employed private companies to deliver the tuition including at least one which uses children as tutors, paying them £1.57 per hour. Tutors received up to £25 of the between £72 and £84 per hour the government paid the companies.