Catherine McKinnell, the MP for Newcastle upon Tyne North, has been appointed minister of state. She was previously shadow schools minister in 2023.
McKinnell said on X, 'What an honour to be appointed to serve as Minister for Education in this Labour Government. It's been a whirlwind of a first day with a wonderful team ready to support our work to break down barriers to opportunity for every child.'
McKinnell will be known to the early years and childcare sector from her role as chair of the House of Commons Petitions Committee, which involved her chairing the high profile debate against changes to staff-to-child ratios in nurseries in November 2022.
She was first elected an MP in 2010 and has held a number of shadow ministerial roles, including as shadow children’s minister from 2011-2012, and served as a member of the Education Select Committee between 2016 and 2017.
Jacqui Smith, a former schools minister under Tony Blair and later appointed as the first female home secretary under Gordon Brown, has been made a peer and brought back into the DfE as an education minister in the House of Lords.
There are unconfirmed reports that she will serve as higher education minister.
Meanwhile, Anneliese Dodds, MP for Oxford North, will split her time between the DfE as minister for women and equalities and also serve as a minister of state at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
Phillipson will share the role of minister for women and equalities with Dodds.
