Claire Coutinho takes on responsibility for the early years at the DfE
By Rachel Lawler
Claire Coutinho has been appointed minister for children, families and wellbeing at the Department for Education.
Coutinho has served as MP for East Surrey since 2019 and has previously served as parliamentary under-secretary of state for disabled people at the Department for Work and Pensions.
Before becoming an MP Coutinho worked for the Centre for Social Justice think tank and accountancy firm KPMG.
Coutinho replaces Kelly Tolhurst, who previously served as minister for schools and childhood.
Nick Gibb has also re-joined the DfE team, having been reappointed minister of state for schools, while Robert Halfon has taken on the minister for skills, apprenticeships and higher education role.
Commenting, Neil Leitch, CEO of the ÎÞÂëÌìÌÃ, said: “We welcome Claire Coutinho as the new minister for children, families and wellbeing and look forward to working with her in her new role.
“There’s no doubt that Ms Coutinho takes on this new responsibility at a particularly difficult time for the early years, with the sector not only dealing with an array of long-term challenges, including underfunding and recruitment, but also the ongoing uncertainty around the outcome of government’s deregulation proposals.
“As such, we hope that the new minister will act as a true advocate for our vital sector, and work in partnership with us to fight for greater investment, better recognition of our workforce, and the scrapping of proposals that would actively harm the sector, including plans to relax ratios.
“For far too long the early years has been an afterthought when it comes to education policy and funding. We hope that Claire Coutinho will strive to support the sector and ensure it rises to the top of the government’s priority list."