News

Claire Coutinho MP confirmed as children's minister

Policy & Politics
Claire Coutinho, MP for East Surrey, has been named the new minister for children, families and wellbeing within the Department for Education (DfE), replacing Kelly Tolhurst.
A screen grab from a DfE video posted on Twitter of Claire Coutinho visiting the Thee Trees Family Wellbeing Centre in Brent on 3 November 2022
A screen grab from a DfE video posted on Twitter of Claire Coutinho visiting the Thee Trees Family Wellbeing Centre in Brent on 3 November 2022

The move sees responsibility for early years being handed back to a junior minister after minister of state Kelly Tolhurst was given the brief under Liz Truss’ leadership, and resigned her post.

The announcement comes after Coutinho visited the Three Trees Family Wellbeing Centre – a family hub - in Brent last week.

This will be Coutinho’s second ministerial role after serving as an under-secretary of state at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and as an MP since 2019.

Career history

Coutinho has  a master’s degree in Maths and Philosophy from Oxford.

She worked as the Parliamentary private secretary at the Treasury for more than two years from February 2020, resigning her position in protest at the then Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s leadership.

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