The Prime Minister, Theresa May, has appointed Ben Gummer as minister for the Cabinet Office and paymaster general, demoting Matt Hancock from the front bench.
Hancock, who had led on the introduction of an anti-advocacy clause in government contracts which was widely condemned by the charity sector, is expected to remain in government but in a more junior position.
No statement has been made about a new minister for civil society - who reports to the minister for the Cabinet Office. The incumbent, Rob Wilson has retweeted someone urging May to keep him in post.
Gummer (pictured) has been the Conservative MP for Ipswich since 2010.
He is a trustee of the Foundation Years Trust, a charity established in 2012 to implement the findings of the Independent Review on Poverty and Life Chances by running pilot projects. Its accounts for the 16 months to 31 December 2014 show an income of £136,000 and expenditure of £357,000, though in the previous period it received £435,500 and spent just £33,000.
In 2013 Andrea Leadsom was listed as one of several advisers to the charity.
He is also involved with a number of local charities. He is patron of Home Start South Suffolk, an associate governor at Ravenswood Primary School and a member of the Ipswich Society, the Friends of Ipswich Museums, the Ipswich Maritime Trust and the Ipswich Historic Churches Trust.
Between May and September 2012 he was a parliamentary adviser to Lord Feldman. He was then parliamentary private secretary to Alan Duncan, minister for international development for a year. Between October 2013 and April 2015 he was private secretary to the Secretary of State for Education, then Michael Gove. Until yesterday he was parliamentary under-secretary of state for health.
As part of his role as a junior health minister, he has often referenced the work of and research carried out by health charities during debates in the House of Commons.
In 2012 he spoke in support of the Small Charitable Donations Bill, which he said would “make a real difference” to small charities. In a 2010 debate on the Public Services (Social Enterprise and Social Value) Bill, he warned that “the outsourcing perpetuated by the previous government actually started to kill local charities”.
Oliver Letwin was also sacked from his Cabinet Office post of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and replaced by Patrick McLoughlin, who will also be the chair of the Conservative Party.
Priti Patel to head up DfiD
Among the other Cabinet appointments announced yesterday was Priti Patel as Secretary of State for International Development.
She previously called for the department to be scrapped and has also been critical of executive pay in charities. In 2013 she helped the Telegraph journalist Christopher Hope to compile a list of international aid development charities which paid senior staff more than £100,000.
She was briefly exchequer secretary at the Treasury with responsibility for charities.
There have been concerns that she may attempt to abolish the UK’s commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of GDP on aid.
In a statement yesterday she said: “I am delighted to have been appointed International Development Secretary by the Prime Minister and will make sure we invest UK aid firmly in our national interest, while keeping the promises we’ve made to the world’s poorest people.”
Other notable appointments:
- Liz Truss as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
- Damian Green as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
- Andrea Leadsom as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – she has previously been a supporter of fox-hunting and opposed climate change policies
- Sajid Javid as Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
- Karen Bradley as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
- Justine Greening as Secretary of State for Education and Equalities
Yesterday we looked at what the top appointments meant for the charity sector.
