Two former teachers have joined the House of Commons education committee, which has had its full membership confirmed.
The 10 MPs who will scrutinise the government’s education policies while sitting on the committee under the chairmanship of Conservative MP and former skills minister Robert Halfon, are:
- Lucy Allan, Conservative MP for Telford
- Michelle Donelan, Conservative MP for Chippenham
- Marion Fellows, SNP MP for Motherwell and Wishaw
- James Frith, Labour MP for Bury North (new committee member)
- Emma Hardy, Labour MP for Hull West and Hessle (new committee member, above)
- Trudy Harrison, Conservative MP for Copeland (new committee member)
- Ian Mearns, Labour MP for Gateshead
- Lucy Powell, Labour MP for Manchester Central (new committee member)
- Thelma Walker, Labour MP for Colne Valley (new committee member)
- William Wragg, Conservative MP for Hazel Grove
Among the five MPs joining the education committee is former primary teacher and NUT teaching union organiser Emma Hardy, who used her maiden Parliamentary speech to rail against a narrowing of the curriculum. She is joined by former infant school headteacher Thelma Walker.
Another new member is Lucy Powell, who was shadow education secretary until resigning last year as part of a revolt against Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
The makeup of the committee has been slightly altered, with one fewer Conservative MP - meaning there is now an equal number of Tory and Labour MPs, including Mr Halfon.
Mr Halfon’s appointment was confirmed in July. He told Tes at the time that he wanted the committee’s work to focus on “social justice” and hoped for cross-party agreement on issues such as school funding.
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