Education ministers announced

Stephen Timms will be responsible for schools

Stephen Timms is to be the minister responsible for schools, in the newly-named Department for Education and Skills.

Mr Timms, the current financial secretary at the Treasury, will support the incoming education secretary, Estelle Morris, in her flagship plans to improve standards in secondary schools.

Margaret Hodge will be responsible for higher education

Preparing him for any future battles with the teaching profession, Mr Timms last year was under pressure from fuel protestors, as he defended the Treasury's position on fuel taxation.

With a background in local government - becoming leader of the London Borough of Newham in 1990 - Mr Timms entered the House of Commons after winning a by-election in 1994.

Mr Timms became a junior minister at the Department of Social Security in 1998 and moved to the Treasury as financial secretary the following year.

Cambridge degree

He has a degree in mathematics from Cambridge University and has worked as a consultant in the computer and telecommunications industry.

When at the Treasury, his stake in an information technology business was the subject of accusations of a potential conflict of interest by opposition MPs - claims his department rejected.

Also in the ministerial team will be Margaret Hodge, who has previously been responsible for improving childcare and pre-school provision under the former Department for Education and Employment.

Ms Hodge will now take over responsibility for universities and lifelong learning, which will include adult skills and post-16 education and training.

The university brief will see her tackling the ongoing debate over student fees and university funding - with ongoing claims that higher education is underfunded, students are overcharged and lecturers are underpaid.

EastEnders

She will have the task of continuing the government's drive to widen access to higher education, including attracting applications from young people from deprived backgrounds.

Margaret Hodge has also served as leader of a London borough - Islington between 1982 and 1992 - and entered parliament in 1994.

Both Ms Hodge and Mr Timms are MPs with east London constituencies - Barking and East Ham respectively.

Jacqui Smith, formerly the schools minister, has been moved to the Department of Health and Baroness Blackstone, who had been responsible for higher education, now moves to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

Malcolm Wicks has moved to the Department for Work and Pensions and Michael Wills has moved to the Lord Chancellor's Department.