Will Quince takes over as Minister for Children and Families

Will Quince leaves his role at the Department for Work and Pensions to take up the position of Children’s Minister.

Quince, a Conservative MP elected as the representative for Colchester in 2015, will take on the role as Minister for Children and Families, which has responsibilities for children’s social care, including system and funding, workforce, child protection, children in care, adoption, care leavers and local authority performance.

The Children’s Minister is also responsible for children’s disadvantage and social mobility, as well as children and young people’s mental health, online safety and preventing bullying in schools, and the coronavirus (COVID-19) response for children’s services and childcare.

Quince will work under new Secretary of State for Education Nadhim Zahawi, who replaced Gavin Williamson as part of the Prime Minister’s reshuffle.

Writing on Twitter, the incoming Children’s Minister wrote: “Thrilled to be appointed as Children and Families Minister at @educationgovuk supporting @nadhimzahawi. I've had a busy first day at the Department meeting new colleagues and getting stuck into a challenging but vitally important brief. I am grateful for the warm DfE welcome!”

CEO of the Children’s Society responded, saying: “Many congratulations Will. Looking forward to working with you in your new portfolio.”

Katharine Sacks-Jones, Chief Executive of Become, the charity for children in care and young care leavers, added “Huge congratulations Will. We at Become look forward to working with you.”

Quince’s previous role as Minister for Welfare Delivery in the Department for Work and Pensions had responsibility for the overall management and delivery of Universal Credit, including support for disadvantaged groups in Universal Credit such as care leavers, prison leavers, survivors of domestic abuse, people with drug or alcohol dependency, rough sleepers and those who were facing homelessness.

Meanwhile, the former Children’s Minister Vicky Ford has returned to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office as Minister for Africa.

“Truly honoured to be “back” at @FCDOGovUK, this time as a minister,” Ford wrote on Twitter, adding: “Spent a fascinating first afternoon listening & learning from some of our brilliant officials. Looking forward to much more learning ahead, representing UK, meeting new people & working to tackle challenges.”