Sections:
DFID's Ministerial team: Secretary of State and Ministers
Douglas Alexander MP was appointed Secretary of State for International Development on June 28 2007. The DFID Ministerial team is completed by Shriti Vadera, Shahid Malik MP and Gareth Thomas MP, each of whom holds the office of Parliamentary Under Secretary of State.
A list of the responsibilities within the Ministerial team is available here.
Secretary of State
On
receiving his appointment, the Secretary of State confirmed his commitment to
fighting against world poverty:
“Over the last ten years, the fight to eliminate world poverty has
been at the heart of this government's policy. Our commitment to helping poor
countries is recognised the world over. We are keeping our promises on aid. Our
budget has tripled in the last ten years; it’s set to grow further. We are
making a real difference to poor people’s lives. DFID lifts
3 million people out of poverty every year.
“But there are still challenges ahead. Seventy-two million children still do not go to
school, half a million women die due to complications during pregnancy or
childbirth. Conflict and climate change continue to wreak havoc on the lives
of the poorest.
“That’s why I am delighted to have been appointed Secretary of State
for International Development. I will continue to press the world’s richest nations to live up to
the promises they made in 2005 and to work
with developing countries to make poverty history.”
Douglas Alexander was previously Secretary of State for Transport and Secretary
of State for Scotland, from May 2006 to June 2007.
Biography: Douglas Alexander MP
About DFID's Ministers
Shriti Vadera spent 14 years at investment bank UBS Warburg, including advising governments of developing countries on a range of issues such as debt restructuring.
Ms Vadera was a Trustee of Oxfam between 2000 and 2005. She was also one of the earliest campaigners on debt relief, having commented and advised on it since the early '90s. She worked on negotiating the aid and debt relief commitments achieved at Gleneagles 2005.
For the last eight years, she was an adviser to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, and a member of his Council of Economic Advisers.
She developed Gordon Brown's initiative on Education for All, launched last year with Nelson Mandela. She was also behind IFFIM, the innovative scheme developed with the Gates Foundation to raise $4 billion through bond sales to immunise 500 million children against preventable diseases.
Upon her appointment on 30 June 2007, Ms Vadera said:
"I am proud of DFID's track record and international leadership in the battle against poverty around the world. I am looking forward to working with Douglas Alexander to carry on the Government's mission to help lift millions of people out of poverty."
Ms Vadera was appointed a Baroness and will represent DFID in the House of Lords.
Shahid Malik MP was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for International Development on 30 June 2007. It is his first ministerial appointment. Mr Malik will draw on his experience of working on human rights, equality and regeneration in helping take forward the UK’s fight against poverty.
Commenting on his appointment, Mr Malik said:
“This is an important time to be driving forward the development agenda and I am thrilled to be joining the ministerial team at the Department for International Development. I’m looking forward to working with our partners at home and overseas to deliver on the promises we’ve made.”
Shahid Malik is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dewsbury and was previously Parliamentary Private Secretary to Jim Knight as Minister of State, Department for Education and Skills. He held a number of significant national roles prior to entering Parliament, including Commissioner to the Northern Ireland Equality Commission, Commissioner for Racial Equality and Vice-Chair of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UK.
Gareth Thomas MP was reappointed as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State
with specific responsibility for trade policy on June 30 2007. This is an area of policy that
will be shared with the newly established Department for Business, Enterprise
and Regulatory Reform.
Gareth Thomas has been the Member of Parliament for Harrow West since May 1997. He was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for International Development (DFID) in 2003. Prior to this appointment he was working as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Education, Charles Clarke MP. From November 1997 to October 1999 he was a Member of the Environmental Audit Select Committee.