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• Ruth Kelly MP

The Rt Hon Ruth  Kelly  MP

Secretary of State

Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and Minister for Women

• Responsibilities
• Biography

Responsibilities

Overall responsibility for the Department.

Biography

Ruth Kelly was appointed Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on 5 May 2006 (see remit letter, right).

She was Secretary of State for Education and Skills from December 2004.

She previously served as Minister for the Cabinet Office from September 2004 after three years at HM Treasury where she was, successively, Economic Secretary and, from May 2002, Financial Secretary.

Ruth was educated at Queen?s College, Oxford, and the LSE, where she gained an MSc in Economics. She worked for The Guardian as an economics writer in the early 1990s before joining the Bank of England. Ruth was elected to Parliament as Member for Bolton West in the 1997 General Election and the following year became Parliamentary Private Secretary to Nick Brown at the Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

Ruth Kelly is married with three daughters and a son.