Minister of State for Development

The minister of state for development, formerly the minister of state for development and Africa^[1] and the secretary of state for international development, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom.

United Kingdom Minister of State for Development
Royal Arms of His Majesty's Government
Incumbent Anneliese Dodds since 8 July 2024
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
Style	International Development Minister (informal) The Right Honourable (within the UK and Commonwealth) His/Her Excellency (diplomatic)
Status	Minister of the Crown
Member of	Cabinet (attending) Privy Council National Security Council
Reports to	Prime Minister Foreign Secretary
Seat	Westminster
Nominator	The Prime Minister
Appointer	The Monarch (on the advice of the Prime Minister)
Term length	At His Majesty's pleasure
Formation	18 October 1964: (as Minister of Overseas Development) 25 October 2022: (as Minister of State for Development and Africa)
First holder	Barbara Castle (as Minister of Overseas Development)
Website	www.dfid.gov.uk

The officeholder headed the Department for International Development (DFID) as secretary of state from 1997 to 2020. The office formed part of the British Cabinet. The Department for International Development was abolished in September 2020, and Anne-Marie Trevelyan was the final holder of the post.

The post was made a ministerial position attending Cabinet in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in 2022. The corresponding shadow minister is the shadow cabinet minister for international development.

History

A separate Ministry of Overseas Development was established by Harold Wilson when he came to office in 1964. The first three holders of the office served in the Cabinet, but from 29 August 1967 the office was demoted. Under Edward Heath, the Ministry was re-incorporated into the FCO on 15 October 1970. Wilson again established the Ministry in 1974, but later merged it into the FCO once again: from 10 June 1975 to 8 October 1979 the foreign secretary served as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Minister for Overseas Development in the cabinet, while the minister for overseas development held the rank of Minister of State within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The minister of state had day-to-day responsibility. Under the Labour government of the 1970s, Reg Prentice sat in the Cabinet during his term.^[2] The post's last and main format was created in 1997 when the Department for International Development was made independent of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).

In June 2020, it was announced the Department for International Development would be dissolved, and its operations would be merged into the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The process was completed by 2 September 2020, with the last international development secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan remaining in place until that time.^[3]

In 2022, the position was revised in the as a minister of state attending Cabinet during the Truss ministry.^[4] From 2022 to 2024 under the Sunak ministry, the position was combined with responsibility for Africa as the Minister of State for Development and Africa.^[5]

Responsibilities

The Minister's responsibilities include:^[6]

• education, gender and equality
• development and open societies
• humanitarian and migration
• international finance
• British Investment Partnerships
• global health
• conflict, stabilisation and mediation
• energy, climate and the environment
• research and evidence

List of ministers and secretaries of state

Minister			Term of office		Party	Ministry
Ministers of Overseas Development (1964–1970)
		Barbara Castle	18 October 1964	23 December 1965	Labour		Wilson (I) (II)
		Anthony Greenwood	23 December 1965	11 August 1966	Labour
		Arthur Bottomley	11 August 1966	29 August 1967	Labour
		Reg Prentice	29 August 1967	6 October 1969	Labour
		Judith Hart	6 October 1969	19 June 1970	Labour
		Richard Wood	23 June 1970	15 October 1970	Conservative		Heath
Ministers for Overseas Development (1970–1997)
		Richard Wood	15 October 1970	4 March 1974	Conservative		Heath
		Judith Hart	7 March 1974	10 June 1975	Labour		Wilson (III)
		Reg Prentice	10 June 1975	21 December 1976 (resigned)	Labour
							Callaghan
		Frank Judd	21 December 1976	21 February 1977	Labour
		Judith Hart	21 February 1977	4 May 1979	Labour
		Neil Marten	6 May 1979	6 January 1983	Conservative		Thatcher (I) (II) (III)
		Timothy Raison	6 January 1983	10 September 1986	Conservative
		Chris Patten	10 September 1986	24 July 1989	Conservative
		Lynda Chalker The Baroness Chalker of Wallasey from 1992	24 July 1989	2 May 1997	Conservative
							Major (I) (II)
Secretaries of State for International Development (1997–2020)
		Clare Short	3 May 1997	12 May 2003	Labour		Blair (I) (II) (III)
		Valerie Amos, Baroness Amos	12 May 2003	6 October 2003	Labour
		Hilary Benn	6 October 2003	28 June 2007	Labour
		Douglas Alexander	28 June 2007	11 May 2010	Labour		Brown
		Andrew Mitchell	12 May 2010	4 September 2012	Conservative		Cameron-Clegg
		Justine Greening	4 September 2012	14 July 2016	Conservative
							Cameron (II)
		Priti Patel	14 July 2016	8 November 2017	Conservative		May (I)
							May (II)
		Penny Mordaunt	9 November 2017	1 May 2019	Conservative
		Rory Stewart	1 May 2019	24 July 2019	Conservative
		Alok Sharma	24 July 2019	13 February 2020	Conservative		Johnson (I)
							Johnson (II)
		Anne-Marie Trevelyan	13 February 2020	2 September 2020	Conservative
		Vacant	2 September 2020	6 September 2022	Conservative
Minister of State for Development (2022)
		Vicky Ford	6 September 2022	25 October 2022	Conservative		Truss
Minister of State for Development and Africa (2022–2024)
		Andrew Mitchell	25 October 2022	5 July 2024	Conservative		Sunak
Minister of State for Development
		Anneliese Dodds	8 July 2024	Incumbent	Labour		Starmer

References

1. "Minister of State (Development and Africa) – GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 11 October 2010. Retrieved 16 November 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
3. "Department for International Development to merge with Foreign Office". ITV News. 16 June 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
4. Wells, Ione. "New cabinet: Who is in Liz Truss's top team?". bbc.com. BBC News. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
5. "Minister of State (Development and Africa)". gov.uk. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
6. "Minister of State for Development". GOV.UK. Retrieved 27 July 2024.