Former schools minister Nick Gibb has been recruited by an education charity with several government contracts to help “export” their work abroad by “drawing on the success of England’s education reforms”.
Gibb will work at the Education Development Trust as an ambassador of education improvement for clients in Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa.
The charity has been handed Department for Education contracts totalling millions of pounds, including during Gibb’s time in office.
Contracts include for training tutors on the National Tutoring Programme and new teachers on the early career framework, and running the behaviour hubs scheme.
Gibb, who resigned as a minister in November, will also serve as an unpaid member of the UNESCO global alliance on science of learning for education.
The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA) has issued conditions for both roles, including that any advice to EDT is limited to education overseas for two years, letters released on Thursday show.
The EDT role is paid, but the letters do not state how much. The UNESCO role is unpaid.
Former ministers who have left government in the last two years must apply to ACOBA before taking up a new appointment or role outside of government.
‘Low’ risk job was reward for decisions
The body said it was “significant” that Gibb was involved in setting the criteria for education service providers, and signing off on the independent panel which assessed them.
But he last made a decision “specific to providers, including EDT” in 2020. Gibb did not meet the organisation while he was school minister, the letter states.
DfE, in its assessment, said it was “likely” Gibb had “some form of contact” with EDT while in office, but the only record was a meeting with an EDT trustee in 2015 to discuss “setting up a College of Teaching”.
In March 2020, he planned a meeting with Dan Sandhu, then CEO of edtech firm Sparx Learning who is now EDT CEO. But it was “unclear” if this meeting went ahead.
ACOBA rule it was therefore a “low” risk Gibb was offered the role as a “reward for decisions made several years ago”.
The risks associated with Gibb’s “former influence and network of contacts” are also “significantly reduced here given the focus of [Gibb’s] role is external to the UK”.
‘Nothing more important than education’
DfE said while Gibb had access to information covering future education plans and strategy, “nothing significant remains unannounced”. It recommended Gibb’s work should be focused solely overseas for the first year.
ACOBA’s gave five conditions to the appointment, including the former minister does not draw on “any privileged information available” during his time in office. He should not be “personally involved” in any lobbying of the UK government on behalf of EDT for two years.
The role must also be limited to advising on education overseas and avoid drawing on privilege insight into UK education matters until November 2025.
Gibb said he has spent 20 years “deeply involved in education policy, I am keen to continue to contribute to the debate”.
He told Schools Week: “There is nothing more important than education to improving the life chances of children and alleviating poverty around the world.”
He aims to use his education policy experience to help EDT “export their services abroad”. Both roles would involve “drawing on the success of England’s education reforms”.
“The English education system has a strong reputation overseas, enhanced by the success of our education reforms since 2010,” he said.
An EDT spokesperson said Gibb “brings breadth of knowledge and experience to our international work that will benefit learners in all the territories in which EDT operates globally.”
EDT income boost from DfE contracts
Most of EDT’s income comes from government contracts and grants. DfE contracts include providing services for the national tutoring programme, behaviour hubs, early career training, initial teacher training and careers guidance.
The non-profit also provided national professional qualifications but has pulled out of the scheme from September.
In the UNESCO role, DfE said there was no departmental relationship with the organisation and Gibb did not meet with them while in office.
UNESCO was approached for comment.
The English education system does not actually educate children. It is an exam factory. Too many children and students do not enjoy their school because of the emphasis on academic qualifications. Everyone learns better when they see relevance and enjoy learning. What happened to preparing children for the future? Where are our plumbers, eletricians, painters and decorators? Not every child is a public school academic.