Brown's new government
Updated on 27 June 2007
Cathy Newman reports on the changing faces of government.
Gordon Brown's time has come, and with it a fresh start in Whitehall. Channel 4 News has learnt that the new prime minister is putting in place far-reaching changes to the way government will work.
Plans are still being finalised tonight, but officials are being told that the Department for Education and Skills is to be split in two.
Meetings going on now around Whitehall will determine the shape of Gordon Brown's new government. I understand that one half of the education department is expected to focus on schools with the other half - higher education and skills - put into a brand new ministry. That department will also incorporate science from the DTI.
Ed Balls, the prime minister's right hand man, is tipped by Whitehall sources to take over the new department. He and Gordon Brown have long argued that improving skills in the workplace is crucial to a thriving economy.
Gordon Brown's predecessor made education his priority a decade ago. But at the launch of his leadership campaign the new prime minister was clear that much more needed to be done.
Officials are being told that the Department for Education and Skills is to be split in two.
The former education secretary Baroness Morris backs the split.
But as the man who proposed student tuition fees Lord Dearing worries about separating schools from higher education.
Workmen removed the DTI sign today and then hurriedly put it back up. Whitehall officials said it could be renamed the Enterprise Department.
As he surveys his new domain from the comfort of Number Ten the prime minister is taking his time about announcing a restructuring that's been months in the planning.
