MP Helen Grant appointed PM’s special envoy for girls’ education
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Boris Johnson has appointed Tory former minister Helen Grant as his special envoy for girls’ education.
Mrs Grant, the MP for Maidstone and The Weald, will lead the UK’s international efforts to ensure all girls get 12 years of quality education.
She worked as a solicitor specialising in protecting women and children from domestic abuse before entering Parliament in 2010, Downing Street said.
The Prime Minister’s former special envoy for girls’ education, Baroness Sugg, left the post in November when she quit as a Foreign Office minister in protest at the Government’s plan to cut the foreign aid budget.
It can change the fortunes of not just individual women and girls, but communities and nations
Mr Johnson said: “It is my fervent belief that educating girls is the simplest and most transformative thing we can do to lift communities out of poverty, end the scourge of gender-based violence and build back better from the pandemic.
“It can change the fortunes of not just individual women and girls, but communities and nations.
“That’s why I am delighted to appoint Helen Grant as my Special Envoy on Girls’ Education today to drive forward the UK’s vital work in this area.”
Mrs Grant added: “It is an honour to be appointed as the Prime Minister’s Envoy on Girls’ Education and to have the opportunity to lead the UK’s important international outreach on this issue.
“Ensuring all girls get 12 years of quality education is rightly a priority for the Government. High quality female education empowers women, reduces poverty and unleashes economic growth.
“I will be making it my mission to encourage a more ambitious approach to girls’ education from the international community as we seek to build back better from the Covid crisis.”
