Ed Balls was appointed Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families on 28 June 2007.

Ed Balls was previously Economic Secretary to the Treasury, taking up appointment on 5 May 2006. He has been a Member of Parliament for Normanton since 2005. He was born in 1967 and educated at Nottingham High School; Keble College, Oxford; and the John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard.

Ed Balls was a teaching fellow Department of Economics, Harvard 1989-90; and an Economics Leader writer and columnist for the Financial Times 1990-94. He was Economic Adviser to the then Shadow Chancellor Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP 1994-97; Secretary Labour Party Economic Policy Commission 1994-97; Economic Adviser to the Chancellor of the Exchequer 1997-99; Chief Economic Adviser to HM Treasury 1999-2004; and Research Fellow, Smith Institute 2004-05.

Ed Balls has had a number of publications including Towards a New Regional Policy and Reforming Britain’s economic and financial policy: towards greater economic stability and Microeconomic Reform in Britain: Delivering Opportunities for All. He is a member of the TGWU, Unison and the Co-operative Party.

Ed Balls is married to Yvette Cooper MP and has three children. Outside work his interests include music, cooking and playing football with his children.

Source: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/aboutus/whoswho/ministersinfo.shtml