Can I add my voice to the expression of considerable disquiet at the BBC’s proposal to eliminate the post of education editor, instead combining responsibility with that of social affairs ( BBC News to axe education editor role in cost-cutting move, 22 October ). These two distinct areas of public life are critical to our understanding – under the remit of the BBC charter – to educate and inform, as well as entertain.

The requirement to take education seriously surely requires someone with deep understanding of this complex area, which affects every single person in the country: from the moment they’re born, all the way through lifelong learning and the current challenges of artificial intelligence and robotics.

Some readers will remember the great Mike Baker , who was a practitioner as well as an informer; an experienced and extremely erudite broadcaster who brought alive the elements of the education debate which, when I was the education and employment secretary, were described as the then-government’s…