- Sylvia Heal
Infobox MP
honorific-prefix =
name = Sylvia Heal
honorific-suffix =
office = first Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means
term_start = 2000
term_end =
Speaker = Michael Martin
predecessor =Michael Martin
successor =
constituency_MP2 = Halesowen and Rowley Regis
parliament2 =
majority2 = 4,337 (10.5%)
predecessor2 = "new constituency"
successor2 =Incumbent
term_start2 =1 May 1997
term_end2 =
birth_date = Birth date and age|1942|07|20|df=yes
birth_place =Shotton, Flintshire
death_date =
death_place =
nationality = British
spouse = Keith Heal
party = Labour
relations = Ann Keen MP & Alan Keen MP
children =
residence =
alma_mater =Swansea University
occupation =
profession =
religion =
website =
footnotes =Sylvia Lloyd Heal MP (born
20 July 1942 ) is a Britishpolitician . She is LabourMember of Parliament for Halesowen and Rowley Regis and is the First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means and Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons.Early life
Born as Sylvia Lloyd Fox in
Hawarden , north-eastWales , the daughter of Shotton steelworker John Lloyd-Fox and Ruby Hughes, she was educated at the Elfed Secondary Modern School (now calledElfed High School ) on "Mill Lane" inBuckley , theColeg Harlech , and theUniversity of Wales, Swansea where she was awarded a BSc inEconomics in 1968. She worked as a medical records clerk at theChester Royal Infirmary for six years from 1957. In 1968 she was appointed as asocial worker with theDepartment of Employment for two years. For ten years from 1980 she worked as a social worker within adrug rehabilitation centre. During her parliamentary interregnum she worked as a young carers officer with the [http://www.carersuk.org National Carers Association] from 1992-7.Parliamentary career
She was a member of the Young Socialists National Council for four years from 1960, and was appointed as a
Justice of the Peace in 1973. She was first elected to the House of Commons at the Mid Staffordshire by-election on 22 March 1990, which followed thesuicide of the sitting Conservative MPJohn Heddle . She won the seat with a majority of 9,449 on a massive 21% swing from Conservative to Labour in a contest that was fought largely on the single issue of the Poll Tax. She lost the Mid Staffordshire seat two years later at the 1992 general election when she was ousted by the ConservativeMichael Fabricant by a majority of 6,236. She was re-elected to Parliament at the 1997 general election for the new West Midlands seat of Halesowen and Rowley Regis with a majority of 10,337 and has remained the MP there since.In her first spell in Parliament she served for two years as a member of the education select committee. She was also promoted to the front bench by
Neil Kinnock in 1991 as a spokeswoman for health and women. Following her re-election in 1997 she was appointed as theParliamentary Private Secretary to theSecretary of State for Defence George Robertson and from 1999 his successorGeoff Hoon . She was appointed as the Deputy Speaker by the new Speaker Michael Martin in 2000, in which capacity she remains.Personal life
She married Keith Heal in 1965 in Hawarden and they have a son and a daughter. She is the sister of
Ann Keen , and sister in law toAlan Keen , both fellow Labour MPs. She lives inEgham ,Surrey , and she takes a keen interest inSouth Africa and enjoysgardening .Publication
* "Couldn't Care More: Study of Young Carers and their Needs" by Jenny Frank, foreword by Sylvia Heal, 1995, The Children's Society ISBN 0-907324-96-7
External links
* [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/person/0,9290,-2331,00.html Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Sylvia Heal MP]
* [http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/sylvia_heal/halesowen_and_rowley_regis TheyWorkForYou.com - Sylvia Heal MP]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/mpdb/html/288.stm BBC politics]
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