Joan Ruddock has been the Labour MP for Lewisham, Deptford since 1987. She attended Pontypool Grammar School for Girls in Wales, and later went on to study Botany and Chemistry at Imperial College, London.
The vision she has shown in championing a large number of causes has put her at the forefront of both the feminist and environmental movements in this country. She won her seat in Parliament after many years as an anti-poverty and equalities campaigner. She gained national prominence as chairperson of CND in the early eighties.
In 1997 she was appointed the first full-time Minister for Women in the new Labour Government. In opposition she was a frontbench spokesperson on both Transport and Environmental Protection. As Shadow Transport Minister from 1989 to 1992, she 'greened' Labour's road policy and wrote the first comprehensive transport strategy for London.
In her subsequent portfolio she led for Labour in all stages of the Environment Act 1995 and forged close links throughout the country with the major green organisations. As Shadow Minister on Home Affairs from 1992-1994 her political vision again led her to champion the cause of the victims of racial violence.
Joan piloted a Private Members Bill on Flytipping through Parliament, which became the Control of Pollution (Amendment) Act in 1989.
After the 2001 election she sat on two Select Committees, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Select Committee and the Modernisation Select Committee. In 2005 she joined the International Development Select Committee until her appointment as DEFRA Minister with responsibility for Climate Change, Biodiversity and Waste when Gordon Brown became Prime Minister.
In 2008 she became a minister in the newly formed Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC).
Prior to her appointment as a minister she held a number of positions including Vice-Chair of GLOBE UK and the All-Party sustainable development group. She remains a Vice-President of SERA, the Socialist Environment and Resources Association.
She was a Vice-President of the Family Planning Association (fpa) and Vice Chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party's Women's Group. Joan was also a member of the All Party Sex Equality group and Vice-Chair of the Associate Parliamentary Group on Equalities. Joan also chaired the All Party Compassion in Dying Group.
She was Vice-Chair of the All Party group for the future of Afghanistan and worked with a number of Afghan groups. After September 11th she set up the UK Women's Link with Afghan Women. Her interest in development issues extended to Zambia where she was twinned with a female MP under a British Council sponsored programme.
In 2005 she was elected by Labour backbenchers to be one of 6 members of the Parliamentary Committee that represents Labour MPs and meets with the Prime Minister every week. Joan was re-elected in 2007 but gave up the position on becoming a minister.
In recent years, she introduced a number of Bills to Parliament, including the Organic Food and Farming Targets Bill, the Prophylactic Mastectomy Registry Bill and a bill to amend the Sex Discrimination Act, which subsequently provided a blueprint for the Government's Sex Discrimination (Election Candidates) Act. In November 2002 she won a place in the Private Members Ballot and took forward the Household Waste Recycling Bill. Now an Act of Parliament, it requires all local authorities to ensure that every household has a collection of at least 2 types of recyclable waste by the year 2010.
She is an Honorary Fellow of Goldsmiths College. She is also an Honorary Fellow of Laban London and a member of the Board of Trinity Laban.
Joan Ruddock does not employ any member of her family. She employs three fulltime staff all recruited through public advertisement. The costs of running her office are published annually at http://www.parliament.uk/site_information/allowances.cfm.
