Parliamentary career
Roles
Steen served as Member of Parliament for Liverpool Wavertree from February 1974 to 1983,and for Totnes from 1983 to 2010 (South Hams 1983 to 1997).
In the House of Commons,Steen served as a member of the Select Committee on Immigration and Race Relations (1975–79),as vice-chairman of the Select Committee on Social Services (1979–81) and subsequently as a member of that committee (1990–95),as vice-chairman of the Select Committee on the Environment (1983–85),and subsequently as a member of that committee (1991–94),as chairman of the Urban and Inner City Committee (1987–92),as a member of the European Scrutiny Committee (1997-2010). He was also chairman of the group of Conservative MPs elected in the 1974 general elections,and chaired the Conservative backbench committees on youth and young children (1976–79) and urban affairs and new towns (1979–83),and served as chairman of the Conservative Deregulation Committee (1993–97) and of the West Country Members’Group (1992–94). He was also vice-chairman of the All-Party Fisheries Committee (1997–2010),chairman of the All-Party Group on Trafficking of Women and Children (2006–10),chairman of the backbench Sane Planning Group (1987–92),and a member of the Parliamentary Population and Development Group (1987–92). He was elected by Conservative MPs as secretary of the Conservative Backbench 1922 Committee (2001–10).
From 1992 to 1994,Steen served as Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Rt Hon Peter Brooke MP when the latter was Secretary of State for Culture,Media and Sport i John Major's government.
Activity
In 1981,Aims of Industry,a right-wing neoliberal pressure group [7] that served as a front for the Conservative Party, [8] published Steen's New Life in Old Cities,in which he proposed to auction off surplus public land. In 1984,Steen launched a parliamentary campaign for measures to accelerate the privatisation of public land,claiming without evidence that vast amounts of it lay unused,and accusing local and public authorities of hoarding land. [9] In 1985,Steen piloted the Dartmoor Commons Bill through Parliament. In 1986,he invoked the danger from private developers to greenfield land and city green belts,protected under the British planning system,as an argument for privatising non-green public land,including council estates. [10]
In 1993–94,his three Ten Minute Rule bills on deregulation contributed to the Major government's Deregulation Initiative. In 1994,he initiated a Ten Minute Rule bill known as the French Language Bill,which proposed to ban the use of words of French origin in the UK,to 'highlight the bizarre situation',as he put it,whereby the French National Assembly and Senate had recently passed legislation banning the use of English words and expressions,such 'software','tee-shirt' and 'hamburger',in France. A 'tongue in cheek' initiative,it would have been administered by traffic wardens. In 2000,he initiated a private member's bill on urban regeneration and protection of the countryside.
In his role as chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Trafficking of Women and Children,Steen did much to raise awareness of human trafficking in the UK.[ citation needed ]. In February 2010,Steen saw his private member's bill to establish a national Anti-Slavery Day adopted by the House of Commons,as the Anti-Slavery Day Act. Since then there have been two annual events to mark Anti-Slavery Day –on 18 October each year –and to raise awareness of the issue of human trafficking in the UK. In 2011,activities took place across the country,including a reception at 10 Downing Street to mark the occasion,hosted by Prime Minister David Cameron,whilst the inaugural Human Trafficking Foundation Media Awards,when the Commons Speaker and Home Secretary give awards to journalists,broadcasters and film makers in recognition of their fight to end slavery,took place at Westminster.
Viewed as on the centre-left of the Conservative Party,[ citation needed ] Steen backed Kenneth Clarke's three leadership bids in 1997,2001 and 2005. In 2001,he denounced the supporters of Iain Duncan Smith as 'bigots'. Steen describes himself as a 'Euro-pragmatist' and was in favour of continued UK membership of the European Union,voting to remain in the June 2016 referendum.
Expenses scandal
In May 2009,Steen was involved in the parliamentary expenses scandal. He was reported by The Daily Telegraph to have claimed over £87,000 on his constituency mansion which he designated as his second home. Expenses included items for rabbit fencing,tree surgery (his home is surrounded by 500 trees,he also claimed for their inspection, [11] ) woodland consultants and bore hole maintenance. [12] As a result,he announced he would not contest the next general election. [13]
Campaign against Human Trafficking
 | This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources .(June 2020) |
Since 2005, Steen has concentrated on issues related to modern-day slavery and human trafficking. In 2006, he established the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Human Trafficking of Women and Children, with the then Speaker of the House of Commons, Michael Martin MP as its first president. He campaigned for the UK to sign the European Convention of Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. In October 2007, he was awarded the Children's Champion Award in recognition of his advocacy of the rights of trafficked children in the UK.
In 2010, Steen established the Human Trafficking Foundation, an organisation (of which he is executive chairman) that works with NGOs and charities in the sector combatting human trafficking around the UK.The foundation has worked with ECPAT UK and Asociata High Level Group for Children (Romania) to establish 'Parliamentarians Against Human Trafficking', a Europe-wide project to forge a network of parliamentarians across the continent fighting human trafficking.
In 2015, Steen served as special envoy to the prime minister and to Parliament's Joint Select Committee on the draft Modern Slavery Bill. In February 2016, Steen and Baron Randall of Uxbridge were appointed special envoys on modern slavery to the mayor of London. In October 2018, Steen was appointed a specialist adviser, representing NGOs and civil society, on a review into the operation of the Modern Slavery Act. In November 2018, he was appointed specialist adviser on modern slavery to the Home Affairs Select Committee in the House of Commons.