Caroline Dinenage

Last updated

The Right Honourable
The Lady Lancaster of Kimbolton
DBE MP
Official portrait of Caroline Dinenage MP crop 2.jpg
Official portrait, 2019
Chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Assumed office
17 May 2023
Children2
Parents
Alma mater Swansea University
Website caroline4gosport.co.uk

Caroline Julia Dinenage, Baroness Lancaster of Kimbolton, DBE (born 28 October 1971 [1] ), also styled as Dame Caroline Dinenage, [2] is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gosport since 2010. [3] She was re-elected in 2015, [4] 2017, [5] and 2019. [6]

Contents

Dinenage served as a minister from May 2015 until September 2021 [7] in six different government departments, under three successive prime ministers as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Government Equalities Office, Ministry of Justice, Department for Education and Department for Work and Pensions. In January 2018 Minister of State at the Department of Health and Social Care, and in February 2020 at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.[ citation needed ]

Dinenage was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2022 Political Honours. [8]

Early life and career

Dinenage was born on 28 October 1971, [9] [10] the daughter of television presenter Fred Dinenage and Beverley Summers.[ citation needed ]

She attended Wykeham House private school for girls, Oaklands RC Comprehensive School, Waterlooville, and then studied Politics and English at Swansea University. [11]

Dinenage established her first manufacturing company at the age of 19, and was a director/company secretary of Dinenages Ltd for 20 years. [12]

In May 1998 she was elected as the youngest member in Winchester District Council. [13] She stood as the Conservative Party candidate for Portsmouth South in the 2005 general election. [14]

Parliamentary career

Dinenage speaking at the Week of Women panel discussion in 2016 alongside Karen Pierce Week of Women (31051011905).jpg
Dinenage speaking at the Week of Women panel discussion in 2016 alongside Karen Pierce

Dinenage was elected as Member of Parliament for Gosport in 2010, [15] after the retirement of Sir Peter Viggers.[ citation needed ]

Backbench career

Dinenage sat on the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee 2012–2015. [16] In 2013, she was appointed as a Small Business Ambassador by Prime Minister, David Cameron. [17]

Dinenage successfully campaigned for a medal for the veterans of the Arctic convoys of World War II. [18] She served as the vice-chair (Royal Navy) of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Armed Forces 2010–2014, [19] and was a UK delegate to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and vice-chair of the NATO Science and Technology Sub-Committee.

Dinenage returned to the backbenchers following the September 2021 reshuffle. Since then she has launched the All Party Parliamentary Group on Carers and is also on the Women and Equalities Committee.[ citation needed ]

On 7 August 2023, the Guardian reported that Dinenage, chair of the select committee that scrutinises the British television industry, had recently hosted a drinks event in parliament for the news channel GB News. [20]

Justice Minister

Campaign group Action 4 Ashes praised Dinenage for her swift action as Justice Minister in introducing important changes to cremation regulation. [21]

Minister for Women and Equalities

In her role as Minister for Women and Equalities, Dinenage implemented the Gender Pay Gap reporting regulations, which came into force in April 2017. [22]

Education Minister

As Education Minister, she delivered the government's manifesto commitment of 30 hours' free childcare for 3- and 4-year-olds. [23]

Minister for Care

In January 2018, Dinenage was appointed as Minister of State for Care at the Department for Health & Social Care. Dinenage was the first minister since Alistair Burt to hold the social care portfolio at Minister of State level, after Theresa May handed the portfolio to a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State under David Mowat and Jackie Doyle-Price. [24] Dinenage's appointment was welcomed by learning disabilities charity Hft, who had campaigned for the restoration of the Minister of State role during the snap election of 2017. [25] [26]

In this role Dinenage launched a consultation on Changing Places toilets: [27] the resulting building regulation changes would ensure larger accessible toilets were added to more than 150 major buildings a year. [28]

In June 2018, Dinenage launched the Carers Action Plan to support unpaid carers in England. [29]

In November 2019, she introduced plans for making learning disability and autism training mandatory for all Health and Social Care professionals. [30]

Minister for Digital and Culture

Following the outbreak of COVID-19 in the UK, Dinenage helped secure the £2 billion Culture Recovery Fund. [31]

She also had ministerial responsibility for the Online Safety Bill, [32] which was published in draft form in 2021. Dinenage held this role until September 2021 and is now[ when? ] once again a backbencher.[ citation needed ]

Constituency work

Dinenage worked with local partners to secure Enterprise Zone status for the Daedalus disused military airfield at Lee-on-the-Solent in 2010. [33]

Following her campaign against proposals which would have seen the closure of the Royal Navy School of Engineering at HMS Sultan, the government indefinitely delayed the closure of the site. [34]

Dinenage has campaigned for local road improvements, [35] [36] helping secure £25.7m Government funding for the Stubbington Bypass, which has now been completed. [37]

Controversy

2023 letter to Rumble

On 20 September 2023, after allegations of sexual misconduct had been made against Russell Brand, [38] Dinenage wrote to the social media platform Rumble on a House of Commons letterhead, expressing her committee's concern that "he [Brand] may be able to profit from his content on the platform", and enquiring "whether Rumble intends to join YouTube in suspending Mr Brand's ability to earn money on the platform". [39]

Rumble issued a response on X, expressing their support for "a free internet" and rejecting what they saw as "the UK Parliament's demands", adding that it was "deeply inappropriate and dangerous that the UK Parliament would attempt to control who is allowed to speak on our platform or to earn a living from doing so". [40]

Personal life

Dinenage has two children with her first husband Carlos Garreta, a Royal Navy officer. In February 2014, she married Mark Lancaster, Baron Lancaster of Kimbolton, a former MP and now member of the House of Lords, giving Dinenage the title Lady Lancaster, although she does not use this professionally. [41]

She has made a parachute jump and abseiled off Portsmouth's Spinnaker Tower [42] to raise funds for the MS Society. A patron of Conservatives against Fox Hunting, [43] she was named one of Queen guitarist and animal welfare campaigner Brian May's Heroes of 2010. [44]

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References

  1. ↑ "Dame Caroline Dinenage". UK Parliament.
  2. ↑ Dinenage, Caroline. "MPs and Lords". UK Parliament.
  3. ↑ "Election result for Gosport (Constituency) – MPs and Lords – UK Parliament". members.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  4. ↑ "Gosport (Constituency) 2015 results – General election results – UK Parliament". electionresults.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  5. ↑ "Gosport (Constituency) 2017 results – General election results – UK Parliament". electionresults.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  6. ↑ "Last election result for Caroline Dinenage – MPs and Lords – UK Parliament". members.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  7. ↑ "Caroline Dinenage MP". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  8. ↑ "Political Honours conferred: January 2022". Gov.uk. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  9. ↑ "No. 59418". The London Gazette . 13 May 2010. p. 8742.
  10. ↑ "Caroline Dinenage MP". BBC News. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  11. ↑ "Caroline Dinenage, Conservative, Gosport". Daily Echo. 4 April 2010. Retrieved 11 May 2010.
  12. ↑ "Caroline Dinenage MP, Gosport". TheyWorkForYou.
  13. ↑ "Archive | Archive of stories uploaded to the Daily Echo website". Daily Echo. 8 April 2003. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  14. ↑ "Portsmouth South". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 May 2010.
  15. ↑ "Gosport". BBC News. Retrieved 11 May 2010.
  16. ↑ "Select Committee Membership – UK Parliament". Parliament.uk. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  17. ↑ "'Cameron cutie' Caroline Dinenage dumps husband to date Tory MP Mark Lancaster who walked out on baby". Daily Mirror . 30 June 2013. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  18. ↑ "Gosport MP Caroline Dinenage pushes for medals for Arctic Convoy vets". Daily Echo. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
  19. ↑ "Caroline Dinenage MP | About Caroline". Caroline4gosport.co.uk. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  20. ↑ "Caroline Dinenage MP". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  21. ↑ "Baby ashes scandal: Shropshire campaigners hail Caroline Dinenage MP for work". Shropshire Star . 6 August 2016. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  22. ↑ "Women & Equalities". Caroline Dinenage. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  23. ↑ "Draft Childcare (Early Years Provision Free of Charge) (Extended Entitlement) Regulations 2016 – Monday 5 December 2016 – Hansard – UK Parliament". hansard.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  24. ↑ Dhillon, Aran (7 April 2017). "How David Mowat made the move from MP to minister". Warrington Guardian . Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  25. ↑ Davis, Billy (26 May 2017). "Remedying a sector in crisis: The case for reinstating a Social Care Minister". PoliticsHome . Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  26. ↑ "Charity wants '˜stability' after Gosport MP takes on social care minister job". The News . 24 January 2018. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  27. ↑ "Government launches Changing Places consultation – Muscular Dystrophy UK". www.musculardystrophyuk.org. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  28. ↑ "Changing Places toilets for severely disabled people to be compulsory in new public buildings". GOV.UK. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  29. ↑ "Carers Action Plan" (PDF).
  30. ↑ "Mandatory Learning Disability Autism Training". www.homecare.co.uk. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  31. ↑ "'Caroline celebrates culture lifeline'". Caroline Dinenage. 6 July 2020. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  32. ↑ "Written questions and answers – Written questions, answers and statements – UK Parliament". questions-statements.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  33. ↑ "Gosport's HMS Daedalus site to become an Enterprise Zone". Portsmouth.co.uk. 17 August 2011. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  34. ↑ "Gosport Royal Navy base HMS Sultan safe from closure until 2029, says MoD in estates U-turn". www.portsmouth.co.uk. 28 February 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  35. ↑ "Transport secretary is stuck in traffic on visit to Gosport – Portsmouth News". Portsmouth.co.uk. 12 November 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  36. ↑ "Campaign starts to get new bypass built before 2026 – Portsmouth News". Portsmouth.co.uk. 16 April 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  37. ↑ "'Critical' bypass wins government approval". BBC News. 21 May 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  38. ↑ Murray, Jessica (17 September 2023). "A timeline of sexual assault allegations against Russell Brand". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 21 September 2023.
  39. ↑ "Attached is the letter from the UK Parliament". X (formerly Twitter). Retrieved 21 September 2023.
  40. ↑ "Rumble rejects MP's 'disturbing' letter over Russell Brand income". BBC News. 21 September 2023. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  41. ↑ "Gosport MP Caroline Dinenage weds fellow politician at House of Commons chapel". Portsmouth News. 17 February 2014. Archived from the original on 12 September 2017. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
  42. ↑ "Caroline Dinenage to abseil down Spinnaker". ITV News. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  43. ↑ "About Us". Conservatives Against Fox Hunting. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  44. ↑ "Brian May: Conservatives Against Fox Hunting: when animal welfare beats party loyalty". The Guardian. 17 December 2010. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Gosport
2010–present		Incumbent
Political offices
Position established Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Women, Equalities and Early Years
2015–2017		Position abolished
Preceded by Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Family Support, Housing and Child Maintenance
2017–2018		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of State for Social Care
2018–2020		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of State for Digital and Culture
2020–present		Incumbent
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