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• Barbara Follett MP

Barbara Follett MP

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

• Responsibilities
• Biography

Responsibilities

Minister for the East of England

• Local government finance
• Strengthening local democracy and empowerment

Biography

Barbara Follett was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on 22 September 2009. She continues her role as Minister for the East of England, to which she was appointed in July 2007.

Barbara Follett has been the MP for Stevenage since May 1997. From October 2008 Barbara Follet was the Minister for Culture, Creative Industries and Tourism at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. For the year before that Barbara was the Parliamentary Secretary for Equality, supporting the Minister for Women and Equalities, Harriet Harman. Barbara was a member of the Commons Select Committee for International Development 1997-2001 and Modernisation of the House of Commons 2001-05.

During her time in Parliament, Barbara has also served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to both Tessa Jowell and Ruth Kelly as Minister for Women and to Tessa Jowell again as Secretary of State at the Department for Culture Media and Sport.

Barbara was born in Jamaica but grew up in Ethiopia. Before entering politics, she enjoyed a varied career, which included managing a fruit farm in South Africa, lecturing on cross-cultural management and a stint as Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Public Policy Research. She obtained a Bsc. (Econ) in Economic History at the London School of Economics.

Barbara lives in Knebworth, Hertfordshire with her husband, author Ken Follett, and their two dogs. Between them they have five children and four grandchildren. Aside from politics, her other interests include Scrabble, photography and Star Trek.