The Rt Hon. the Lord Foster of Bath
Liberal Democrat
Member of the House of Lords
M
Lord Foster of Bath's full title is The Rt Hon. the Lord Foster of Bath. His name is Donald Michael Ellison Foster, and he is a current member of the House of Lords.
Allowance claims · 2026
Data not yet released for 2026 — the Lords Finance Office publishes monthly CSVs ~6-8 weeks after month-end.
Lords votes · 2026
162 divisions
97 Content(59.9%)
22 Not-Content(13.6%)
43 didn't vote(26.5%)
2026-06-09
Not-Content
13–66
Not-Content
2026-04-23
Not-Content
152–207
Not-Content
2026-04-13
Not-Content
30–130
Not-Content
2026-04-13
Not-Content
178–231
Not-Content
2026-03-26
Not-Content
115–197
Not-Content
2026-03-05
Content
193–143
Content
2026-03-05
Content
194–140
Content
2026-03-05
Content
198–139
Content
2026-03-05
Content
208–142
Content
2026-03-05
Content
214–142
Content
2026-02-04
Content
62–295
Not-Content
2026-01-05
Content
131–127
Content
2026-01-05
Not-Content
168–178
Not-Content
2026-01-05
Content
210–131
Content
Source: lordsvotes-api.parliament.uk. "Result" shows the headline
Content vs Not-Content tally (including tellers). The Lords doesn't
publish a "didn't vote" attendance roll like the Commons, so the
figure above conflates absence with abstention.
Recent Hansard contributions · latest 25
2026-06-22
Sporting Events Bill [HL]
My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have taken part. I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Taylor of Bolton, for her support for my remarks. I neither accuse her nor imply anything about who her support will be for the next leader of her party. I merely po
2026-06-22
Sporting Events Bill [HL]
My Lords, in addition to moving Amendment 2, I will speak to the 11 other amendments in my name and that of my noble friend Lord Addington. I declare my interests as the chair of Peers for Gambling Reform and of Action on Gambling.
Together, my 12 ame
2026-06-22
Sporting Events Bill [HL]
2026-06-03
Sporting Events Bill [HL]
My Lords, until the noble Lord, Lord Hayward, spoke, I was beginning to feel incredibly isolated as a rugby fan in your Lordships’ Chamber. Only two of us have now mentioned rugby as a major sport.
I thank the Minister for her excellent introduction t
2026-06-03
Sporting Events Bill [HL]
I am grateful to the noble Lord for giving way, but I remind him that, during that long deliberation, I moved an amendment that changed the Title of the Bill to the Olympic and Paralympic Bill.
2026-05-18
King’s Speech
My Lords, the Government are right to focus on economic growth. But in parts the plans are timid and in others they are, frankly, bizarre and wrong. They are timid about rebuilding our relationship with the European Union, given the inhibiting red lines.
My Lords, I declare my interest as chairman of Peers for Gambling Reform and as chair of Action on Gambling. I thank the Minister for her very kind words just now. As she said, giving local councils greater power to control the number of gambling premise
2026-03-16
Social Cohesion Action Plan
My Lords, there is much to welcome in the plan, including the agreement to produce an integration plan. It would obviously be very helpful if the Minister could tell us when that is expected to be produced. But it also includes a commitment to refresh th
2026-03-16
Social Cohesion Action Plan
My Lords—
My Lords, before I do exactly that, I thank the Minister for her very warm response. I am well aware of the difficulty around the issue of planning and licensing. The Minister will be aware that many councils have combined the two, even though they must
My Lords, rather like the noble Lord, Lord Hampton, I apologise for being a Johnny-come-lately, having left my noble friends to do all the heavy lifting on this Bill. I have come to raise only one issue: the concern that many of us have about the prevale
My Lords, further to the point raised by my noble friend, the Minister himself confirmed that the Home Office’s current arrangements are that, “at their own discretion”, carriers “may” accept “some” expired British passports as appropriate documentation.
My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have spoken, not least those who have given us five excellent and thought-provoking maiden speeches. I am sure that all will make valuable contributions to the work of your Lordships’ House. I was somewhat concerned
My Lords, as the chair of the Justice and Home Affairs Committee, it is a pleasure to lead this debate. I look forward to the five maiden speeches from new Members; I welcome them all. I am delighted that they have chosen the committee’s report on prison
That this House takes note of the Report from the Justice and Home Affairs Committee Better prisons: less crime (1st Report, HL Paper 153).
2026-01-06
Sentencing Bill
My Lords, I thank the Minister for what have been very constructive conversations on these issues, both with him and his officials. In light of what he said, I hope he will be willing to sign up as a member of Peers for Gambling Reform. I also thank him
2026-01-06
Sentencing Bill
My Lords, I declare my interests as chairman of Peers for Gambling Reform and chairman of Action on Gambling. Amendments 95 and 99 are based on concerns that I have previously expressed during earlier stages of our consideration of the Bill. At present,
2026-01-06
Sentencing Bill
2026-01-06
Sentencing Bill
My Lords, during our various deliberations throughout the passage of the Bill, I have on a number of occasions expressed great support for many of the measures within the proposed legislation but, at the same time, a concern that we may not have the mean
2025-12-03
Sentencing Bill
My Lords, I will speak briefly to Amendment 147. Noble Lords will be well aware that, in earlier debates, I have argued that what we do—whether it is for a custodial or non-custodial sentence—is of course about punishment but should also be about taking
2025-12-03
Sentencing Bill
My Lords, I rise to support my noble friend and the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle. The powers in this Bill currently propose that probation officers will have the power to publish offenders’ names and photographs alongside details of their
2025-12-03
Sentencing Bill
2025-12-03
Sentencing Bill
My Lords, I thank the Minister for what he has just said. Can he assure your Lordships’ Committee that if he is not prepared to accept my Amendment 88, he will bring forward his own amendment at some later stage in our deliberations to bring into effect
2025-12-03
Sentencing Bill
My Lords, I reassure the Committee that I will formally move Amendment 103 at a later stage. I thank all noble Lords who contributed to this debate, which has clearly illustrated my main contention that there are many welcome provisions in this Bill but
Source: hansard.parliament.uk via hansard-api. Snippets shown
verbatim from the search API; click any debate title for the full record.
Register of Interests · 3 entries on file
Declarations under the Lords Code of Conduct. Free text — no monetary values, no hours worked. A declaration that an interest exists, not a claim about its size.
Category 4: Sponsorship
-
The member, as Chair of Peers for Gambling Reform, receives assistance with his parliamentary work on gambling reform from Dentons Global Advisors; the cost of this assistance is met by Mr Derek Webb
registered 2025-06-02
-
Member benefits from part-time research assistance related to work on climate change, paid for by Zero Hour
registered 2024-05-16 · amended 2026-03-04
-
Member benefits from part-time research assistance relating to work on electrical safety, paid for by Electrical Safety First charity
registered 2024-05-16 · amended 2025-04-05
Source: UK Parliament Members API (Lords register). Refreshed weekly.
Read the full
Lords Code of Conduct
for what each category covers and the disclosure thresholds.
Party history
1992-04-09 → present
Liberal Democrat
current
Government posts
2013-10-07 → 2015-05-08
Comptroller (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
2012-09-06 → 2013-10-07
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Communities and Local Government)
Opposition posts
2016-10-28 → 2017-06-16
Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy)
2003-07-01 → 2010-05-06
Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (also Shadow Deputy Prime Minister)
2002-06-01 → 2003-06-01
Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
1999-06-01 → 2001-06-01
Shadow Spokesperson (Environment, Transport and the Regions)
1995-06-01 → 1997-06-01
Shadow Spokesperson (Work and Pensions)
1992-06-01 → 1995-06-01
Shadow Spokesperson (Education)
Committee memberships
1995-11-15 → 1999-03-29
Education & Employment
2016-06-14 → 2017-04-04
Licensing Act 2003 Committee
2018-05-17 → 2019-03-26
Rural Economy Committee
Chair
+£15,235/yr
2019-06-13 → 2020-06-16
Gambling Industry Committee
2020-06-30 → 2021-11-03
International Agreements Committee
2021-10-13 → 2024-01-31
Communications and Digital Committee
2024-01-31 → present
Justice and Home Affairs Committee
Chair
+£17,806/yr
Contact
Parliamentary office
fosterdon@parliament.uk
020 7219 6332 · House of Lords, London, SW1A 0PW
020 7219 6332 · House of Lords, London, SW1A 0PW
APPGs (2026) · 2 active officership(s) · 4 historic
| Group | Role(s) | Funders | Officers in group | Next deadline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
All-Party Parliamentary Group for Gambling Related Harm
Subject Group
|
Vice Chair | Dentons Global Advisors | 4 | 2025-05-21 |
|
All-Party Parliamentary Group on Gambling Reform
Subject Group
|
Vice Chair | DGA Group | 4 | 2027-02-28 |
One row per active APPG. Funder names link out via the
/appgs Top secretariat funders panel — click any funder
there to open its full relationship graph. Officer matching is name-based against
the parliament.uk register text and may miss titled / hyphenated variants.
Written parliamentary questions · 2026
Showing
33
of 33 tabled
31 answered(93.9%)
6
departments
2026-06-17
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Local Government: Community Development
Pending
2026-04-13
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Sustainable Communities Act 2007
Answered
2026-04-13
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Sustainable Communities Act 2007
Answered
2026-03-03
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Gambling: Northern Ireland
Answered
2026-03-03
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Gambling: Northern Ireland
Answered
2026-03-03
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Gambling: Foreign Companies
Answered
2026-02-25
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Sustainable Communities Act 2007
Answered
2026-02-23
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
Energy Performance Certificates
Answered
2026-01-13
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Nature Conservation
Answered
Source: UK Parliament Members API. The amber "interest" tag is set
by Parliament's own system when the asking member has a register entry
it deems related — typically a paid role or directorship in the
sector being asked about. Click any "i" icon to see the full
question and the department's answer.
Bills sponsored & supported · 2026
0 bills
0 as lead sponsor
0 as supporter
No bills sponsored or supported in 2026.
Source: UK Parliament Bills API. "Lead" sponsor is the
primary mover (sortOrder = 1); "Supporter" rows are
members of either House who
backed the bill at introduction. Year is the bill's first-reading
date.
Historic bills (all-time)
8 bills
6 as lead sponsor
2 as supporter
| Bill | Info | Role | Status | Introduced |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic Premises (Electrical Safety Certificate) Bill [HL] | Sponsored | 3rd reading | 2022-05-24 | |
| Minimum Energy Performance of Buildings Bill [HL] | Sponsored | 1st reading | 2021-07-20 | |
| Domestic Premises (Energy Performance) Bill [HL] | Sponsored | Committee stage | 2020-01-08 | |
| Domestic Premises (Energy Performance) Bill [HL] | Sponsored | 2nd reading | 2019-10-29 | |
| Energy Measures (Cost Effectiveness and Efficiency) Bill [HL] | Sponsored | 2nd reading | 2016-06-14 | |
| Safe Standing (Football Stadia) Bill | Sponsored | 2nd reading | 2010-12-07 | |
| Live Music Act 2012 | Supported | Royal Assent | 2010-07-07 | |
| Live Music Bill [HL] | Supported | 2nd reading | 2009-11-19 |
Same source as the year-scoped panel above, but unconstrained by
year. The "Sponsored" tag = lead sponsor; "Supported" = backed at
introduction. Sorted newest first.