The Baroness Watkins of Tavistock
Crossbench
Member of the House of Lords
F
Baroness Watkins of Tavistock's full title is The Baroness Watkins of Tavistock. Her name is Mary Jane Watkins, and she is a current member of the House of Lords.
Allowance claims · 2026
Daily attendance allowance
£7,049
19 days attended across 1 published month
Overnight / accommodation
£1,197
Travel claims
£713
Attendance £713
Total claimed
£8,959
Source: House of Lords Finance Office monthly publications, refreshed on the 5th of each month.
Lords votes · 2026
189 divisions
17 Content(9.0%)
53 Not-Content(28.0%)
119 didn't vote(63.0%)
2026-07-21
Not-Content
173–234
Not-Content
2026-06-09
Not-Content
13–66
Not-Content
2026-04-23
Not-Content
152–207
Not-Content
2026-04-13
Not-Content
65–173
Not-Content
2026-04-13
Not-Content
178–231
Not-Content
2026-03-26
Not-Content
115–197
Not-Content
2026-03-26
Not-Content
64–140
Not-Content
2026-03-24
Not-Content
70–132
Not-Content
2026-03-24
Not-Content
80–166
Not-Content
2026-03-05
Not-Content
198–139
Content
2026-03-05
Not-Content
208–142
Content
2026-03-05
Not-Content
214–142
Content
2026-02-04
Not-Content
62–295
Not-Content
2026-01-05
Not-Content
194–130
Content
2026-01-05
Content
132–124
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
My Lords, it is a pleasure to speak in this debate. I thank the Retirement and Participation Committee, and in particular the noble Baroness, Lady Taylor of Bolton, as chair, for such a well-constructed report, which I believe makes sound suggestions for
2026-09-15
Neighbourhood Health and Social Care
My Lords, will the Minister explain how health and social care will be planned to ensure intergenerational input, in particular from young carers and young people, who often have very good innovative ideas about how to provide such services?
2026-09-15
Home Building Target
My Lords, I warmly welcome the approach the Government are taking. I ask the Minister whether funds could be made available for housing associations to immediately purchase properties for social rent. There are so many on the market, some of which are un
2026-09-09
NHS: Agency Medical Staff
My Lords, the Minister quite rightly said that retention is one of the most important things, both for our own staff and the advantage to patients. Yesterday, the Health APPG heard evidence from senior staff in Georgia, USA, who explained that by startin
2026-09-08
Integrated Care Boards: Access to Services
My Lords, there is increasing evidence that access to senior nursing staff in care homes and in the community keeps people out of A&E and therefore reduces many of the problems there. What responsibility will ICBs have to ensure that they purchase di
2026-07-20
Social Housing Bill [HL]
My Lords, it a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Young of Cookham, and the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, who made such comprehensive cases for Amendments 23 and 25. I have added my name to Amendment 25.
I declare my interests as a former non-e
2026-07-07
Historical Forced Adoption
My Lords, I thank the Lord Privy Seal and the Prime Minister for the tone and the detail in this Statement. However, the NHS was 68 on Sunday and many of the babies were born in NHS facilities. I was 19 when a baby was taken away from a young person at P
My Lords, like others I recognise the kindness and compassion that the majority of staff in our health service deliver, but as the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care rightly said:
“We must break the cycle of recommendations sitting on a she
2026-07-01
Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill
Before we move to the next group, I want to point out that Amendment 25 in that group is in fact to Clause 54, not Clause 53 as printed on the Marshalled List.
Clause 52: Compensation scheme regulations
Amendment 24
2026-06-18
Livestock Grazing on Dartmoor National Park
My Lords, I declare my interest: I live on Dartmoor. The publication within the local and national newspapers has caused real concern. We cannot measure natural habitat against the other advantages to Dartmoor of the ponies, particularly tourism. Dartmoo
I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate, and thank the noble Baroness, Lady Scott, for so ably chairing the committee, and for her excellent introductory speech covering the findings that most of us will probably repeat in part.
I inten
My Lords, will the Minister comment on the Government’s position on the rollout of anti-obesity drugs? The preliminary findings indicate that they will reduce the amount of dementia in future populations. Although that is experimental, it is really impor
2026-06-01
Social Housing Bill [HL]
My Lords, it is a pleasure to contribute to this debate that so many people have made important points in. I declare my interests as chair of Look Ahead, a social housing provider that works with homeless people and those with mental health problems, and
2026-05-21
Offshore Oil and Gas: Venting and Flaring
My Lords, can the Minister explain whether, when calculating emissions from the UK, we estimate the emissions associated with imported oil and gas? If not, why not? The initial suggestions are that increasing our production would, in global terms, reduce
2026-05-20
King’s Speech
My Lords, it is a pleasure to speak after the noble Lord, Lord McLoughlin.
I welcome the proposed legislation regarding social housing and health outlined in the King’s gracious Speech, as I believe that they are inextricably linked. I declare my inte
2026-04-27
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I must inform the House that, if Motion A1 is agreed to, I will not be able to call Motion A2 by reason of pre-emption.
Motion A1 (as an amendment to Motion A)
2026-04-23
Home Ownership: First-Time Buyers
My Lords, I am very glad that the Minister has mentioned shared ownership schemes, because the terms for new schemes are really very good, but many people are stuck on previous detrimental schemes. Following Grenfell and the requirements for them to pay
2026-04-21
Cancer Outcomes in the UK
My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend Lord Patel on securing this important debate, to which it is a pleasure to contribute. I declare my interest as a fellow of the Royal College of Nursing, and I am delighted that I will be followed by a previous pr
2026-04-14
Middle East
My Lords, yesterday’s Statement refers to the fact that Britain needs to be energy independent and that we need to take control of our energy bills. Will the Lord Privy Seal comment on whether His Majesty’s Government are considering increasing gas reser
2026-03-27
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords—
2026-03-27
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
I accept that. There was a helpful article in one of the newspapers this week talking about using the term “assisted death” rather than “assisted suicide”. I am pleased that I have had the opportunity to say it in the Chamber.
2026-03-27
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I am broadly supportive of tightening the issue of ensuring that people’s conscience and beliefs are recognised and I support people who are prepared to work with patients who are, I remind the House, terminally ill adults wanting an end-of-lif
2026-03-26
Arrangement of Business
My Lords, if there is a Division in the Chamber while we are sitting—I must stress that one is expected—the Committee will adjourn as soon as the Division Bells are rung and resume, at the very latest, after 10 minutes. We are very tight for time if we a
2026-03-20
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, we have already had extensive discussion about the multidisciplinary team involvement. In 50 years of nursing—not all in clinical—I have never heard a doctor come out with, “You’ve definitely got six months to live”. There are much more subtle
2026-03-20
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
I just wanted to stress, particularly for Hansard, that the people we are talking about are ultimately going to die from the illness they have had. Therefore, when the noble Lord has referred to them not wanting to die, he means that they do not want an
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 1: Remunerated employment etc.
-
Non-executive Director, NHS England
registered 2023-02-06 · amended 2025-04-05
-
Chair, Look Ahead Care and Support Limited (support, care and accommodation services)
registered 2021-08-05 · amended 2025-04-05
Category 4: Sponsorship
-
The member receives research support from a PhD student from King’s College London, as part of a training scheme for which the student receives a stipend
registered 2021-10-19 · 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
2015-11-02 → present
Crossbench
current
Government posts
None recorded.
Opposition posts
None recorded.
Committee memberships
2016-05-25 → 2017-04-04
Licensing Act 2003 Committee
2019-07-01 → 2023-01-31
Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee
2017-06-27 → 2018-05-15
Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee
2018-05-15 → 2018-07-27
Draft Health Service Safety Investigations Bill (Joint Committee)
2018-09-04 → 2019-04-30
SLSC Sub-Committee B
2024-01-24 → 2024-11-14
Preterm Birth Committee
2025-01-30 → 2025-10-27
Home-based Working Committee
2026-01-27 → present
Public Services Committee
Contact
Parliamentary office
watkinsm@parliament.uk
020 7219 5459 · House of Lords, London, SW1A 0PW
020 7219 5459 · House of Lords, London, SW1A 0PW
Personal assistant
hedgesr@parliament.uk
PA: Rebecca Hedges, Kings Building, 16 Smith Square, LONDON, SW1P 3HQ
PA: Rebecca Hedges, Kings Building, 16 Smith Square, LONDON, SW1P 3HQ
APPGs (2026) · 4 active officership(s) · 4 historic
| Group | Role(s) | Funders | Officers in group | Next deadline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
All-Party Parliamentary Group on Alcohol Harm
Subject Group
|
Vice Chair | Alcohol Change UK | 8 | 2024-04-17 |
|
All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global Health
Subject Group
|
Vice Chair | — | 8 | 2024-05-14 |
|
All-Party Parliamentary Group on Intensive Care
Subject Group
|
Vice Chair | — | 4 | 2025-03-16 |
|
All-Party Parliamentary Health Group
Subject Group
|
Officer | Policy Connect | 4 | 2027-02-15 |
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
No written questions tabled in 2026.
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)
0 bills
0 as lead sponsor
0 as supporter
No bills sponsored or supported on record.
Same source as the year-scoped panel above, but unconstrained by
year. The "Sponsored" tag = lead sponsor; "Supported" = backed at
introduction. Sorted newest first.