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Official portrait of The Rt Hon. the Lord Willetts

The Rt Hon. the Lord Willetts

Conservative Member of the House of Lords M
Lord Willetts's full title is The Rt Hon. the Lord Willetts. His name is David Lindsay Willetts, 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 52 Content(32.1%) 2 Not-Content(1.2%) 108 didn't vote(66.7%)
2026-04-23
Content
199146 Content
2026-04-23
Content
208138 Content
2026-04-23
Content
209145 Content
2026-04-22
Content
281190 Content
2026-04-22
Content
282184 Content
2026-04-20
Content
276169 Content
2026-04-20
Content
259180 Content
2026-04-20
Content
284158 Content
2026-04-16
Content
186144 Content
2026-04-16
Content
192142 Content
2026-04-16
Content
225144 Content
2026-04-16
Content
216141 Content
2026-04-15
Content
270200 Content
2026-04-15
Content
209260 Not-Content
2026-04-13
Content
135154 Not-Content
2026-04-13
Content
214156 Content
2026-04-13
Content
178231 Not-Content
2026-03-25
Content
205147 Content
2026-03-25
Content
207148 Content
2026-03-25
Content
163195 Not-Content
2026-03-25
Content
200150 Content
2026-03-25
Content
266141 Content
2026-03-25
Content
306145 Content
2026-03-24
Content
285156 Content
2026-03-23
Content
241175 Content
2026-03-23
Not-Content
202225 Not-Content
2026-03-19
Content
217113 Content
2026-03-19
Content
217107 Content
2026-03-18
Content
231188 Content
2026-03-16
Content
198171 Content
2026-03-16
Content
201177 Content
2026-03-16
Content
276165 Content
2026-03-11
Content
163153 Content
2026-03-11
Content
227221 Content
2026-03-11
Content
215180 Content
2026-03-10
Content
189157 Content
2026-03-10
Content
217170 Content
2026-03-10
Content
252171 Content
2026-03-10
Content
257174 Content
2026-03-02
Content
192155 Content
2026-03-02
Content
202155 Content
2026-02-03
Content
295180 Content
2026-01-28
Content
255183 Content
2026-01-21
Content
261150 Content
2026-01-21
Content
207159 Content
2026-01-14
Content
213211 Content
2026-01-14
Content
278176 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

2026-06-11 Welfare Reforms and Youth Unemployment
My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend Lord Evans on his excellent introduction to this debate, full of relevant facts and analysis. Indeed, we at the Resolution Foundation—I declare an interest as its president—have tried to contribute to such an anal
2026-05-19 King’s Speech
My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Hobby, and my noble friend Lord Blackwater on their excellent maiden speeches. My noble friend has a deep knowledge of English culture and English history, and we had that on display as he rooted his Euroscep
2026-02-04 Public Order Act 2023 (Interference With Use or Operation of Key National Infrastructure) Regulations 2025
The noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, referred in her powerful speech to what she called the “revulsion” against the use of animals in medical experiments. That is why there has been a long-term strategy, reinforced by this Government but also pursued by pre
2026-02-03 Pension Schemes Bill
In the light of what the Minister has said, I am even more struck by the significance of Amendment 170. Given that there is going to be this change in the regulatory regime in terms of the FCA, I do think that Amendment 170 is the crucial one. It absolut
2026-01-19 Pension Schemes Bill
I am not against such payments. As I say, I think this is highly discretionary—there would be a negotiation. I absolutely understand that argument, and we have all received letters from the people suffering financial distress in some circumstances becaus
2026-01-19 Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, I want briefly to enter this discussion to identify another group not captured in the neat divide of employers and scheme members. When there is £160 billion knocking around, people tend to work out elegant arguments for why some group or anoth
2026-01-14 Pension Schemes Bill
I have one question following the Minister’s very helpful explanation. I was involved in the internal government discussion leading up to the 2013 legislation, and at the back of our minds was the whole issue of merging local government pension schemes f
2026-01-08 Schools and Universities: Language Learning
My Lords, I am very impressed by these attempts to maintain order in the classroom, and I will try to stay under five minutes. I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Coussins, on bringing this debate to the House, and like the noble Lord, Lord Hannay
2025-12-18 Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, I welcome many features and proposals in this substantial and significant Bill. It does, of course, draw on the work of the previous Government, and indeed continues progress on pensions that has long been conducted on a cross-party basis. I th
2025-12-04 Autumn Budget 2025
My Lords, I welcome the maiden speech made by the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Portsmouth. My former constituency, Havant, was within the diocese of Portsmouth, and I recognise the valuable work that the diocese does. The media story around th
2025-10-22 Post-16 Education and Skills Strategy
My Lords, I particularly welcome the increase in fees for students, as that sets the resources available for the education of students without affecting the monthly repayments that graduates subsequently make. However, the international student levy will
2025-10-14 Renters’ Rights Bill
My Lords, I will speak briefly in support of Motion H1 and the powerful points that have just been made by noble friend Lady Scott. The Minister spoke as if one-bedroom and two-bedroom student accommodation would be occupied by families and people who ne
2025-09-19 Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, like the noble Baroness, I welcome the important development since our debate last Friday of the new Motion from the noble Baroness, Lady Berger, and the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer. It is very important that we take every opportunity
2025-09-05 Space Industry (Indemnities) Bill
My Lords, I very much welcome this Bill, which has already received support from across the House. Looking around at noble Lords here this afternoon, I welcome the House of Lords UK Engagement with Space Committee investigation. We should listen to the w
2025-07-08 Government Performance against Fiscal Rules
My Lords, today’s OBR report shows that the cost of the pensions triple lock is running three times higher than previously forecast. It is costing over £10 billion a year, and we now know that pensioners, on average, enjoy higher living standards than wo
2025-07-01 Renters’ Rights Bill
I am grateful to the Minister for that very full explanation of the monitoring. In her long list of organisations that would be consulted, I do not think she had universities. Will she assure the House that they will be included as well?
2025-07-01 Renters’ Rights Bill
My Lords, I support the excellent amendments proposed by the noble Baroness, Lady Scott, in particular Amendment 5, which strongly resembles an amendment which had cross-party support at an earlier stage of our deliberations on the Bill and I hope will c
2025-06-13 AI and Creative Technologies (Communications and Digital Committee Report)
My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend Lord Massey on an excellent maiden speech. The maiden speech in this House is an opportunity to introduce oneself to many Peers, though I have to say that, looking around, several of us have known my noble friend
2025-04-28 Engineering Biology (Science and Technology Committee Report)
My Lords, I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Brown, and all the members of the committee on an excellent report. I very much agree with its key theme of the scale-up challenge, which is one of the big obstacles to turning our great science and innov
2025-04-22 Renters’ Rights Bill
My Lords, I shall speak to Amendment 40 in my name. This is the moment when students and higher education enter the housing and rental market debate. I am never totally sure whether the department responsible for housing welcomes this interruption from t
2025-03-03 Higher Education (Fee Limits and Fee Limit Condition) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2025
King’s is not yet, but will be.
2025-03-03 Higher Education (Fee Limits and Fee Limit Condition) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2025
My Lords, I very much welcome this measure. I should declare my interests as a visiting professor at King’s College London and a member of the University of Southampton’s council. I know from seeing universities close up that the situation is indeed seri
2025-02-04 Renters’ Rights Bill
My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Wilson of Sedgefield, on his excellent maiden speech, its eloquence and his extraordinary personal story. This afternoon, behind the Bench of Bishops, we may have seen another constitutional function emerge i
2025-01-30 Office for Students
My Lords, I am delighted to open this debate and to give a warm welcome to the Minister opposite, the noble Baroness, Lady Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent. She is the Education Whip in the Lords. I had over two years as a Whip in the other place during which
2025-01-30 Office for Students
To ask His Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the Office for Students about (1) its strategy for 2025 to 2030, and (2) its decision to pause applications regarding registering institutions, degree-awarding powers and university t
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 · 24 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.

  • Chair, SaxaVort Spaceport
    registered 2026-05-27
  • Speaking engagement, 29 January 2026, Aviva (fee donated to the Resolution Foundation)
    registered 2026-02-03
  • Speaking engagement, 13 October 2025, Association of Financial Mutuals (fee donated to the Resolution Foundation)
    registered 2025-11-17
  • Chair, Regulatory Innovation Office, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT)
    registered 2025-03-11 · amended 2025-04-05
  • Chair, Gen IP (company assessing value of new technologies)
    registered 2024-10-01 · amended 2025-04-05
  • Non-executive Director, SatixFy Communications Ltd (parent company of SatixFy UK; communications technology company) (interest ceased 3 July 2025)
    registered 2024-04-04 · amended 2025-07-14
  • Strategic Adviser, HighTide (pharmaceutical company) (remunerated via contract with Thames Holdings Ltd)
    registered 2023-11-29 · amended 2025-04-05
  • Chair, UK Space Agency Board (interest ceased 1 April 2026)
    registered 2022-04-28 · amended 2026-04-27
  • Non-executive Director, SatixFy UK (communications technology company) (interest ceased 3 July 2025)
    registered 2020-09-03 · amended 2025-07-07
  • Non-executive Director, Tekcapital plc (investment group focused on creating market value from technologies) (member has share options)
    registered 2020-06-30 · amended 2025-04-05
  • Director, Thames Holdings Ltd (promoting education and life sciences links with China)
    registered 2019-12-04 · amended 2025-04-05
  • In receipt of royalties from writing books
    registered 2015-12-01 · amended 2025-04-05
  • Occasional lectures and presentations
    registered 2015-12-01 · amended 2025-04-05
  • Occasional journalism
    registered 2015-12-01 · amended 2025-04-05
  • Director and sole owner, Marchmount Executive Services Limited
    registered 2015-12-01 · amended 2025-04-05
  • Visiting Professor, King’s College, London
    registered 2015-12-01 · amended 2025-04-05
  • President, The Resolution Foundation (think-tank)
    registered 2015-12-01 · amended 2025-04-05
  • Non-executive Director, The Biotech Growth Trust plc (venture capital fund investing in life sciences) (interest ceased 17 July 2025)
    registered 2015-12-01 · amended 2025-07-17

Category 2: Shareholdings etc. (a)

  • Marchmount Executive Services Limited (100 per cent owner: see category 1)
    registered 2015-12-02 · amended 2025-04-05

Category 2: Shareholdings etc. (b)

  • SynBioVen Limited
    registered 2023-05-25 · amended 2025-04-05
  • Sirius Constellation Limited
    registered 2018-11-08 · amended 2025-04-07
  • Vantix Diagnostics Inc (formerly Vantix Limited) (company developing biosensors)
    registered 2015-12-01 · amended 2025-04-05

Category 6: Gifts, benefits and hospitality

  • Attended Ecole Polytechnique Ball, 17 April 2026, Paris (guest of OHB)
    registered 2026-04-27
  • Attended Goodwood Festival of Speed as guest of the Duke of Richmond, 11–13 July 2025
    registered 2025-07-21
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

1992-04-09present
Conservative current

Government posts

2010-05-122014-07-15
Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation and Skills) (Universities and Science)
1996-07-201996-12-15
Paymaster General (HM Treasury)
1995-11-281996-12-15
Parliamentary Secretary (Duchy of Lancaster Office)
1995-07-081995-11-28
Lord Commissioner (HM Treasury) (Whip)
1994-07-201995-07-07
Assistant Whip (HM Treasury)

Opposition posts

2007-07-032010-05-06
Shadow Minister (Education)
2005-12-082007-07-03
Shadow Secretary of State for Education
2005-05-102005-12-08
Shadow Secretary of State (Trade and Industry)
2001-09-182005-05-10
Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
1999-06-152001-09-18
Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
1998-06-021999-06-15
Shadow Secretary of State for Education

Committee memberships

1992-04-271993-12-06
Social Security
2020-10-152021-11-24
Risk Assessment and Risk Planning Committee

Contact

Parliamentary office
contactholmember@parliament.uk
020 7219 5353 · House of Lords, London, SW1A 0PW

APPGs (2026) · 5 active officership(s) · 5 historic

Group Role(s) Funders Officers in group Next deadline
All-Party Parliamentary Group for Longevity
Subject Group
Vice Chair Collider Health 7 2023-05-15
All-Party Parliamentary Group on Education Technology
Subject Group
Vice Chair Ranelagh Ltd 10 2023-01-09
All-Party Parliamentary Group on Students
Subject Group
Vice Chair National Union of Students UK 4 2027-04-03
All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Fourth Industrial Revolution
Subject Group
Officer Braintree Ltd · Elastacloud Ltd · Harvey Nash PLC · Lockheed Martin UK · Salesforce UK Limited · Samsung Electronics UK Ltd · Vodafone Limited 11 2021-05-21
All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Subject Group
Co-Chair 9 2024-08-28
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

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.
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