The Lord Birt
Crossbench
Member of the House of Lords
M
Lord Birt's full title is The Lord Birt. His name is John Birt, and he is a current member of the House of Lords.
Allowance claims · 2026
Daily attendance allowance
£4,081
11 days attended across 1 published month
Total claimed
£4,081
Source: House of Lords Finance Office monthly publications, refreshed on the 5th of each month.
Lords votes · 2026
189 divisions
2 Content(1.1%)
0 Not-Content(0.0%)
187 didn't vote(98.9%)
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
2026-09-09
UK Automotive and Components Sector
My Lords, we would all wish Jaguar Land Rover to succeed, but does the Minister recognise that more than that of any other country in the G7, the UK economy is now overwhelmingly focused on high-value services, which give the economy nine times what the
2026-09-09
National Infrastructure Projects: Devolution
My Lords, I worked at No. 10 some 20 years ago, when the decision was made in principle to build a national high-speed rail network in the UK. As we know, that network now goes just from Birmingham to Euston, is not yet open and is 140 miles long. At exa
I think we all share the sympathy that the noble Baroness, Lady Northover, has identified SMEs need. There are 5.7 million SMEs in the UK and many of them—indeed, most of them—will purchase what are relatively complex platforms. The noble Lord, Lord Lond
Before the Minister sits down, I ask her to reflect, at the end of our second day in Committee, that the noble Viscount, Lord Camrose, has mentioned more than once that he would like to see a national cyber security strategy, but is not the takeaway from
My Lords, these amendments are highly pertinent. We simply must ensure that non-UK providers of services in this sector are firmly and wholly within the scope of the Bill—they are only partly in scope. For noble Lords who were not at Second Reading, I re
Can I ask the Minister to comment on another point that the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, raised? Why should this not apply to the higher reaches of government? I ask the Minister specifically: what is her view of 607,000 records being stolen, just wee
Let me just say, very briefly, that, as I made clear earlier in the week, the scope of the Bill is far too narrow. I suggested and will continue to suggest that we have to extend the definition of essential services. I remind all noble Lords, despite all
My Lords, I strongly support the drift of both amendments spoken to by the noble Baronesses, Lady Kidron and Lady Ludford. As I said the other day, I have sat on many boards with many distinguished people that contained a variety of experience in many ju
I, too, support the amendment from the noble Baroness, Lady Harding, as I do all the amendments previously discussed. By definition, a near miss means a severe threat narrowly avoided that would have had substantial consequences if it had not been avoide
My Lords, I confess to a real disappointment listening to the Minister’s response. We have sat here all afternoon and heard many strong contributions on many matters, but so far, the Government do not appear to have moved an inch on any of them.
I hav
My Lords, I will also speak to all the other amendments in my name, which are all supported by the noble Lord, Lord Londesborough, and some by others of your Lordships.
The Bill in its present form, as others have already said, is extraordinarily limi
Can the Minister explain why GCHQ is not the right home to exercise these powers? I am sure we will all agree that national security is a significant issue, but it is being lodged in departments that have no prior experience of it. What is wrong with exi
My Lords, I think that this is profoundly unsatisfactory. It is not good parliamentary procedure to table so many amendments radically different from anything that we have seen before, which I, for one, have seen only at the last minute, so to speak—I ha
My Lords, the Government’s own cyber survey reports that 43% of UK businesses experienced a cyber attack last year, costing the UK economy an estimated £15 billion. Here are just a few examples of those many attacks: a deepfake video call cost Arup £20 m
2026-07-13
Civil Service Pensions
My Lords, this is plainly an extremely unhappy matter, above all for the civil servants affected, and I do not claim to be an expert on it. Is the fault all Capita’s? Was there not a very troubling two-year handover from the previous administrator and do
2026-06-29
Media Green Paper
My Lords, I too welcome the Green Paper because, frankly, Rome is burning. Two of the UK’s greatest, most respected and historic achievements are threatened by the globalisation of media—a lively, challenging and diverse press, which we have had for cent
2026-06-17
Thames Water
My Lords, the dire position of Thames Water is, above all, a regulatory failure. Does the Minister accept that Ofwat’s record as a regulator has been absolutely woeful? Above all, it failed to require water companies to invest over a long period of time
2026-06-15
Defence Investment Plan
My Lords, I was very sad indeed to see such a capable and committed group of Defence Ministers depleted by resignation, but very pleased—as was the noble Baroness, Lady Goldie—to see that the Minister remains with us in his place today. At the 2025 NATO
2026-04-20
Trains: Punctuality
My Lords, in the last year, just under 10% of British train journeys were either cancelled, truncated or arrived more than 10 minutes late. The prime causes identified were unavailability of crew or fleet and signal and points failures. Recently, my wife
2026-04-16
Local Resilience Forums
My Lords, utilising modern science and technology, the police appear to be addressing the most serious crime very effectively. But we all know that we have an epidemic of offending on our streets—and our high streets—unmatched in my lifetime, with shopli
2026-03-18
Trail-hunting
My Lords—
2026-03-17
BBC World Service: Sustainability
My Lords, in a few years, we will be celebrating the centenary of one of the UK’s many great inventions, the BBC World Service, which now reaches a remarkable 400 million people each week. It is the most trusted news service on the planet and a significa
2026-03-16
Humanist Weddings
My Lords, in Scotland in 2024, there were more humanist weddings than there were weddings of all religious faiths combined—evidence not only of the substantial demand for humanist marriage but of the accelerating decline of traditional religions. Nine mo
2026-02-24
Quantum Technology
My Lords, quantum technology is possibly, indeed probably, the most disruptive and transformational technology yet invented by mankind. Thankfully, with our world-leading science base, the UK already has the second-highest number of start-ups working in
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 · 4 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.
-
Chairman, Wharfedale Acquisitions Topco Ltd (holding company for JLA Group, which offers equipment supply and maintenance)
registered 2018-08-22 · amended 2025-04-05
Category 2: Shareholdings etc. (b)
-
Wharfedale Acquisitions Topco Ltd (holding company)
registered 2018-08-22 · amended 2025-04-05
Category 3: Land and property
-
Residential properties in East Midlands from which rental income is received
registered 2020-03-13 · amended 2025-04-05
Category 6: Gifts, benefits and hospitality
-
Ticket and hospitality for West Ham United v Liverpool Premier League match received from vice chairman of West Ham United, 30 November 2025
registered 2025-12-04
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
2000-02-11 → present
Crossbench
current
Government posts
None recorded.
Opposition posts
None recorded.
Committee memberships
None recorded.
Contact
Parliamentary office
contactholmember@parliament.uk
020 7219 5353 · House of Lords, London, SW1A 0PW
020 7219 5353 · House of Lords, London, SW1A 0PW
APPGs (2026) · 2 active officership(s) · 2 historic
| Group | Role(s) | Funders | Officers in group | Next deadline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
All-Party Parliamentary Group on Metal, Stone and Heritage Crime
Subject Group
|
Vice Chair | — | 4 | 2024-10-23 |
|
Electric Vehicle All-Party Parliamentary Group
Subject Group
|
Officer | Renewable Energy Association (REA) | 4 | 2027-01-10 |
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
27
of 27 tabled
23 answered(85.2%)
9
departments
2026-10-05
Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade
Small Businesses: Cybersecurity
Pending
2026-09-01
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
Electricity: Data Centres
Answered
2026-06-01
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Political Parties: Finance
Answered
2026-05-18
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
Natural Gas and Oil: Storage
Answered
2026-04-20
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
Electricity: EU Countries
Answered
2026-02-27
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Mackerel: Fisheries
Answered
2026-02-10
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Fly-tipping: Private Property
Answered
2026-01-13
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Fly-tipping: Private Property
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)
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.