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Official portrait of The Baroness Penn

The Baroness Penn

Conservative Member of the House of Lords F
Baroness Penn's full title is The Baroness Penn. Her name is Joanna Carolyn Penn, and she 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.

Ministerial activity

Records on file 111
90 meetings · 16 hospitality · 0 gifts · 5 overseas trips · 2022-04-01 → 2024-03-31
Total overseas travel cost £423

Recent meetings · latest 20 of 90

Date Met with Purpose Source
2024-02-29 Lord bishop of Leicester To discuss faith literacy, interfaith funding, the recent unrest in Leicester department-for-levelling-up-housing-and-communities
2024-02-28 Robert Colville, Journalist for CPS To discuss the home ownership portfolio department-for-levelling-up-housing-and-communities
2024-02-21 PricewaterhouseCoopers; Reform; Energy UK; Green Alliance; Nottingham City Council; Royal London Asset Management; The Graham Institute for Climate Change; UK 100; UK Energy Research Centre; Nesta; The Northern Powerhouse Partnership; Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education; National Audit Office; Hartlepool Borough Council To discuss Net Zero department-for-levelling-up-housing-and-communities
2024-02-20 Future Homes Hub; Federation of Master Builders; Home Builders Federation; National House Building Council; Thakeham; Gleeson; Taylor Wimpey; Bargate Homes; To discuss Building regulation changes department-for-levelling-up-housing-and-communities
2024-02-19 Simon Brown, Landmark To discuss Home Buying and Selling department-for-levelling-up-housing-and-communities
2024-02-14 Propertymark; Citizens Advice; National Trust; National Housing Federation; Local Government Association; Property Energy Professional Association; Elmhurst Energy; Quidos; ecmk; Sterling; CIBSE Certification; Kaizen Certification To discuss Energy Performance Certificates department-for-levelling-up-housing-and-communities
2024-02-13 Climate Change Committee; Energy Systems Catapult; Centre for Net Zero; Building Research Establishment; Green Finance Institute; Bankers for Net Zero; Santander (Green improvements) To discuss Energy Performance Certificates department-for-levelling-up-housing-and-communities
2024-01-29 Octopus Energy To discuss energy efficiency and Net Zero   department-for-levelling-up-housing-and-communities
2024-01-25 Hadiya Masieh , Groundswell To discuss Hate Crime department-for-levelling-up-housing-and-communities
2024-01-25 National Economic Crime Centre; Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering; Law Society (City of London); Association of Taxation Technicians; Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners; Practical Law; Who Owns England; City of London law Society; John Forbes Consulting LLP; McDermott Will & Emery UK LLP; Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner; Pump Court Tax Chambers; Herbert Smith Freehills; Macfarlanes & The Law Society; Taylor Wessing; Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales To discuss the Trust Transparency consultation department-for-levelling-up-housing-and-communities
2024-01-24 Iman Atta, Tell MAMA To discuss Hate Crime and routes to control department-for-levelling-up-housing-and-communities
2024-01-24 Dr Nicola Blacklaws, Institute for Government and Chloe Smith MP To discuss Ministerial Maternity leave department-for-levelling-up-housing-and-communities
2024-01-24 Maria Harris, Home Buying and Selling Group To discuss Home Buying and Selling reforms department-for-levelling-up-housing-and-communities
2024-01-23 Northern Ireland DA / Executive, Open Ownership, Transparency International, British Property Federation, The Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, London School of Economics, National Economic Crime Centre, The Scottish Government, Boodle Hatfield LLP, Burges Salmon LLP, Forsters LLP, The Association of Investment Companies, Mourant, Apex, Registers of Scotland, Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP To discuss the Trust Transparency consultation department-for-levelling-up-housing-and-communities
2024-01-18 Ben Cowdock and Duncan Hames, Transparency International To discuss the Trust Transparency consultation department-for-levelling-up-housing-and-communities
2024-01-17 Kate Faulkner, Home Buying and Selling Group To discuss Home Buying and Selling reforms department-for-levelling-up-housing-and-communities
2024-01-16 Joseph Roundtree Foundation, Centre for Policy Studies, Institute for Economic Affairs, Institute for Fiscal Studies, Tony Blair Institute, London Schoold of Economics, Resolution Foundation, University of Cambridge, Onward, Nationwide, Leeds Building Society, Homeowners Alliance To discuss Home Ownership and the future of home ownership department-for-levelling-up-housing-and-communities
2024-01-15 Building Research Establishment To discuss the prospects of Net Zero within the building space department-for-levelling-up-housing-and-communities
2023-12-17 to discuss counter-extremist communications activity. department-for-levelling-up-housing-and-communities
2023-11-14 General meeting to discuss fraud, anti-money laundering and the economic crime plan. Also discussed UK-US FS relations hm-treasury

Recent hospitality

Date Host Type Value
2024-02-02 Flemish Regional Government Dinner
2023-11-08 Dinner
2023-07-12 Tickets and hospitality to Wimbledon Semi Finals
2023-07-10 Dinner
2023-06-23 Ticket to Queens Club and hospitality
2023-06-22 Theatre ticket
2023-05-23 Theatre ticket
2023-03-20 Theatre tickets
2023-03-11 Match tickets to see England v France
2023-03-02 Awards Ceremony with drinks reception
2022-09-07 Social drinks reception to mark 10 years of the Evening Blend Newsletter
2022-07-31 Ticket to the Women's Euro 2022
2022-07-19 Financial and Professional Services Dinner
2022-07-08 Tickets to the mens semi-finals plus lunch, afternoon tea and drinks
2022-07-05 Drinks reception
2022-04-28 Dinner and Reception

Recent overseas travel

Dates Destination Purpose Total cost
2024-02-08 2024-02-09 Mechelen, Belgium
Eurostar, Bus, Taxi
To attend a conference on the integration of newcomers, present the UK's approach and learn from other countries on their integration processes. Baroness Penn was invited to attend given DLUHC's remit on Communities and Integration (which falls under Baroness Penn's portfolio). The conference included panel talks, which Baroness Penn contributed to, as well as breakout rooms with other delegates to discuss the various challenges and opportunities of integration in EU countries as well as further afield. Baroness Penn held bilaterals with delegates from Denmark, Norway, and Germany, to compare approaches. £423
Brussels, Belgium
Eurostar
International economic security roundtable and international engagement
Washington DC, USA
Scheduled flight
Overseas engagement on sanctions, green finance and economic crime. Involved bi-lats with foreign ministers and US representatives
Warsaw, Poland
Scheduled flight
Attend Moneyval anti money laundering conference
Montreal Canada
Scheduled flight
Bio-Diversity COP15
Source: gov.uk ministerial transparency returns. Coverage: HM Treasury and DSIT. Published quarterly under the Ministerial Code; refreshed monthly on the 7th.

Lords votes · 2026

162 divisions 102 Content(63.0%) 5 Not-Content(3.1%) 55 didn't vote(34.0%)
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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

2026-05-20 Self-employed: Paternity Leave
My Lords, why do the Government need another review to tell us what is obvious: that excluding nearly one in four fathers from our system of paternity pay is unfair and needs fixing? Becoming a new father can be stressful and expensive, as well as wonder
2026-05-20 Self-employed: Paternity Leave
To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to provide paternity leave to the self-employed.
2026-05-20 Self-employed: Paternity Leave
Does the Minister recognise that the lack of proper pay is the number one reason for a lack of take-up of existing rights? Will she confirm whether the new day one right to paternity leave is for paid or unpaid leave?
2026-05-14 King’s Speech
My Lords, following the noble Baroness, Lady O’Grady, I too want to focus on the theme from yesterday’s gracious Speech as being one of security—defence security, energy security and economic security. I will resist the temptation to make a joke about jo
2026-04-14 Ministerial Salaries (Amendment) Bill
My Lords, I, too, welcome the Bill. I do not think it is acceptable that we ask Ministers to do their work unpaid, a burden that has fallen disproportionately on Members of this House. As we have heard, former Leaders on these Benches have worked hard to
2026-03-25 Equality: Break Down Barriers to Opportunity Mission
My Lords, a key part of this mission is focused on the first 1,001 critical days of a child’s life. Evidence shows that having a father involved at this time supports the child’s future social and emotional development, as well as their future academic o
2026-02-23 Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, I will speak in support of Amendment 218A. Before I do so, on Amendment 212, the noble Lord, Lord Sharkey, made a valiant attempt to square the circle of opposing some forms of mandation while supporting others, but it did not quite get me ove
2026-01-26 Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, my noble friend Lord Younger has asked many of the questions that my Amendments 116A and 130A seek to probe on the rationale for the Government’s timescales in the Bill. They are also intended to shorten those timescales and implement an absolu
2026-01-26 Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, I will speak briefly in support of Amendments 112, 114 and 117 in the names of my noble friends Lady Coffey and Lady McIntosh of Pickering, which aim to set a cap on asset allocation. In response to our debate on the previous group, the Mini
2026-01-21 Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
2026-01-21 Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I will be brief. My only plea to noble Lords, as we take this issue forward beyond today’s debate in the Chamber—as I have no doubt that we will—is that we keep the interests of our very youngest children in mind. If we think that companies and
2026-01-21 Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I will speak to my Amendment 91, in my name and the names of the noble Lords, Lord Storey and Lord Knight, and the noble Baroness, Lady Cass, and Amendment 106, also supported by the noble Baroness, Lady Kidron. I am conscious that I am the
2026-01-20 Parental Leave and Pay Review
My Lords, the Minister talked about the evidence needed. When Quebec introduced five weeks of paid paternity leave 20 years ago, not only did it increase the take-up and length of leave taken by dads, but it increased mothers’ labour-market participation
2026-01-20 Parental Leave and Pay Review
My Lords, the Minister referred to the call for evidence, which closed in August. I appreciate that there were around 1,300 responses, but it has been five months since then, with not a word of an update from the Government. Could we get an update from t
2026-01-14 Early Years Education
My Lords, research published by the Government on Monday showed some two year-olds spending five hours a day on average on screens, with a strong negative association with their language development. In that context, I welcome the Government’s commitment
2025-12-18 Pension Schemes Bill
The Minister has made a valiant attempt to answer all questions. Can she commit to writing to the noble Lords in this debate on the questions she did not reach, and to that letter reaching us before we start Committee?
2025-12-18 Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, we have had a wide range of expertise in the speakers today, although I suspect that the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Brixton, might be the only one of us who could not think of a better Christmas present than a pensions Bill. I am also conscious
2025-12-18 Preschool Children: Digital Technology
My Lords, I thank the Minister for taking time to meet me and the noble Baroness, Lady Cass, last month to discuss this issue. The evidence shows that digital device use among early years children is growing rapidly, and education and health professional
2025-12-18 Preschool Children: Digital Technology
To ask His Majesty’s Government what information they provide to parents and early-years providers about safe and appropriate use of digital technology by pre-school children.
2025-12-10 Children: Social Media
My Lords, the Minister talked about support for parents. Last week, the Centre for Social Justice released a new analysis showing that almost 1 million preschool children are active on social media, something that even the platforms, I would say, do not
2025-12-04 Autumn Budget 2025
My Lords, in my four minutes, I thought I would focus on the good, the bad and the ugly of this Budget. Starting with the good, there was the welcome emphasis from the Minister in his opening speech on some of the measures for growth. These included: rai
2025-12-01 OBR Forecasts
My Lords, can the Minister tell the House why the increase to forecast tax receipts as a result of higher forecast inflation and greater taxes on employment was the only information not made public in advance of the Budget?
2025-11-18 Budget: Press Briefings
I will not ask the Minister to comment on bond markets or to speculate. I will simply ask him whether he agrees with himself when he told this Chamber last year that a freeze on income tax thresholds would be a tax rise on working people costing them bil
2025-07-16 Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, given the hour, I shall be brief. The Minister said that the Government have delivered on a manifesto commitment to launch a review, but the manifesto commitment was to complete a review by now. We should have seen the outcomes and be taking ac
2025-07-16 Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Lister, and the noble Lords, Lord Palmer and Lord Hampton, for their support, and all noble Lords who have spoken in this Chamber or outside of it in favour of improving leave for new fathers. I also ha
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 · 2 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.

  • Speaking engagement, 26 June 2025, Norton Rose Fulbright, London
    registered 2025-07-14

Category 6: Gifts, benefits and hospitality

  • Two tickets and hospitality for British Grand Prix received from Silverstone Circuit, 5 July 2025
    registered 2025-07-10
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

2019-10-10present
Conservative current

Government posts

2024-03-012024-07-05
Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
2023-11-142024-02-29
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
2022-10-302023-11-13
Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
2020-03-192022-09-20
Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Opposition posts

2024-09-012024-11-10
Shadow Minister (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Committee memberships

2019-10-292020-04-21
Science and Technology Committee
2026-01-27present
Economic Affairs Committee

Contact

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

APPGs (2026) · 1 active officership(s)

Group Role(s) Funders Officers in group Next deadline
All-Party Parliamentary Group for Flexible and Family Friendly Working
Subject Group
Co-Chair Working Families 4 2026-08-23
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 6 of 6 tabled 6 answered(100.0%) 3 departments
2026-03-23
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
Artificial Intelligence: Children
Answered
2026-03-20
Treasury
Parental Leave and Parental Pay
Answered
2026-03-20
Treasury
Parental Leave: Baby Care Units
Answered
2026-03-20
Treasury
Parental Leave and Parental Pay
Answered
2026-01-22
Department for Education
Early Years Screen Time Advisory Group
Answered
2026-01-22
Department for Education
Early Years Screen Time Advisory Group
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)

11 bills 1 as lead sponsor 10 as supporter
Bill Info Role Status Introduced
Supply and Appropriation (Main Estimates) Act 2023 Supported Royal Assent 2023-07-05
Finance (No. 2) Act 2023 Supported Royal Assent 2023-03-21
Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Act 2023 Supported Royal Assent 2023-03-08
Finance Act 2023 Supported Royal Assent 2022-11-22
Stamp Duty Land Tax (Temporary Relief) Act 2023 Supported Royal Assent 2022-10-24
Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 Supported Royal Assent 2022-07-20
Supply and Appropriation (Main Estimates) Act 2022 Supported Royal Assent 2022-07-06
Energy (Oil and Gas) Profits Levy Act 2022 Supported Royal Assent 2022-07-05
UK Infrastructure Bank Act 2023 Sponsored Royal Assent 2022-05-11
National Insurance Contributions (Increase of Thresholds) Act 2022 Supported Royal Assent 2022-03-24
Finance Act 2022 Supported Royal Assent 2021-11-02
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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