Baroness Gale Portrait

Baroness Gale

Labour - Life peer

Became Member: 4th August 1999


Statutory Instruments (Joint Committee)
17th Sep 2020 - 31st Jan 2023
Shadow Spokesperson (Equalities and Women's Issues)
9th Jan 2017 - 15th Apr 2020
Lord Speaker's Advisory Panel on Works of Art
25th Jan 2017 - 23rd Oct 2019
Select Committee on Charities
25th May 2016 - 26th Mar 2017
Works of Art Committee (Lords)
16th May 2013 - 31st Aug 2016
Opposition Whip (Lords)
8th Oct 2010 - 1st Oct 2013
Refreshment Committee (Lords)
20th Jun 2012 - 12th Jun 2013
Works of Art Committee (Lords)
25th Nov 2009 - 15th May 2012
Statutory Instruments (Joint Committee)
8th Dec 2003 - 30th Oct 2007
Information Committee (Lords)
25th Nov 2002 - 18th Nov 2004


Division Voting information

During the current Parliament, Baroness Gale has voted in 79 divisions, and never against the majority of their Party.
View All Baroness Gale Division Votes

Debates during the 2024 Parliament

Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.

Sparring Partners
Lord Hanson of Flint (Labour)
Minister of State (Home Office)
(2 debate interactions)
Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour)
Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
(2 debate interactions)
Baroness Smith of Malvern (Labour)
Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
(2 debate interactions)
View All Sparring Partners
Department Debates
Home Office
(3 debate contributions)
Department for Education
(3 debate contributions)
View All Department Debates
Legislation Debates
Baroness Gale has not made any spoken contributions to legislative debate
View all Baroness Gale's debates

Lords initiatives

These initiatives were driven by Baroness Gale, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.


1 Bill introduced by Baroness Gale


A Bill to make provision in connection with the ratification by the United Kingdom of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (the Istanbul Convention).

This Bill received Royal Assent on 27th April 2017 and was enacted into law.

Baroness Gale has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting


Latest 9 Written Questions

(View all written questions)
Written Questions can be tabled by MPs and Lords to request specific information information on the work, policy and activities of a Government Department
2nd Jun 2025
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the economic benefits of investing in alternatives to animal testing for the UK life sciences sector.

The Labour Manifesto commits to “partner with scientists, industry, and civil society as we work towards the phasing out of animal testing”. The Government will publish a strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods later this year, which will consider economic impacts including benefits.

Building on the UK’s strengths as home to world leading research and pharmaceutical businesses, the strategy will support the UK to capitalise on the global non-animal technologies market, estimated to be worth $29.4 billion by 2030, and on the scientific and economic advantages of more human-relevant methods for product development and testing.

Lord Vallance of Balham
Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
12th May 2025
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the policy to require government catering contracts to favour high-welfare products will be determined in line with the highest animal welfare tiers set out in the consultation on fairer food labelling.

The National Procurement Policy Statement, published in February, underscores the Government's commitment to increasing the procurement of food that meets higher environmental standards, supporting local suppliers and upholding ethical sourcing practises across public sector contracts. This includes sourcing products from all farmed animals which have been raised to high UK welfare standards as defined in current animal welfare legislation.

Baroness Hayman of Ullock
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
19th Mar 2025
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that a veterinary agreement with the European Union includes protections to ensure that the UK can implement mandatory animal welfare method-of-production labelling, including on imports.

The Government is committed to resetting our EU relationship, including by seeking to negotiate an SPS agreement. We have been clear that an SPS agreement could boost trade and deliver significant benefits on both sides. It’s too early to discuss any specific areas in detail and we will not be providing a running commentary on discussions with the EU.

This Government was elected on a mandate to introduce the most ambitious plans to improve animal welfare in a generation.

A public consultation on proposals to improve and extend current mandatory method of production labelling was undertaken last year by the previous Government. We are now carefully considering all responses before deciding on next steps and will respond to this consultation in due course.

Baroness Hayman of Ullock
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
12th Mar 2025
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to phase out the use of cages for farmed animals and to explore introducing animal welfare labelling, following the European Commission's recent announcement on these measures.

We remain firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and want to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards.

The use of cages and other close confinement systems for farmed animals is an issue which we are currently considering very carefully.

A public consultation on fairer food labelling was undertaken between March and May 2024 by the previous Government. We are now carefully considering all responses before deciding on next steps and will respond to this consultation in due course.

Baroness Hayman of Ullock
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
3rd Dec 2024
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that any veterinary agreement concluded with the European Union will not undermine the United Kingdom's existing animal welfare protections or limit the ability of the United Kingdom to introduce new animal welfare protections, including on imports, in the future.

This Government is committed to resetting relations between the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU). As part of this, the government is seeking to negotiate a veterinary/ sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement to boost trade and deliver benefits to businesses and consumers on both sides. The UK and EU are like-minded partners with similarly high standards.

This Government was elected on a mandate to introduce the most ambitious plans to improve animal welfare in a generation. That is exactly what the Government will do, and we will be outlining more detail in due course.

Baroness Hayman of Ullock
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
28th Oct 2024
To ask His Majesty's Government, with reference to the decision by the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs to amend retained Council Regulation 1/2005, which prohibits lifting chickens by the legs in such a way as to cause them unnecessary pain or suffering, what legislative measures they intend to advance to improve the welfare of layer hens and broiler chickens.

We are carefully considering the recommendations in the Animal Welfare Committee’s report on the welfare implications of carrying methods for poultry to ensure the highest standards of animal welfare and will set out next steps in due course.

Baroness Hayman of Ullock
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
7th Oct 2024
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to (1) assess case for the phasing-out of cages for layer hens, and (2) launch a consultation on phasing out such cages.

We are firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and want to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards.

The use of enriched ‘colony’ cages for laying hens is an issue we will want to fully consider in due course.

Baroness Hayman of Ullock
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
2nd Sep 2024
To ask His Majesty's Government when they intend (1) to respond to the consultation by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on fairer food labelling that closed on 7 May, and (2) to bring forward the proposals to improve transparency in method-of-production welfare labelling for pork, chicken and eggs.

Ministers are carefully considering all responses provided to a public consultation on fairer food labelling before deciding on next steps.

Baroness Hayman of Ullock
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)