Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge Portrait

Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge

Conservative - Life peer

Became Member: 12th July 2023


Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge is not a member of any APPGs
Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge has no previous appointments


Division Voting information

During the current Parliament, Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge has voted in 74 divisions, and never against the majority of their Party.
View All Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge 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 Ponsonby of Shulbrede (Labour)
Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
(7 debate interactions)
Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour)
Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
(4 debate interactions)
Baroness Gohir (Crossbench)
(2 debate interactions)
View All Sparring Partners
Department Debates
Ministry of Justice
(14 debate contributions)
Department for Business and Trade
(4 debate contributions)
Department of Health and Social Care
(2 debate contributions)
View All Department Debates
View all Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge's debates

Lords initiatives

These initiatives were driven by Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.


1 Bill introduced by Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge


A Bill to create offences relating to the taking of a non-consensual sexually explicit photograph or film; and the creation of, or solicitation to create, a non-consensual digitally produced sexually explicit photograph or film; and for connected purposes.

Lords Completed

Last Event - 3rd Reading
Friday 7th February 2025
(Read Debate)

Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting


Latest 17 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
13th Mar 2025
To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) charities, (2) campaign organisations, and (3) survivors, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology has met regarding adult non-consensual intimate image abuse since 5 July 2024; and on which date each meeting took place.

The Secretary of State has made it a key priority to tackle intimate image abuse and in September 2024 made new intimate images offences priority offences under the OSA. Online platforms must proactively tackle such content from 17 March.

The Secretary of State cares deeply about this topic and spoke alongside campaigners at Ofcom’s violence against women and girls event in November.

Ministers have regular meetings with a range of stakeholders on a number of subjects, including non-consensual intimate image abuse. Details of Ministerial meetings, including the purpose of meetings, are published quarterly on the GOV.UK website

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch
Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
3rd Feb 2025
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress has been made by the Independent Pornography Review, and when they expect the findings of that review to be published.

The Independent Pornography Review assessed the effectiveness of current pornography legislation, regulation, and enforcement. This is an important area of interest for this government. The Review has now concluded. The government is assessing its findings, and the final report will be published in due course.

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch
Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
7th Oct 2024
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to tackle non-compliance regarding removal of non-consensual content from websites that host image-based abuse material.

The Online Safety Act gives online user-to-user services new duties to implement systems and processes to reduce the risks of their services being used to facilitate certain ‘priority’ kinds of offending. It also requires providers to take down illegal content when it does appear. These duties extend to intimate image abuse (IIA) content. This is a priority kind of offending under the Act. Ofcom will have strong enforcement powers where platforms fail to comply with their duties for IIA content. It can impose significant fines and, where appropriate, business disruption measures on non-compliant platforms. It can fine companies up to £18 million or 10% of their qualifying global annual revenue.

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch
Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
25th Mar 2025
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking (1) to encourage young children to participate in sports, and (2) to emphasise the benefits of physical activity.

The Government puts children and young people at the heart of our priorities. This includes breaking down barriers to opportunity for every child to realise the benefits of and access high-quality sport and physical activity, especially those who are less likely to be active.

The independent, expert-led review of the school curriculum will ensure that all children can engage with a broad range of subjects, including PE and sport.

The Government recently announced £100 million additional funding for the UK-wide Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme which funds new and upgraded pitches, facilities, and equipment. Funding will ensure that sites can provide a more inclusive and sustainable offer throughout the year for local communities, including for children and young people.

Baroness Twycross
Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
20th Jan 2025
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to encourage more girls to study 'science, technology, engineering, and mathematics' subjects in higher education.

The department continues to support the take up of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects by girls and women in higher education (HE).

Skills, including STEM skills, are crucial for the delivery of the government’s missions. This is why the department is building a coherent, flexible, high quality skills system to break down barriers to opportunity and drive economic growth, underpinned by a new Post-16 Education and Skills Strategy.

To boost quality, encourage more students into STEM across schools and further education, and therefore ensure a strong pipeline of qualified students into HE and careers in STEM areas, the department has committed substantial spending on mathematics, digital and technical education. For instance, the government funds the Advanced Mathematics Support Programme, which provides professional development to teachers in state-funded schools and colleges in England, including strategies to raise girls’ participation in mathematics post-16. Support is focused in areas of low social mobility so that, whatever their location, background or gender, students can choose their best post-16 mathematics pathway and access high quality teaching.

Funding is also provided to the National Centre for Computing Education to support the teaching of computing and increase participation in computer science qualifications. This support includes programmes designed to encourage greater participation by girls and industry-led events that raise pupils’ awareness of careers in computing and digital.

The department is also supporting schools to deliver STEM-related careers education through programmes such as STEM ambassadors. Such initiatives raise young people’s awareness of the high quality options available for technical and academic routes into STEM and the careers STEM pathways offer.

The government will continue to support learners who wish to have a career in STEM through its technical education offer, with a range of high quality qualifications and apprenticeship opportunities at all levels. Examples of this include 12 T Levels in STEM subjects, including engineering, science, digital and media. T Levels are promoted to young people via the Skills for Life national communications campaign.

The government has also created over 370 employer-designed apprenticeship standards in STEM, including level 3 Cyber Security Technician, level 4 Software Developer and level 6 Civil Engineer (degree). Apprenticeships are a great way for anyone, regardless of their background or gender, to receive high quality training and skills to begin, or progress in, a successful career in STEM. The department is promoting STEM apprenticeships to girls in schools through our Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge Programme. In 2023/24, 17.7% (17,220) of STEM apprenticeship starts were by women, compared to 15.8% (15,170) in 2022/23.

Baroness Smith of Malvern
Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
20th Jan 2025
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the country has the skills required for jobs in artificial intelligence industries.

On 13 January, my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, agreed to take forward all 50 recommendations set out by Matt Clifford in his Artificial Intelligence (AI) Opportunities Action Plan. This included recommendations on AI Skills and Talent.

In addition to the AI Opportunities Action Plan, the new Industrial Strategy will channel support to eight growth-driving sectors in which the UK excels today and will propel it forward tomorrow. Digital and Technologies has been identified as one of the eight growth-driving sectors and the department is currently consulting on the barriers to growth, including skills, in this sector.

This government is committed to ensuring both learners and employers have access to crucial digital and AI skills that have the potential to increase productivity and create new high value jobs in the UK economy. To achieve this, the department will build a responsive skills system, coordinated through Skills England, to deliver on the national, regional and local skills needs of the next decade.

​​The digital skills pipeline starts with the school system. The department funds the National Centre for Computing Education (NCCE) to improve the teaching of computing and increase participation in computer science at GCSE and A level across England. To support the teaching of AI, the NCCE delivers a range of courses on machine learning, ethics and teaching about AI in primary and secondary computing and also facilitates industry-led events for pupils to raise awareness of opportunities and careers in sectors such as AI.

The department already provides a range of post-16 academic and technical qualifications relevant to AI skills. Developed in partnership with employers, there are currently 34 apprenticeship standards in digital occupations, including at degree level and in areas like AI.

Learners can study three Digital T Levels which include AI content and there are 77 digital Higher Technical Qualifications approved and quality marked as providing the skills demanded in the workplace by employers, including AI skills. Skills Bootcamps are available in digital, including AI and machine learning, with the latest published data showing that the majority of Skills Bootcamps were in the digital sector, with 61% of starts in digital for the 2022/23 financial year.

The higher education (HE) system continues to be a route for those seeking the skills required for a career in AI. There are a range of high quality AI courses available and, in 2022, 46,000 students graduated from an AI-relevant HE programme in the UK.

Baroness Smith of Malvern
Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
20th Jan 2025
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of girl school leavers have gone on to study 'science, technology, engineering, and mathematics' subjects in higher education compared to boys in each of the past five years.

The department is not able to identify the percentage of school leavers who have gone on to study science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects in higher education (HE) at a reasonable cost or within the required timeframes.

The department has access to Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) data. HESA is responsible for collecting and publishing data on the UK HE sector. These data are shared with the department and include a wide range of information on students from the UK studying in UK higher education providers (HEPs), including their sex and subject of study. These data are only collected in relation to their HE attendance and do not cover any school data.

The department is able to supply the number of UK-domiciled students studying STEM subjects at UK HEPs broken down by sex, based on HESA data. Due to the change in subject classification from 2019/20 to 2020/21, the department is only able to provide a comparable time series from 2020/21 onwards.

These data are provided in the attached spreadsheet. There is no single official definition of which subjects make up STEM. The HESA science grouping includes subjects like medicine, nursing and agriculture that may not be included in other definitions of STEM.

Baroness Smith of Malvern
Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
28th Oct 2024
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure children are educated about how to operate safely online.

As part of the statutory relationships and health education in primary schools and relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) in secondary schools, pupils are taught about online safety and harms.

The statutory guidance for relationships education for primary school can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education/relationships-education-primary.

The statutory guidance for RSHE for secondary school can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education/relationships-and-sex-education-rse-secondary.

This guidance includes being taught about what positive, healthy and respectful online relationships look like, the effects of pupils’ online actions on others, how to recognise and display respectful behaviour online, and where to get help and support for issues that occur online.

Teaching about online safety also complements the computing curriculum, which covers the principles of online safety at all key stages, with progression in the content to reflect the different and escalating risks that pupils face. The statutory guidance for the computing curriculum can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-computing-programmes-of-study.

The guidance ‘Teaching online safety in schools’ sets out how to teach about all aspects of internet safety in a coordinated and coherent way across the curriculum, and can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teaching-online-safety-in-schools.

The department is currently reviewing the RSHE statutory guidance. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has been clear that children’s wellbeing must be at the heart of this guidance for schools and as such the government will look carefully at the consultation responses, discuss with stakeholders and consider the relevant evidence before setting out next steps. As part of the review, the department will consider whether additional or revised content should be included in the guidance, including content regarding online safety and harm.

The Curriculum and Assessment Review is also looking at the curriculum as a whole and how to break down barriers to opportunity and give every child the best start in life. The government‘s ambition is for a broad, rich and cutting-edge curriculum that equips children and young people with the essential knowledge and skills required to thrive as citizens, in work and throughout life.

In addition, the statutory ‘Keeping children safe in education’ guidance which all schools and colleges must have regard to when drawing up and implementing their own safeguarding policies has been strengthened with regards to online safety in recent years. Governing bodies and proprietors should ensure online safety is a running and interrelated theme whilst devising and implementing their whole school or college approach to safeguarding and related policies and procedures, including doing all that they reasonably can to limit children’s exposure to harmful online content on the school’s or college’s IT system.

Baroness Smith of Malvern
Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
13th Mar 2025
IVF
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the advice about egg freezing that is available to women on the NHS website.

Elective egg freezing is not a service provided by the National Health Service and information is therefore is not included on the NHS website. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), as the United Kingdom-wide regulator of fertility treatment, publishes advice about egg freezing on its website in an online-only format, including information about the process, risks, success and data on this. There is a link through to the HFEA website from the NHS webpages on infertility.

Baroness Merron
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
7th Oct 2024
To ask His Majesty's Government what mental health support they currently offer to survivors of image-based abuse.

Whilst the National Health Service does not offer bespoke mental health services to survivors of image-based abuse, anyone experiencing mental health problems as a result of such abuse is advised to seek help from their local general practitioner, NHS Talking Therapies services or through NHS 111.

Further advice for survivors is available from the Revenge Porn Helpline and other sources of emotional support for all types of abuse can be obtained through the Hub of Hope website, both in an online-only format.

Baroness Merron
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
6th Mar 2025
To ask His Majesty's Government what safeguards are in place to prevent access to intimate images when public authorities gain access to iCloud under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016.

The Home Office does not comment on operational matters, including for example confirming or denying the existence of any notices. This has been the longstanding position of successive UK Governments for reasons of national security.

The Investigatory Powers Act 2016 contains numerous safeguards including independent oversight, to ensure data is only requested on an exceptional basis and when strictly necessary and proportionate.

Lord Hanson of Flint
Minister of State (Home Office)
28th Oct 2024
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the funding of the Revenge Porn Helpline is adequate and sustainable in the light of growing demand.

The Home Office is providing £150,000 to the Revenge Porn Helpline in 2024/5. They provide high-quality support and advice to victims of non-consensual intimate image sharing and raise awareness of intimate image abuse nationally and internationally. Since its establishment in 2015, the Helpline has demonstrated an ability to successfully remove from circulation 90% of the images reported to the Helpline by victims.

Lord Hanson of Flint
Minister of State (Home Office)
7th Oct 2024
To ask His Majesty's Government what training members of the police are undertaking to communicate and assist victims of image-based abuse.

Intimate image-based abuse can have a devastating impact on the lives of its victims and this Government will treat violence against women and girls (VAWG), online and offline, as a national emergency.

The College of Policing set the curriculum for policing which includes educational outcomes on image-based abuse. At present, individual forces choose how to deliver this training, often by commissioning local experts and support services.

The Government is determined that every force must have the right specialist capability to investigate these crimes properly. We will therefore work closely with the College of Policing and National Police Chiefs' Council to strengthen the training for officers on VAWG.

Under the Online Safety Act 2023, it is an offence to send, share or threaten to share “deepfake” pornography. This is part of a new “base offence” that criminalises someone for sharing an intimate image without consent. This Government has committed to banning the creation of sexually explicit “deepfake” images.

Lord Hanson of Flint
Minister of State (Home Office)
20th Mar 2025
To ask His Majesty's Government what range of sentences have been received by people who have been prosecuted for non-payment of the BBC licence fee within the past five years.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on TV licence evasions at criminal courts in England and Wales be in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly: June 2024.

The number of prosecutions for TV licence evasion in the past five years and the percentage of which are women can be found in the following table:

Table 1: The number of prosecutions for TV license evasion, at criminal courts, between year ending June 2020 and year ending June 2024, in England and Wales (1,2,3,4,5,6)

Year ending June 2020

Year ending June 2021

Year ending June 2022

Year ending 2023

Year ending 2024

Total prosecutions

81,788

53,879

47,692

39,870

28,542

Female prosecution rate

75%

75%

75%

74%

73%

Source: Court Proceedings Database

The sentence outcomes for TV licence evasion in the past five years can be found in the following table:

Table 2: The sentence outcomes for TV license evasion, at criminal courts, between Year ending June 2020 and year ending June 2024, in England and Wales (1,2,3,4)

Year ending June 2020

Year ending June 2021

Year ending June 2022

Year ending 2023

Year ending 2024

Absolute discharge

132

117

60

72

65

Compensation

1

1

0

0

0

Conditional discharge

1,119

972

666

630

595

Fine

75,087

49,385

43,395

35,813

25,006

Not known

2

0

0

0

0

Other

10

5

1

5

7

76,351

50,480

44,122

36,520

25,673

Source: Court Proceedings Database

Notes:

1. Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

2. These figures are presented on a principal offence basis - i.e. reporting information relating to the most serious offence that a defendant was dealt with for. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.

3. These figures are presented on a principal disposal basis - i.e. reporting the most severe sentence issued for the offence.

4. Only rows with non-zero values within the specified time period will appear in the table.

5. Demographic information, such as a defendant's age, sex, ethnicity, etc. can be sparsely recorded for summary offences. This is because prosecutions for summary offences do not always require an individual to physically attend court (e.g., Single Justice Procedure cases) where this information would typically be recorded. Therefore, if the information held by police or other prosecutors is incomplete, demographic information may not be captured within the court data.

6. The total number of prosecutions includes cases where gender is not recorded

7. The female prosecution rate is based on the total number of prosecutions where gender is recorded

Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede
Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
20th Mar 2025
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people in the past five years have been prosecuted for non-payment of the BBC licence fee; and what percentage of these people were women.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on TV licence evasions at criminal courts in England and Wales be in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly: June 2024.

The number of prosecutions for TV licence evasion in the past five years and the percentage of which are women can be found in the following table:

Table 1: The number of prosecutions for TV license evasion, at criminal courts, between year ending June 2020 and year ending June 2024, in England and Wales (1,2,3,4,5,6)

Year ending June 2020

Year ending June 2021

Year ending June 2022

Year ending 2023

Year ending 2024

Total prosecutions

81,788

53,879

47,692

39,870

28,542

Female prosecution rate

75%

75%

75%

74%

73%

Source: Court Proceedings Database

The sentence outcomes for TV licence evasion in the past five years can be found in the following table:

Table 2: The sentence outcomes for TV license evasion, at criminal courts, between Year ending June 2020 and year ending June 2024, in England and Wales (1,2,3,4)

Year ending June 2020

Year ending June 2021

Year ending June 2022

Year ending 2023

Year ending 2024

Absolute discharge

132

117

60

72

65

Compensation

1

1

0

0

0

Conditional discharge

1,119

972

666

630

595

Fine

75,087

49,385

43,395

35,813

25,006

Not known

2

0

0

0

0

Other

10

5

1

5

7

76,351

50,480

44,122

36,520

25,673

Source: Court Proceedings Database

Notes:

1. Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

2. These figures are presented on a principal offence basis - i.e. reporting information relating to the most serious offence that a defendant was dealt with for. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.

3. These figures are presented on a principal disposal basis - i.e. reporting the most severe sentence issued for the offence.

4. Only rows with non-zero values within the specified time period will appear in the table.

5. Demographic information, such as a defendant's age, sex, ethnicity, etc. can be sparsely recorded for summary offences. This is because prosecutions for summary offences do not always require an individual to physically attend court (e.g., Single Justice Procedure cases) where this information would typically be recorded. Therefore, if the information held by police or other prosecutors is incomplete, demographic information may not be captured within the court data.

6. The total number of prosecutions includes cases where gender is not recorded

7. The female prosecution rate is based on the total number of prosecutions where gender is recorded

Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede
Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
21st Nov 2024
To ask His Majesty's Government how many prisoners convicted of sharing intimate images have been released early.

The new Government inherited a justice system in crisis and took decisive action to stop our prisons from collapsing. When we replaced the previous Government’s early release scheme with SDS40, we specifically excluded sexual offences, including sharing intimate images without consent.

Data on SDS40 releases forms a subset of data intended for future publication.

Lord Timpson
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
21st Nov 2024
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people have been convicted of sharing intimate images and given a custodial sentence.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on offenders sentenced to immediate custody for offences relating to sharing intimate images, at criminal courts in England and Wales, in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, which can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly: June 2024.

This can be accessed by navigating to the ‘2. Sentence Outcomes’ tab and using the following HO offence codes;

  • 08815 - Sharing or threatening to share intimate photograph or film

  • 17508 - Share photograph or film of person in intimate state without consent

Offences relating to sharing intimate images came into force in January 2024 and up to end of June 2024, 3 offenders were sentenced to immediate custody.

Lord Timpson
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)