Lord Addington Portrait

Lord Addington

Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary

Became Member: 17th June 1986


National Plan for Sport and Recreation Committee
15th Oct 2020 - 24th Nov 2021
EU Energy and Environment Sub-Committee
2nd Jul 2019 - 23rd Apr 2020
The Arctic
12th Jun 2014 - 11th Feb 2015
Olympic and Paralympic Legacy Committee
16th May 2013 - 6th Nov 2013
Liaison Committee (Lords)
2nd Jun 2010 - 15th Jun 2010
House Committee (Lords)
2nd Jun 2010 - 15th Jun 2010
Procedure and Privileges Committee
2nd Dec 2004 - 26th Nov 2008
Merits of Statutory Instruments Committee
17th Dec 2003 - 7th May 2005
Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee
17th Dec 2003 - 7th May 2005


Division Voting information

During the current Parliament, Lord Addington has voted in 79 divisions, and never against the majority of their Party.
View All Lord Addington 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
Baroness Smith of Malvern (Labour)
Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
(25 debate interactions)
Baroness Twycross (Labour)
Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
(24 debate interactions)
Lord Markham (Conservative)
Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
(14 debate interactions)
View All Sparring Partners
Department Debates
Department for Education
(33 debate contributions)
HM Treasury
(3 debate contributions)
Cabinet Office
(2 debate contributions)
View All Department Debates
View all Lord Addington's debates

Lords initiatives

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


2 Bills introduced by Lord Addington


A Bill to re-establish the Office of Health Improvement and Disparities as the Office of Health Promotion; to establish a National Plan for Sport to coordinate, support and maintain access to sporting and recreational facilities essential to public health; and for connected purposes

Lords - 40%

Last Event - 2nd Reading
Friday 2nd December 2022

First reading took place on 8 June. This stage is a formality that signals the start of the Bill's journey through the Lords.Second reading - the general debate on all aspects of the Bill - is yet to be scheduled.The 2016-2017 session of Parliament has prorogued and this Bill will make no further progress. A Bill to make provision about special educational needs awareness training to be received by teacher trainees.

Lords - 20%

Last Event - 1st Reading : House Of Lords
Wednesday 8th June 2016

Lord Addington has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting


Latest 6 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
28th Mar 2025
To ask His Majesty's Government what criteria they have for provision of paid-for software packages from free or built-in technology systems in the Disabled Students Allowance, and whether these criteria take into account capacity to train students to use new systems.

The department has conducted an Equality Impact Assessment on this policy change and has identified the risk that this decision may have a negative impact on some disabled students who might prefer paid-for spelling and grammar software is mitigated by the availability of free versions of spelling and grammar software that provide equivalent functionality for the types of support that are in scope of the Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA). The DSA will still fund spelling and grammar software in exceptional circumstances where there is specific need and a robust disability-related justification is provided.

The department conducted a detailed review of the spelling and grammar functionality available in Microsoft Office, computer operating systems, free software products and paid-for software products. This review concluded that the spelling and grammar functionality available in products that students can access for free was similar to that available in paid-for products. While some of the paid-for products had additional features such as plagiarism checkers, these are not in scope for DSA funding, given they are of potential benefit to all students.

Assistive technology training and aftercare support for any non-specialist basic spelling and grammar software agreed in a student’s needs assessment report will continue to be funded through DSA.

Baroness Smith of Malvern
Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
28th Mar 2025
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of withdrawing funding for spelling and grammar software from the Disabled Students Allowance on students.

The department has conducted an Equality Impact Assessment on this policy change and has identified the risk that this decision may have a negative impact on some disabled students who might prefer paid-for spelling and grammar software is mitigated by the availability of free versions of spelling and grammar software that provide equivalent functionality for the types of support that are in scope of the Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA). The DSA will still fund spelling and grammar software in exceptional circumstances where there is specific need and a robust disability-related justification is provided.

The department conducted a detailed review of the spelling and grammar functionality available in Microsoft Office, computer operating systems, free software products and paid-for software products. This review concluded that the spelling and grammar functionality available in products that students can access for free was similar to that available in paid-for products. While some of the paid-for products had additional features such as plagiarism checkers, these are not in scope for DSA funding, given they are of potential benefit to all students.

Assistive technology training and aftercare support for any non-specialist basic spelling and grammar software agreed in a student’s needs assessment report will continue to be funded through DSA.

Baroness Smith of Malvern
Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
14th Mar 2025
To ask His Majesty's Government whether any additional training requirements have been put in place for students in receipt of Disabled Students Allowance following changes made to the technology packages available to those students.

The department engaged with disability experts who support disabled students to gather their feedback and insights on the decision to remove non-specialist spelling and grammar software from Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) funding.

The department does not expect that students will be negatively impacted by the changes, because specific technology packages will no longer be funded where free-to-access versions, with the required functionality, are available to meet students’ disability-related support needs. Specialist spelling and grammar software will continue to be funded where a robust disability-related justification is provided. Assistive technology training and aftercare support for any non-specialist basic spelling and grammar software agreed in a student’s needs assessment report will continue to be funded through the DSA.

Baroness Smith of Malvern
Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
14th Mar 2025
To ask His Majesty's Government which (1) disability, and (2) student groups were consulted ahead of changes to the technology packages available to students in receipt of Disabled Students Allowance.

The department engaged with disability experts who support disabled students to gather their feedback and insights on the decision to remove non-specialist spelling and grammar software from Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) funding.

The department does not expect that students will be negatively impacted by the changes, because specific technology packages will no longer be funded where free-to-access versions, with the required functionality, are available to meet students’ disability-related support needs. Specialist spelling and grammar software will continue to be funded where a robust disability-related justification is provided. Assistive technology training and aftercare support for any non-specialist basic spelling and grammar software agreed in a student’s needs assessment report will continue to be funded through the DSA.

Baroness Smith of Malvern
Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
14th Mar 2025
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that students are not negatively affected by changes to the Disabled Students Allowance selection of technical support packages and systems.

The department engaged with disability experts who support disabled students to gather their feedback and insights on the decision to remove non-specialist spelling and grammar software from Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) funding.

The department does not expect that students will be negatively impacted by the changes, because specific technology packages will no longer be funded where free-to-access versions, with the required functionality, are available to meet students’ disability-related support needs. Specialist spelling and grammar software will continue to be funded where a robust disability-related justification is provided. Assistive technology training and aftercare support for any non-specialist basic spelling and grammar software agreed in a student’s needs assessment report will continue to be funded through the DSA.

Baroness Smith of Malvern
Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
28th Mar 2025
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they analyse the use of assistive technology to ensure there is a continuity of supply offered to students and workers throughout their lifetimes, and if so, which department is responsible for the analysis.

In 2022 the Disability Unit within the Cabinet Office contracted the Global Disability Innovation Hub to complete a needs and capacity assessment of Assistive and Accessible Technology (ATech).

This research sought to improve our understanding of the country’s capacity to finance, procure and provide ATech; identifying system inefficiencies and maximising the greatest positive impact on the life outcomes for individual ATech users.

The research, “Assistive Technology Changes Lives: an assessment of AT need and capacity in England” was published in 2023.

This research, alongside our engagement with disability stakeholders and Atech experts, has enabled us to understand some of the biggest barriers that disabled people face in accessing Atech to support them into employment and wider society.

Insights from this research have recently fed into the DWP Pathways to Work Spring Green Paper, which announced that the government is going to develop and deliver a digital resource that will help raise awareness of existing Atech and provide guidance on how it can be used to support disabled people. We will also set up an Atech expert working group to identify and, where possible, develop solutions to the barriers disabled people face when trying to use and access Atech.

Baroness Sherlock
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)