Mark Spencer Portrait

Mark Spencer

Conservative - Former Member for Sherwood

First elected: 6th May 2010

Left House: 30th May 2024 (Dissolution)


Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
7th Sep 2022 - 5th Jul 2024
Pet Abduction Bill
24th Jan 2024 - 31st Jan 2024
Public Accounts Commission
8th Feb 2022 - 8th Sep 2022
Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
8th Feb 2022 - 7th Sep 2022
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
8th Feb 2022 - 6th Sep 2022
House of Commons Commission
8th Feb 2022 - 6th Sep 2022
Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury and Chief Whip
24th Jul 2019 - 8th Feb 2022
Selection Committee
14th Nov 2017 - 4th Sep 2019
Committee of Selection
14th Nov 2017 - 4th Sep 2019
Comptroller (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
26th Jul 2018 - 24th Jul 2019
Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
9th Jan 2018 - 26th Jul 2018
Lord Commissioner (HM Treasury) (Whip)
15th Jun 2017 - 9th Jan 2018
Assistant Whip (HM Treasury)
15th Jun 2016 - 15th Jun 2017
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
4th Nov 2013 - 30th Mar 2015
Environmental Audit Committee
26th Jul 2010 - 30th Mar 2015
Backbench Business Committee
4th Nov 2013 - 10th Dec 2013


Division Voting information

Mark Spencer has voted in 2694 divisions, and 10 times against the majority of their Party.

17 Jun 2020 - Health and Personal Social Services - View Vote Context
Mark Spencer voted Aye - against a party majority and in line with the House
One of 104 Conservative Aye votes vs 124 Conservative No votes
Tally: Ayes - 253 Noes - 136
23 Jan 2018 - Electoral Commission - View Vote Context
Mark Spencer voted Aye - against a party majority and against the House
One of 32 Conservative Aye votes vs 40 Conservative No votes
Tally: Ayes - 46 Noes - 77
11 Mar 2015 - Ark Pension Schemes - View Vote Context
Mark Spencer voted No - against a party majority and against the House
One of 103 Conservative No votes vs 122 Conservative Aye votes
Tally: Ayes - 367 Noes - 113
24 Nov 2014 - Recall of MPs Bill - View Vote Context
Mark Spencer voted Aye - against a party majority and in line with the House
One of 47 Conservative Aye votes vs 117 Conservative No votes
Tally: Ayes - 204 Noes - 125
24 Nov 2014 - Recall of MPs Bill - View Vote Context
Mark Spencer voted Aye - against a party majority and against the House
One of 71 Conservative Aye votes vs 85 Conservative No votes
Tally: Ayes - 119 Noes - 193
27 Oct 2014 - Recall of MPs Bill - View Vote Context
Mark Spencer voted Aye - against a party majority and against the House
One of 110 Conservative Aye votes vs 135 Conservative No votes
Tally: Ayes - 166 Noes - 340
10 Feb 2014 - Children and Families Bill - View Vote Context
Mark Spencer voted No - against a party majority and against the House
One of 99 Conservative No votes vs 127 Conservative Aye votes
Tally: Ayes - 376 Noes - 107
11 Jul 2012 - Sittings of the House - View Vote Context
Mark Spencer voted Aye - against a party majority and in line with the House
One of 90 Conservative Aye votes vs 123 Conservative No votes
Tally: Ayes - 280 Noes - 184
11 Jul 2012 - Sittings of the House - View Vote Context
Mark Spencer voted Aye - against a party majority and against the House
One of 39 Conservative Aye votes vs 167 Conservative No votes
Tally: Ayes - 205 Noes - 228
30 Mar 2022 - Health and Care Bill - View Vote Context
Mark Spencer voted Aye - against a party majority and in line with the House
One of 72 Conservative Aye votes vs 175 Conservative No votes
Tally: Ayes - 215 Noes - 188
View All Mark Spencer Division Votes

All Debates

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
Lindsay Hoyle (Speaker)
(79 debate interactions)
Thangam Debbonaire (Labour)
(44 debate interactions)
View All Sparring Partners
Department Debates
Leader of the House
(768 debate contributions)
HM Treasury
(51 debate contributions)
Department of Health and Social Care
(35 debate contributions)
View All Department Debates
View all Mark Spencer's debates

Latest EDMs signed by Mark Spencer

Mark Spencer has not signed any Early Day Motions

Commons initiatives

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

MPs who are act as Ministers or Shadow Ministers are generally restricted from performing Commons initiatives other than Urgent Questions.


Mark Spencer has not been granted any Urgent Questions

1 Adjournment Debate led by Mark Spencer

Thursday 16th May 2013

2 Bills introduced by Mark Spencer


A Bill to make provision about the procedure for conducting investigations under Part 3 of the Local Government Act 1974; and to make provision for cases where an authority to which that Part applies takes a decision that affects the holding of an event for a reason relating to health or safety.

This Bill received Royal Assent on 26th March 2015 and was enacted into law.


A Bill to make provision to require Highways Authorities to include flooding prevention schemes in the development of new road constructions; and for connected purposes.

Commons - 20%

Last Event - 1st Reading: House Of Commons
Tuesday 4th February 2014

Mark Spencer has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting


Latest 11 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
12th Oct 2015
To ask the Attorney General, what steps he is taking to develop a greater level of public understanding of the legal framework for social media.

While there is clearly some awareness of the legal framework applicable to social media, I nevertheless publish warnings online reminding people of their responsibilities, where appropriate. My office also on occasions sends tweets, warning social media users of the risks of being in contempt.

As far as the criminal law is concerned, the Crown Prosecution Service has issued detailed guidelines on prosecuting cases involving communications sent via social media.

Jeremy Wright
Shadow Attorney General
23rd Nov 2015
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what information he holds on the average time taken by each Government department to respond to a request by a current or former employee for a job reference.

This information is not held centrally. The provision of employee references is the responsibility of each departmental employer.

24th Feb 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many railway stations in (a) Nottinghamshire, (b) England and (c) the UK are not compliant with disability access guidelines and requirements.

Information on the accessibility of individual railway stations is collected by the Rail Delivery Group and published as part of the Stations Made Easy facility on the National Rail Enquiries website at:

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations_destinations/default.aspx

23rd Jun 2014
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will estimate the Government spend per head of population on ambulance services in (a) Nottinghamshire, (b) the East Midlands and (c) England in each of the last three years.

No estimate of the Government spend per head of population on ambulance services in Nottinghamshire, the East Midlands and England in each of the last three years will be made.

Commissioning of urgent and emergency care, and therefore the amount of funding allocated, is the responsibility of clinical commissioning groups – this includes ambulance service provision for their local populations.

Nationally, the ambulance service is performing well — arriving on scene in under eight minutes in more than 75% of the most life-threatening cases, but there are still some areas where improvements can be made.

Latest monthly figures for April 2014 show the ambulance service did not meet the Red 2 response time standard:

- Category A8 Red 1 performance was 75.2% (above the 75% standard)

- Category A8 Red 2 performance was 73.6% (below the 75% standard)

- Category A19 performance was 95.8% (above the 95% standard)

Full year figures (April 2013 to March 2014) show the ambulance service nationally achieved two of the response time standards:

- Category A8 Red 1 performance was 75.6% (above the 75% standard)

- Category A8 Red 2 performance was 74.8% (below the 75% standard)

- Category A19 performance was 96.1% (above the 95% standard)

The Urgent and Emergency Care Review, led by Sir Bruce Keogh, is currently considering whole system change to the delivery of urgent and emergency care, including new models of delivery of care for ambulance services.

The first phase of the Review was published last November. We expect NHS England to be publishing further reports later this year.

9th Sep 2015
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Answer of 30 October 2012, Official Report, column 210W, on tobacco: smuggling, how many individual seizures were made by the Border Force and HM Revenue and Customs in each of the last five years; and what the total volume of the products seized in each year was.

To the extent that we are able to provide details, the following tables show the number of individual seizures of cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco (HRT) made in each of the last five years and the total volume of tobacco products seized. This does not include the number of individual overseas seizures, which are not recorded centrally, or the number of individual postal seizures from 2010-11 when a new information system was introduced.


Cigarettes: Number of Seizures

HMRC

UKBF

Overseas

Total

2010/11

2,011

28,787

N/A

30798

2011/12

1,845

28,750

N/A

30595

2012/13

1,215

30,011

N/A

31226

2013/14

543

35,622

N/A

36165

2014/15

582

39,578

N/A

40160


Cigarettes: Quantity (Sticks)

HMRC

UKBF

Overseas

Total

2010/11

76,559,489

650,060,670

991,713,280

1,718,333,439

2011/12

142,230,184

455,174,133

1,134,984,800

1,732,389,117

2012/13

98,477,437

487,835,338

1,271,622,181

1,857,934,956

2013/14

59,599,120

318,880,074

1,058,975,055

1,437,454,249

2014/15

75,953,705

439,018,394

1,252,616,840

1,767,588,939


HRT: Number of Seizures.

HMRC

UKBF

Overseas

Total

2010/11

1,596

10,814

N/A

12,410

2011/12

1,567

11,533

N/A

13,100

2012/13

1,044

12,552

N/A

13,596

2013/14

461

12,057

N/A

12,518

2014/15

411

12,804

N/A

13,215


HRT: Quantity (Kgs)

HMRC

UKBF

Overseas

Total

2010/11

46,741

314,775

27,889

389,405

2011/12

56,295

508,112

7,815

572,222

2012/13

67,872

359,635

55,658

483,165

2013/14

32,921

262,873

34,200

329,994

2014/15

57,183

227,928

27,901

313,012

Damian Hinds
Shadow Secretary of State for Education
9th Sep 2015
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much (a) the UK Border Force and (b) HM Revenue and Customs spent on delivering the Government's tobacco smuggling strategy in each of the last five years.

The total spent by HMRC on delivering the Government’s strategy to tackle tobacco smuggling in each of the last five years is as follows:

2010/11

2011/12

2012/13

2013/14

2014/15

£65.75m

£68.92m

£67.61m

£76.00m

£78.001m

Border Force cannot provide the information requested without incurring disproportionate costs.

Border Force adopts an intelligence led approach to all of its customs activities, including tackling tobacco smuggling so that its multi-functional resources can be deployed as effectively as possible in line with latest threat assessments.

Damian Hinds
Shadow Secretary of State for Education
9th Sep 2015
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the March 2015 Budget, what progress the Government has made on establishing a cross-government ministerial group to oversee future evolution of the anti-illicit tobacco strategy.

The refreshed strategy ‘Tackling illicit tobacco: from leaf to light’, published on 24 March 2015, makes it clear that this problem requires collaboration across government. Further details on the establishment of a cross government ministerial group will be released in due course.

The joint HMRC/Border Force strategy to tackle illicit tobacco can be accessed on GOV.UK:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tackling-illicit-tobacco-from-leaf-to-light

Damian Hinds
Shadow Secretary of State for Education
9th Sep 2015
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Answer of 30 October 2012, Official Report, column 210W, on tobacco: smuggling, how many people were convicted in relation to seizures made by the Border Force and HM Revenue and Customs in each of the last five years.

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is not a prosecuting authority. Where cases handled by HMRC do proceed to the criminal courts the prosecution is carried out by the relevant independent prosecuting authority. This is the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in England and Wales, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) in Scotland, and the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland (PPSNI).

Damian Hinds
Shadow Secretary of State for Education
23rd Jun 2014
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will estimate the Government spend per head of population on police services in (a) Nottinghamshire, (b) the East Midlands and (c) England in each of the last three years.

The table shows total core Government funding per head of population provided
to each Police and Crime Commissioner (previously Police Authority) in the
East Midlands region and to England for each of the last three years.

Core Government funding to the police is distributed using the Police
Allocation Formula. The Formula takes into account the relative needs of
individual police force areas, not regions. A composite figure for the East
Midlands region is therefore not shown.

Total Core Governement Funding Per Head of Population (£)* **
2012/132013/14**2014/15***
Derbyshire109.29107.50101.67
Leicestershire114.95112.70106.43
Lincolnshire91.6589.3284.10
Nottinghamshire126.27126.60119.70
Northamptonshire106.15105.5199.31
England145.14141.46133.52
*Figures are based on total core Government funding which encompasses all formula funding to the police.
**Population figures are based on the Census projections that were used in the Police Allocation Formula to calculate funding allocations in 2012/13 and 2013/14. The population figures for 2014 are based on the latest Census projection, as the Police Allocation Formula was not run in 2014/15.
***The Neigbourhood Policing Fund (NPF) was rolled into Police Main Grant in 2013/14. To assist comparison, the NPF allocations have been included in the 2012/13 figures.
****The Community Safety Fund (CSF) was rolled into Police Main Grant in 2014/15. To assist comparison, CSF allocations have been included in the 2014/15 figures.
Additional notes
1) From 2014/15, the Home Office is also paying out Council Tax Freeze Grant funding relating to the 2011/12 and 2013/14 schemes and Local Council Tax Support (LCTS) funding to PCCs in England. This funding was previously paid to the police by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). This is excluded from the table to assist comparison with previous years.
2) The police in England also receive small amounts of central government grant from other sources including the DCLG and Ministry of Justice. They also receive funding from the police precept component of council tax.

23rd Jun 2014
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will estimate the Government spend per head of population on fire and rescue services in (a) Nottinghamshire, (b) the East Midlands and (c) England in each of the last three years.

The table below shows local authority expenditure on fire and rescue services, as well as the number of fire incidents attended, over the last decade. It illustrates the significant fall in the number of incidents attended, whilst average spending has remained broadly the same over that long-term period.

Expenditure per head

Fire incidents attended

Nottinghamshire

England

Nottinghamshire

England

2003-04

£31.98

£34.82

13,800

473,600

2004-05

£35.83

£38.36

9,000

342,000

2005-06

£35.40

£40.56

8,700

336,100

2006-07

£36.85

£43.03

8,600

336,200

2007-08

£38.61

£43.46

7,700

293,900

2008-09

£38.61

£40.60

6,300

249,200

2009-10

£39.54

£41.71

6,200

241,400

2010-11

£38.48

£41.12

5,600

228,400

2011-12

£37.64

£39.87

6,100

223,900

2012-13

£36.98

£39.61

3,300

154,400

Sources: Revenue Outturn forms and Office of National Statistic’s mid-year population estimates.

My Department does not publish statistics by the former Government Office Regions.

Last year, Sir Ken Knight’s independent review of the fire and rescue services found huge variations in the way that local fire and rescue authorities operated. Services continue to spend according to the budget they are given, rather than to the risks they have to manage. Huge variations exist between how the 46 different fire authorities operate, with the cost per head of providing a service almost double in some areas to that of others. This did not seem to be related to whether they are large or small, rural or urban, deprived or affluent.

Sir Ken concluded that there were significant opportunities for sensible savings such as through: sharing of senior staff, reforms to flexible staffing and crewing arrangements, better procurement, shared services, collaboration with emergency services and other organisations on service delivery and estates, sickness management, locally-led mergers and operational collaborations, new fire-fighting technology, preventative approaches and working with local businesses.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will estimate the Government spend per head of population on fire and rescue services in (a) Nottinghamshire, (b) the East Midlands and (c) England in each of the last three years.

The table below shows local authority expenditure on fire and rescue services, as well as the number of fire incidents attended, over the last decade. It illustrates the significant fall in the number of incidents attended, whilst average spending has remained broadly the same over that long-term period.

Expenditure per head

Fire incidents attended

Nottinghamshire

England

Nottinghamshire

England

2003-04

£31.98

£34.82

13,800

473,600

2004-05

£35.83

£38.36

9,000

342,000

2005-06

£35.40

£40.56

8,700

336,100

2006-07

£36.85

£43.03

8,600

336,200

2007-08

£38.61

£43.46

7,700

293,900

2008-09

£38.61

£40.60

6,300

249,200

2009-10

£39.54

£41.71

6,200

241,400

2010-11

£38.48

£41.12

5,600

228,400

2011-12

£37.64

£39.87

6,100

223,900

2012-13

£36.98

£39.61

3,300

154,400

Sources: Revenue Outturn forms and Office of National Statistic’s mid-year population estimates.

My Department does not publish statistics by the former Government Office Regions.

Last year, Sir Ken Knight’s independent review of the fire and rescue services found huge variations in the way that local fire and rescue authorities operated. Services continue to spend according to the budget they are given, rather than to the risks they have to manage. Huge variations exist between how the 46 different fire authorities operate, with the cost per head of providing a service almost double in some areas to that of others. This did not seem to be related to whether they are large or small, rural or urban, deprived or affluent.

Sir Ken concluded that there were significant opportunities for sensible savings such as through: sharing of senior staff, reforms to flexible staffing and crewing arrangements, better procurement, shared services, collaboration with emergency services and other organisations on service delivery and estates, sickness management, locally-led mergers and operational collaborations, new fire-fighting technology, preventative approaches and working with local businesses.