Norman Lamb
Liberal Democrat - Former Member for North Norfolk
First elected: 7th June 2001
Left House: 6th November 2019 (Standing Down)
28 Former APPG memberships
Adult Social Care, Anti-Epileptic Drugs in Pregnancy, Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, Clinical Leadership and Management, Conception to Age Two - First 1001 Days, Conception to Age Two: First 1001 Days, Domestic Violence, Domestic Violence and Abuse, East of England, Fair Business Banking and Finance, Foster Care Work, Global Health, Haemophilia and Contaminated Blood, Housing and Employment, Longevity, Mortgage Prisoners, Multiple Sclerosis, Penal Affairs, Prescribed Drug Dependence, Rare, Genetic and Undiagnosed Conditions, Rule of Law, Rural Health and Social Care, Sixth Form Colleges, Social Care, UK and Europe, Valproate and other Anti-Epileptic Drugs in Pregnancy, Votes at 16, WhistleblowingDivision Voting information
Norman Lamb voted Aye - against a party majority and against the House
One of 1 Liberal Democrat Aye votes vs 5 Liberal Democrat No votes
Tally: Ayes - 273 Noes - 276
Norman Lamb voted Aye - against a party majority and against the House
One of 2 Liberal Democrat Aye votes vs 4 Liberal Democrat No votes
Tally: Ayes - 261 Noes - 282
Norman Lamb voted Aye - against a party majority and against the House
One of 1 Liberal Democrat Aye votes vs 1 Liberal Democrat No votes
Tally: Ayes - 188 Noes - 283
Norman Lamb voted Aye - against a party majority and against the House
One of 1 Liberal Democrat Aye votes vs 1 Liberal Democrat No votes
Tally: Ayes - 264 Noes - 272
Norman Lamb voted No - against a party majority and against the House
One of 3 Liberal Democrat No votes vs 4 Liberal Democrat Aye votes
Tally: Ayes - 317 Noes - 286
Norman Lamb voted Aye - against a party majority and against the House
One of 2 Liberal Democrat Aye votes vs 6 Liberal Democrat No votes
Tally: Ayes - 211 Noes - 390
Norman Lamb voted No - against a party majority and against the House
One of 2 Liberal Democrat No votes vs 6 Liberal Democrat Aye votes
Tally: Ayes - 397 Noes - 223
Norman Lamb voted Aye - against a party majority and against the House
One of 1 Liberal Democrat Aye votes vs 1 Liberal Democrat No votes
Tally: Ayes - 34 Noes - 171
Norman Lamb voted No - against a party majority and against the House
One of 2 Liberal Democrat No votes vs 3 Liberal Democrat Aye votes
Tally: Ayes - 485 Noes - 61
Norman Lamb voted Aye - against a party majority and against the House
One of 3 Liberal Democrat Aye votes vs 3 Liberal Democrat No votes
Tally: Ayes - 118 Noes - 330
Norman Lamb voted No - against a party majority and against the House
One of 23 Liberal Democrat No votes vs 24 Liberal Democrat Aye votes
Tally: Ayes - 284 Noes - 269
Norman Lamb voted No - against a party majority and in line with the House
One of 17 Liberal Democrat No votes vs 31 Liberal Democrat Aye votes
Tally: Ayes - 171 Noes - 263
Norman Lamb voted No - against a party majority and against the House
One of 10 Liberal Democrat No votes vs 36 Liberal Democrat Aye votes
Tally: Ayes - 304 Noes - 103
Norman Lamb voted No - against a party majority and in line with the House
One of 16 Liberal Democrat No votes vs 19 Liberal Democrat Aye votes
Tally: Ayes - 155 Noes - 196
Norman Lamb voted No - against a party majority and in line with the House
One of 14 Liberal Democrat No votes vs 21 Liberal Democrat Aye votes
Tally: Ayes - 141 Noes - 216
Norman Lamb voted No - against a party majority and in line with the House
One of 17 Liberal Democrat No votes vs 36 Liberal Democrat Aye votes
Tally: Ayes - 122 Noes - 354
Norman Lamb voted Aye - against a party majority and in line with the House
One of 21 Liberal Democrat Aye votes vs 26 Liberal Democrat No votes
Tally: Ayes - 409 Noes - 53
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
(50 debate interactions)
(38 debate interactions)
Department Debates
(1043 debate contributions)
(52 debate contributions)
(45 debate contributions)
(44 debate contributions)
Legislation Debates
(7,022 words contributed)
(4,178 words contributed)
(2,614 words contributed)
(620 words contributed)
Latest EDMs signed by Norman Lamb
Prison officer pension age
Tabled by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)That this House recognises the dangerous working conditions in the Prison Service; expresses concern at the increasing number of violent assaults on prison staff; believes that prison officers approaching the age of 70 should not be expected to deal with violent and dangerous criminals aged in their twenties, thirties and …
(Most recent: 5 Nov 2019)
Signatures by party:
Labour: 36
Scottish National Party: 19
Democratic Unionist Party: 7
Independent: 7
Conservative: 3
Plaid Cymru: 2
Liberal Democrat: 1
People's Vote
Tabled by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)That this House calls on the Government to bring forward legislation to hold a People’s Vote on whether the United Kingdom should remain a member of the European Union or should leave the European Union on the final terms agreed between the Government and the European Union.
(Most recent: 5 Nov 2019)
Signatures by party:
Liberal Democrat: 19
Labour: 4
Plaid Cymru: 1
Independent: 1
Commons initiatives
These initiatives were driven by Norman Lamb, 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.
Norman Lamb has not been granted any Urgent Questions
4 Adjournment Debates led by Norman Lamb
3 Bills introduced by Norman Lamb
A bill to set up a Groceries Code Adjudicator with the role of enforcing the Groceries Code and encouraging compliance with it.
This Bill received Royal Assent on 25th April 2013 and was enacted into law.
A Bill to amend the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 to provide for the lawful production, packaging, marketing, sale, purchase, possession and consumption of herbal cannabis in specific circumstances by certain persons; and for connected purposes.
Wednesday 23rd March 2016
A Bill to establish an independent commission to examine the future of the National Health Service and the social care system; to take evidence; to report its conclusions to Parliament; and for connected purposes.
Wednesday 6th January 2016
25 Bills co-sponsored by Norman Lamb
Planning (Affordable Housing and Land Compensation) Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Helen Hayes (Lab)
Climate Change (Emissions Targets) Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Rachel Reeves (Lab)
Hares Preservation Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - George Eustice (Con)
Tobacco Companies (Transparency) Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Bob Blackman (Con)
European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019
Sponsor - Yvette Cooper (Lab)
Counsellors and Psychotherapists (Regulation) and Conversion Therapy Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Karen Lee (Lab)
Access to Welfare (Terminal Illness Definition) Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Madeleine Moon (Lab)
House of Peers Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Christine Jardine (LD)
European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 4) Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Yvette Cooper (Lab)
National Health Service (Prohibition of Fax Machines and Pagers) Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Alan Mak (Con)
Health Impacts (Public Sector Duty) Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Luciana Berger (LD)
Homelessness (End of Life Care) Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Ed Davey (LD)
Tobacco Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Kevin Barron (Lab)
Mental Health Units (Use of Force) Act 2018
Sponsor - Steve Reed (LAB)
European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Nick Boles (Ind)
Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (England) Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Fiona Bruce (Con)
Universal Credit (Application, Advice and Assistance) Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Philippa Whitford (SNP)
Representation of the People (Young People's Enfranchisement) Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Peter Kyle (Lab)
Abortion Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Diana Johnson (Lab)
DiGeorge Syndrome (Review and National Health Service Duty) Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - David Duguid (Con)
Reproductive Health (Access to Terminations) Bill 2016-17
Sponsor - Diana Johnson (Lab)
Queen's Sapphire Jubilee Bill 2016-17
Sponsor - Andrew Rosindell (Con)
Companies Documentation (Transgender Persons) Bill 2016-17
Sponsor - Baroness Morgan of Cotes (None)
Maternity and Paternity Leave (Premature Birth) Bill 2016-17
Sponsor - Steve Reed (LAB)
Landlord and Tenant (Reform) Bill 2015-16
Sponsor - Tom Brake (LD)
Latest 50 Written Questions
(View all written questions)1 Other Department Questions
We expect to commence the financial penalty provision in section 150 of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 from April 2016.
The Attorney General’s Office, Government Legal Department and Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate report quarterly sickness absence statistics to Cabinet Office and define mental disorders as absences for reasons of stress; mood affective disorders; disorders of personality & behaviour and schizophrenia.
Based on these definitions, the number of working days lost due to mental disorders in these three departments in each of the last three financial years is as follows:
Year Days lost to Mental Disorders
AGO GLD HMCPSI
01/04/2013 – 31/03/2014 23 1,843 15
01/04/2014 – 31/03/2015 0 1,704.5 168
01/04/2015 – 31/03/2016 0 1,551 28
In the last 3 financial years the following numbers of absence days have been recorded by the Serious Fraud Office for reasons of Anxiety, Depressive Disorder or Mental Disorder:
Year Days lost to Mental Disorders
2013/14 18 days
2014/15 176.5 days
2015/16 507 days
In addition to this the following number of absence days have been recorded as Stress or Work Related Stress:
Year Days lost to Mental Disorders
2013/14 105 days
2014/15 195 days
2015/16 529 days
The number of working days lost to mental illness in the Crown Prosecution Service for the last three financial years is shown in the table below:
Financial Year | Total Number of working days lost due to Mental Illness, including stress. | Number of working days lost which were attributed to stress. |
01/04/2013-31/03/2014 | 16028 | 7844 |
01/04/2014-31/03/2015 | 15989 | 7807 |
01/04/2015-31/03/2016 | 11854 | 5856 |
The absence reasons which are included in the Mental Illness category are categorised in line with World Health Organisation (WHO).
The Government Digital Service leads the Government’s Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) function, helping departments build and run services that are digital by default and focused on the needs of citizens.
GDS does this in a number of ways. It works with departments to set the government's strategy for digital transformation, including the Government Transformation Strategy. It runs the GDS Academy, which has upskilled over 10,000 civil servants in the skills that are essential to building public services in the 21st century, and deploys specialist DDaT teams across government to accelerate the delivery of priority projects. GDS establishes, and assures projects against, clear best practice standards to help departments deliver world-class digital services that are designed around user needs. It also helps departments to build these services by providing advice and developing solutions to common problems and making them available for reuse across government’s digital estate; removing duplication and freeing up resources for departments to focus on solving the hard problems that are unique to them.
Within government we have a strong focus on the concept of “digital maturity” which encapsulates not only delivery of excellent digital services, but improving government’s processes, tools, and infrastructure, developing digital, data and technology (DDaT) capability, and upskilling decision makers to ensure we build on these foundations to deliver digital transformation at scale.
The Cabinet Office previously led on the inter-ministerial group (IMG) on early years family support. The IMG has concluded its work and has now disbanded. The recommendations are presently with Secretaries of State for consideration of next steps. We will consider publication once their view is clearer. Given that the emotional and social development of babies and young children is a broad and complicated issue, the responsibility for the area sits across multiple departments including MHCLG, DfE, DHSC and DWP.
Shadow Deputy Prime Minister
The Cabinet Office previously led on the inter-ministerial group (IMG) on early years family support. The IMG has concluded its work and has now disbanded. The recommendations are presently with Secretaries of State for consideration of next steps. We will consider publication once their view is clearer. Given that the emotional and social development of babies and young children is a broad and complicated issue, the responsibility for the area sits across multiple departments including MHCLG, DfE, DHSC and DWP.
Shadow Deputy Prime Minister
The Cabinet Office previously led on the inter-ministerial group (IMG) on early years family support. The IMG has concluded its work and has now disbanded. The recommendations are presently with Secretaries of State for consideration of next steps. We will consider publication once their view is clearer. Given that the emotional and social development of babies and young children is a broad and complicated issue, the responsibility for the area sits across multiple departments including MHCLG, DfE, DHSC and DWP.
Shadow Deputy Prime Minister
I refer the Right Honourable Member to the answer given to Question 198752 on 7 January 2019.
I have regular meetings with ministerial colleagues, officials and others.
I refer the Right Honourable Member to my answer given to Question 198752 on 7 January.
I refer the Right Honourable Member to my answer given to Question 198752 on 7 January 2019.
I have regular meetings with ministerial colleagues, officials and others.
The Cabinet Office publishes total Lord Lieutenancy Expenditure as part of its Annual Financial Accounts. Therefore the total amount of money from the public purse spent by Lord-Lieutenants on their expenses each year, dating back to 2008, is publicly available online using the following link.
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/cabinet-office-annual-reports-and-accounts
The information requested on travel, hospitality, clothing and other costs for each Lieutenancy could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.
Government ministers are not involved in the process of awarding or withdrawing royal warrants. Information on the awarding of warrants can be found on the Royal Household's website or requested from the Lord Chamberlain's Office.
Government ministers are not involved in the process of awarding or withdrawing royal warrants. Information on the awarding of warrants can be found on the Royal Household's website or requested from the Lord Chamberlain's Office.
Government ministers are not involved in the process of awarding or withdrawing royal warrants. Information on the awarding of warrants can be found on the Royal Household's website or requested from the Lord Chamberlain's Office.
Government ministers are not involved in the process of awarding or withdrawing royal warrants. Information on the awarding of warrants can be found on the Royal Household's website or requested from the Lord Chamberlain's Office.
Government ministers are not involved in the process of awarding or withdrawing royal warrants. Information on the awarding of warrants can be found on the Royal Household's website or requested from the Lord Chamberlain's Office.
The Cabinet Office does not allocate spending for dispersal by members of the Royal Family.
Use of the protected title ‘Royal’ is conferred by the Queen acting on the advice of
Ministers. No grants to towns and cities have been made since 2014
Details of the applications are not disclosed to protect their confidentiality, however the
number of applications received by the Cabinet Office for all protected titles including
those containing the word ‘Royal’, was 906 in 2018. The Cabinet Office objected to 107 of
these, issued a non-objection to 703 and approved 14. The remaining cases are still being
considered or were closed without a resolution.
The Cabinet Office considers whether the applicant can demonstrate the following when determining whether to advise Her Majesty the Queen to grant an application for the protect title ‘Royal’: (i) a specific and strong connection with royalty (ii) a pre-eminent and outstanding reputation and (iii) national standing. Other issues may inform decision making on a case by case basis such as whether the application is linked with a specific event or a milestone anniversary.
The Cabinet Office draws from a range of scientific advice and expertise, including from the Government Chief Scientific Adviser, the Chief Scientific Advisers in individual Government Departments, and academics and researchers. The Cabinet Office does not have its own Chief Scientific Adviser.
I have regular meetings with ministerial colleagues, officials and others
My Rt Hon Friend the Chancellor of Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for Cabinet Office and I met with Professor Chris Whitty, the then Acting Government Chief Scientific Adviser and Rupert Lewis, Director of Government Office for Science on 28 Feb 2018.
Cabinet Office officials and Ministers regularly meet with government scientific advisers.
Shadow Deputy Prime Minister
I have regular meetings with ministerial colleagues, officials and others.
The Minister for the Cabinet Office did not have any meetings with the Government Chief Scientific Adviser between October and December 2017.
The Government Chief Scientific Adviser regularly meets Ministers throughout Government.
I have regular meetings with ministerial colleagues, officials and others.
Cabinet Office only has records of core central property that have been provided by departments. The Government Property Unit is responsible for minimising vacancy by supporting departments to sell, sublet, find alternative use, and to do early surrenders. Interventions such as these have contributed significantly to minimising the vacancy rates and cost to the taxpayer.
As shown in the State of the Estate Report 2015-16 published in February 2017, total vacant space represents 1.4% of the entire Central Estate, a drop of 2% from 2014–15. This is well below the average in the private sector of 8.9%.
No buildings appear on the unit’s electronic property system as vacant in North Norfolk area. In the wider Norfolk area, there is one building that is vacant and records show that this building was used for vehicle testing and is being marketed for sale:
List A: Vacant building in Norfolk
Property Name | Property Address | Department |
(Erstwhile) CRIMPLESHAM TEST STATION | BEXWELL AIRFIELD KING'S LYNN NORFOLK PE33 9DU | Department for Transport |
The First Secretary has not had meetings with the Government Chief Scientific Adviser in
the last three months.
I have regular meetings with ministerial colleagues, officials and others.
The table below sets out information about working days lost in my Department due to sickness absence related to mental illness over the last three calendar years.
Calendar Year | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
Working Days Lost due to Mental Illness | 1574 | 1382 | 1443 |
As % of All Sick Absence | 39% | 31% | 29% |
As % of Total Workforce | 1.7% | 1.6% | 1.7% |
The Cabinet Office is committed to reducing work related absence due to mental illness and has a number of services in place to support members of staff suffering from such conditions. Our Workwell community is staffed by volunteers who aim to make Cabinet Office a happy and healthy workplace through a number of interventions including a listening service for staff. We also offer a 24 hour counselling support helpline through our Employee Assistance Programme provider and advocate early referral to our occupational health service where appropriate for advice on a number of conditions including mental health.
The Government will consider this and other issues relating to the regulation of campaigning at referendums, following the publication of the Electoral Commission's report on the administration of the referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of European Union.
As I made clear in the House on 27 April, we are continuing to consider the comments of all interested parties, ahead of the introduction into grant agreements of the clause aimed at protecting taxpayers' money from being wasted on government lobbying government. We are pausing the implementation, pending a review of the representations made, and to give further time to consider any necessary adjustments to the wording of the clause, or the policy on its implementation, to help to deliver this policy in the best possible way for all involved.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
13 Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Questions
(View all Norman Lamb's BEIS questions)The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and its partner organisations have digital strategies exploring opportunities to transform services using modern technologies and aligning with the objectives in the Single Departmental Plan and the Secretary of State’s agreed priorities.
We make use of agile project management methodologies and work closely with our colleagues at the Government Digital Service to ensure we are using best practice service design techniques, creating the digital services that citizens and businesses need the most.
The core Department takes a blended approach to resourcing digital projects with work performed by in-house teams, externally-sourced teams or a combination of these depending on the skills required for a given project.
Since taking office, the Secretary of State had meetings with the Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA) in her department twice in this period.
My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State met with his Department’s Chief Scientific Adviser on one occasion between 1 March 2019 and 31 May 2019.
The UK has a world-leading record in tackling climate change. We are rightly proud of our performance against our carbon targets, having overperformed for the second time, leading us to cut our emissions faster than any G7 country. We remain firmly committed to tackling the threat of climate change and to meeting our future carbon targets through the ambitious plans and policies set out in the Clean Growth Strategy.
The decision to reserve part of the second carbon budget is a technical one which does not impact the Government’s commitment to taking strong domestic action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and tackle climate change.
The Government has deposited letters in the Libraries of the House confirming its decision.
In the event of a no deal, the Government underwrite will cover the payment of awards to UK beneficiaries for all successful bids to Horizon 2020, including the European Research Council, for the lifetime of projects.
This includes Horizon 2020 grants that have been transferred to the UK before the date of EU exit. We will seek to publish further guidance in due course on how the underwrite will apply to Horizon 2020 grantees based outside of the UK that are planning to move their research base to the UK.
My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy met with his Department’s Chief Scientific Adviser on 6 occasions between 1 September and 30 November 2018.
The Commission’s proposal does not present a strong evidence base that shows why the change is necessary nor that demonstrates the benefits to Member States, their citizens, or the EU.
Information on the Medical Research Council’s (MRC) spend on research relating directly to mental health and total research spend for 2017/18 will be made available once the MRC’s Annual Report and Accounts are laid before Parliament. We would expect the data to be available by the end of the Summer.
Between 1 January 2018 and 31st March 2018, my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) met with the Chief Scientific Adviser for BEIS five times in person.
The Medical Research Council’s spend on research relating to directly to mental health and total research spend for 2014/15 to 2016/17 can be found in the table below. Data for 2017/18 is not yet available.
Year | Mental Health Research £m | MRC Total Research Expenditure £m |
2014/15 | £26m | £801m |
2015/16 | £25m | £928m |
2016/17 | £24m | £755m |
The value of Small Business Research Initiative contracts in 2016/17 as reported to Innovate UK by Departments is set out below:
Department/Public Body | Total Contract Value (£k) |
Department for Business Innovation and Skills | £649 |
Department of Health | £20,579 |
NHS England | £13,437 |
Home Office | £4,777 |
MoD | £13,996 |
NC3Rs (National Centre for Replacement and Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research) | £2,294 |
Department for Culture Media and Sport | £450 |
Department for Education | £125 |
Department for International Development | £497 |
UK Space Agency | £737 |
Innovate UK | £2,028 |
Devolved Administrations | £14,811 |
Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) projects | £4,641 |
Total | £79,021 |
Source: Innovate UK Management Data |
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The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) leads the cross Council Digital Economy (DE) Theme, which incorporates the digital currency technology and associated distributed ledger technology activities, announced in the March 2015 Budget. To date, the DE Theme has invested around £7.2 million in the following activities:
- A £260,000 project - Third Party Dematerialisation and Rematerialisation of Capital.
- An 18-month £0.4 million project investigating the phenomena of cryptocurrencies and their associated underlying technology - Cryptocurrency Effects in Digital Transformations (CREDIT)
- A £3.7 million for seven interdisciplinary feasibility studies that will explore and understanding transformative use cases of distributed ledger technology “Applications of Distributed Ledger Technology” resulting in. Details of the projects are available on the EPSRC website at: http://gow.epsrc.ac.uk/NGBOViewPanelROL.aspx?PanelId=1-3X22ML&RankingListId=1-3X22MS
- Three projects relevant to research in applications of distributed ledger technology were supported under “Broad applications of distributed ledger technologies” as one of six focal areas in a £10 million call for research proposals on the Trust, Identity, Privacy and Security in the Digital Economy call (2015) - see http://gow.epsrc.ac.uk/NGBOViewPanel.aspx?PanelId=1-37PAUA)
Innovate UK has funded projects that develop and commercial digital currency technologies with various sectoral applications, related to blockchain and distributed ledger projects for use in areas like provenance tracking of goods. Since 2004 Innovate UK has invested nearly £2 million into these technologies.