Caroline Julia Dinenage, Baroness Lancaster of Kimbolton, (born 28 October 1971), also styled as Dame Caroline Dinenage, is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members ofte ...

(MP) for

Gosport Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan borough on the south coast of Hampshire, South East England. At the 2011 Census, its population was 82,662. Gosport is situated on a peninsula on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour, opposite th ...

since

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A ...

. She was re-elected in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a se ...

, and

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

. Dinenage served as a minister from May 2015 until September 2021 in six different government departments, under three successive prime ministers as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Government Equalities Office,

Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Jus ...

Department for Education The Department for Education (DfE) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for child protection, child services, education (compulsory, further and higher education), apprenticeships and wider skills in England. A Department ...

and

Department for Work and Pensions , type = Department , seal = , logo = Department for Work and Pensions logo.svg , logo_width = 166px , formed = , preceding1 = , jurisdiction = Government of the United Kingdom , headquarters = Caxton House7th Floor6–12 Tothill Stre ...

. In January 2018 Minister of State at the

Department of Health and Social Care The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for government policy on health and adult social care matters in England, along with a few elements of the same matters which are not otherwis ...

, and in February 2020 at the

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport , type = Department , logo = Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport logo.svg , logo_width = , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = Gove ...

. Dinenage was appointed

Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(DBE) in the 2022 Political Honours.

Early life and career

Dinenage was born on 28 October 1971, the daughter of television presenter

Fred Dinenage Frederick Edgar Dinenage MBE (born 8 June 1942) is an English author and retired broadcaster and television presenter. His television career spanned nearly 60 years, including the long-running children's programme ''How'' and ITV's regional pr ...

and Beverley Summers. She attended Wykeham House private school for girls, Oaklands RC Comprehensive School,

Waterlooville Waterlooville is a market town in the Borough of Havant in Hampshire, England, approximately north northeast of Portsmouth. It is the largest town in the borough. The town has a population of about 64,350 and is surrounded by Purbrook, Blendwo ...

, and then studied Politics and English at

Swansea University Swansea University ( cy, Prifysgol Abertawe) is a public university, public research university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. It was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. ...

. Dinenage established her first manufacturing company aged 19 and was a director/ company secretary of Dinenages Ltd for 20 years. In May 1998 she was elected as the youngest member in Winchester District Council. She stood as the Conservative Party candidate for

Portsmouth South Portsmouth South is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Stephen Morgan of the Labour Party. Morgan is the first Labour MP to represent the seat. Boundaries 1918–1950: The County Borough o ...

in the 2005 general election.

Parliamentary career

Dinenage was elected as

for

in 2010, after the retirement of Sir Peter Viggers.

Backbench career

Dinenage sat on the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee 2012–2015. In 2013, she was appointed as a Small Business Ambassador by Prime Minister, David Cameron. Dinenage successfully campaigned for a

medal A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be int ...

for the veterans of the

Arctic convoys of World War II The Arctic convoys of World War II were oceangoing convoys which sailed from the United Kingdom, Iceland, and North America to northern ports in the Soviet Union – primarily Arkhangelsk (Archangel) and Murmansk in Russia. There were 78 convoys ...

. She served as the vice-chair (Royal Navy) of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Armed Forces 2010–2014, and was a UK delegate to the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two Nor ...

Parliamentary Assembly and vice-chair of the NATO Science and Technology Sub-Committee. Dinenage was again made a backbencher following the September 2021 reshuffle. Since then she has launched the All Party Parliamentary Group on Carers and is also on the Women and Equalities Committee.

Justice Minister

Campaign group Action 4 Ashes praised Dinenage for her swift action as Justice Minister in introducing important changes to cremation regulation.

Minister for Women and Equalities

In her role as Minister for Women and Equalities, Dinenage implemented the Gender Pay Gap reporting regulations which came into force in April 2017.

Education Minister

As Education Minister she delivered the government's manifesto commitment of 30 hours' free childcare for 3 and 4 year olds.

Minister for Care

In January 2018, Dinenage was appointed as Minister of State for Care at the Department for Health & Social Care. Dinenage was the first minister since

Alistair Burt Alistair James Hendrie Burt (born 25 May 1955) is a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Bedfordshire from 2001 until 2019. He was previously MP for his native Bury North in Greater Manchester from 1983 unt ...

to hold the social care portfolio at Minister of State level, after Theresa May handed the portfolio to a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State under

David Mowat David John Mowat (born 20 February 1957) is a former Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Warrington South, and was first elected at the 2010 general election. He was appointed as Pa ...

and

Jackie Doyle-Price Jacqueline Doyle-Price (born 5 August 1969) is a British Conservative Party politician and former civil servant. She was first elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Thurrock in the 2010 general election. In September 2022, she was ap ...

. Dinenage's appointment was welcomed by

learning disabilities Learning disability, learning disorder, or learning difficulty (British English) is a condition in the brain that causes difficulties comprehending or processing information and can be caused by several different factors. Given the "difficult ...

charity Hft, who had campaigned for the restoration of the Minister of State role during the

snap election A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Generally, a snap election in a parliamentary system (the dissolution of parliament) is called to capitalize on an unusual electoral opportunity or to ...

of 2017. In this role Dinenage launched a consultation on Changing Places toilets: the resulting building regulation changes would ensure larger accessible toilets were added to more than 150 major buildings a year. In June 2018 Dinenage launched the Carers Action Plan to support unpaid carers in England. In November 2019 she introduced plans for making learning disability and autism training mandatory for all Health and Social Care professionals.

Minister for Digital and Culture

Following the outbreak of COVID-19 in the UK, Dinenage helped secure the £2 billion Culture Recovery Fund. She also had ministerial responsibility for the

Online Safety Bill The Online Safety Bill is a proposed Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom intended to improve internet safety, published as a draft on 12 May 2021. Following the earlier 2019 Online Harms White Paper, the Bill gives the relevant Secret ...

, which was published in draft form in 2021. Dinenage held this role until September 2021 and is now once again a backbencher.

Constituency work

Dinenage worked with local partners to secure Enterprise Zone status for the Daedalus disused military airfield at

Lee-on-the-Solent Lee-on-the-Solent, often referred to as Lee-on-Solent, is a seaside district of the Borough of Gosport in Hampshire, England, about five miles (8 km) west of Portsmouth. The area is located on the coast of the Solent. It is primarily a resid ...

in 2010. Following her campaign against prosposals which would have seen the closure of the Royal Navy School of Engineering at , the government indefinitely delayed the closure of the site. Dinenage has campaigned for local road improvements, helping secure £25.7m Government funding for the Stubbington Bypass, which has now been completed.

Personal life

Dinenage has two children with her first husband Carlos Garreta, a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

officer. In February 2014, she married

Mark Lancaster, Baron Lancaster of Kimbolton Brigadier John Mark Lancaster, Baron Lancaster of Kimbolton, (born 12 May 1970) is a British Conservative Party politician, a Member of the House of Lords and a British Army reserve officer. He previously served as Member of Parliament for No ...

, a former MP and now member of the House of Lords, giving Dinenage the title Lady Lancaster. She has made a parachute jump and abseiled off Portsmouth's

Spinnaker Tower The Spinnaker Tower is a landmark observation tower in Portsmouth, England. It is the centrepiece of the redevelopment of Portsmouth Harbour, which was supported by a National Lottery grant. The tower's design was chosen by Portsmouth reside ...

to raise funds for the MS Society. A patron of Conservatives against Fox Hunting, she was named one of Queen guitarist and animal welfare campaigner

Brian May Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and astrophysicist, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen. May was a co-founder of Queen with lead singer Freddie Mercury an ...

's Heroes of 2010.

References

External links

Caroline Dinenage websiteCaroline Dinenage profile
at TheyWorkForYou.com * , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Dinenage, Caroline 1971 births Living people Alumni of Swansea University Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 2010–2015 UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–present Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Councillors in Hampshire Politicians from Portsmouth People educated at Oaklands Catholic School 21st-century British women politicians Lancaster of Kimbolton Spouses of life peers 21st-century English women 21st-century English people Women councillors in England Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire