Jean Ann Corston, Baroness Corston,
PC (born 5 May 1942) is a British
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
politician.
Early life
Jean Ann Parkin went to Yeovil Girls' High School (now the
Westfield Community School
Community Unit School District 300 is a school district headquartered in Algonquin, Illinois, United States, a suburb of Chicago. The current superintendent of schools is Susan Harkin.
The district is the 6th largest school district in the State ...
) on Stiby Road in
Yeovil
Yeovil ( ) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the district of South Somerset, England. The population of Yeovil at the last census (2011) was 45,784. More recent estimates show a population of 48,564. It is close to Somer ...
and the
Somerset College of Arts and Technology
Bridgwater and Taunton College is a further education college based in the heart of Somerset, England, with main centres in Bridgwater, Taunton and Cannington. It educates approximately 3000 students between the ages of 16–18 in academic and ...
. She worked at the
Inland Revenue
The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation ta ...
. At the
London School of Economics
, mottoeng = To understand the causes of things
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £240.8 million (2021)
, budget = £391.1 millio ...
, she gained an
Bachelor of Laws
Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...
in 1989. From 1989–90, she studied at the
Inns of Court School of Law
The City Law School is one of the five schools of City, University of London. In 2001, the Inns of Court School of Law became part of City, and is now known as the City Law School. Until 1997, the ICSL had a monopoly on the provision of the Bar ...
. She also studied with the
Open University
The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...
. She became a barrister.
Parliamentary career
Corston was Member of Parliament (MP) for
Bristol East
Bristol East is a List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies, constituency recreated in 1983 covering the eastern part of the City of Bristol, represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of ...
from April 1992 to 2005. Until stepping down at the
2005 general election, she was chair of the
Parliamentary Labour Party
In UK politics, the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) is the parliamentary group of the Labour Party in Parliament, i.e. Labour MPs as a collective body. Commentators on the British Constitution sometimes draw a distinction between the Labour P ...
, the first woman ever to hold that position.
On 13 May 2005 it was announced that she would be created a
life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...
, and on 29 June 2005 she was created Baroness Corston, of
St George
Saint George (Greek language, Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin language, Latin: Georgius, Arabic language, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christians, Christian who is venerated as a sa ...
in the
County and City of Bristol.
She was commissioned by the
Home Office, to conduct a report into vulnerable women in the criminal justice system of the United Kingdom, published in March 2007. It explores the idea that if a lot of women who are in prison are mentally ill, whether they should be there at all. The report outlines "the need for a distinct radically different, visibly-led, strategic, proportionate, holistic, woman-centred, integrated approach". The report is known as the
Corston Report and has largely informed government policy on the matter. Progress and improvements by local probation services, the
National Probation Service
The Probation Service (formerly the National Probation Service) for England and Wales is a statutory criminal justice service, mainly responsible for the supervision of offenders in the community and the provision of reports to the criminal cour ...
, Her Majesty's
Prison service
His Majesty's Prison Service (HMPS) is a part of HM Prison and Probation Service (formerly the National Offender Management Service), which is the part of His Majesty's Government charged with managing most of the prisons within England and Wale ...
and the National Offender Management Service (
NOMS) are regularly compared to the recommendations in this report.
Personal life
She married first Christopher Corston in 1961 with whom she had a son and daughter. Her partner from 1980 until he died in 2009 was
Peter Townsend, the sociologist. The couple married in Bristol in 1985.
References
External links
*
BBC: City MP to stand down at electionsee link from peers' section to biography
The Corston Report: a review of women with particular vulnerabilities in the criminal justice system''Guardian'' interview by Alison Benjamin, 3 May 2006: "Reasonable redress: Nine out of 10 women prisoners have been convicted of non-violent offences. Most are mothers and many are vulnerable. Will a government review urge alternatives to incarceration?" (with Curriculum Vitae). Guardian article on alternatives to prison for women offenders.BBC News article on community sentencing for women instead of prison sentences.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Corston, Jean
1942 births
Living people
Alumni of the London School of Economics
Alumni of the Open University
Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II
Labour Party (UK) life peers
Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Members of Parliament for Bristol
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
People from Yeovil
Politics of Bristol
Transport and General Workers' Union-sponsored MPs
UK MPs 1992–1997
UK MPs 1997–2001
UK MPs 2001–2005
20th-century British women politicians
21st-century British women politicians
20th-century English women
21st-century English women