Joan Lorraine Walley (born 23 January 1949) is a British Labour Party

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

, who served as

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 of ...

(MP) for Stoke-on-Trent North from the 1987 general election until

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 Apri ...

Early life

She attended Biddulph Grammar School (now known as Woodhouse Middle School) in

Biddulph Biddulph is a town in Staffordshire, England, north of Stoke-on-Trent and south-east of Congleton, Cheshire. Origin of the name Biddulph's name may come from Anglo-Saxon/Old English ''bī dylfe'' = "beside the pit or quarry". It may also ...

, north

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

. At the

University of Hull The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hull ...

, she gained a BA in Social Administration. From the

University College of Wales, Swansea 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. ...

, she gained a Diploma in Community Work Development. From 1970–73, she worked on an Alcoholics Recovery Project. From 1974–78, she was a Local Government Officer for Swansea City Council. She worked for

Wandsworth Council Wandsworth London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Wandsworth in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. Wandsworth is divided into 20 wards, eac ...

from 1978–79. From 1979–82, she was a Development Officer for

NACRO Nacro is a social justice charity based in England and Wales, established in 1966 from the previous National Association of Discharged Prisoners’ Aid Societies, it became the largest criminal justice-related charity in England and Wales. In th ...

Parliamentary career

Following the deselection of her predecessor John Forrester, she stood as the Labour Party candidate for Stoke-on-Trent North (the second female MP for the seat after

Harriet Slater Harriet Slater CBE (''née'' Evans; 1903 – 12 October 1976) was a British Labour and Co-operative politician. Life and career Slater, ''née'' Evans, was born in Tunstall, Staffordshire, on 3 July 1903. Educated at Hanley High School and D ...

) and became the constituency's

(MP) at the 1987 general election. Walley had previously been a Lambeth councillor. She was elected by the House to be the Chair of the

Environmental Audit Committee The Environmental Audit Select Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine how government departments' policies and programmes will affect both the envir ...

on 9 June 2010. In November 2013 she announced her intention to stand down at the next general election in 2015. Walley became a member of the

Electoral Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

in 2018.

Personal life

She married Jan Ostrowski in 1981; the couple have two sons; Daniel, born 1981, and Tom, born 1983. Walley is a supporter of

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

, the football club in her constituency.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Walley, Joan L 1949 births Living people 20th-century British women politicians 21st-century British women politicians Alumni of Swansea University Alumni of the University of Hull Confederation of Health Service Employees-sponsored MPs Councillors in the London Borough of Lambeth Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies People from Biddulph Politicians from Staffordshire UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 UK MPs 2010–2015 20th-century English women 20th-century English people 21st-century English women 21st-century English people Women councillors in England