Lord Owen Portrait

Lord Owen

Independent Social Democrat - Life peer

Became Member: 30th June 1992


Lord Owen is not a member of any APPGs
Leader of the Social Democratic Party
3rd Mar 1988 - 6th Jun 1990
Leader of the Social Democratic Party
21st Jun 1983 - 6th Aug 1987
Shadow Secretary of State for Energy
3rd May 1979 - 1st Nov 1980
Foreign Secretary
21st Feb 1977 - 4th May 1979
Minister of State (Foreign and Commonwealth Office)
10th Sep 1976 - 21st Feb 1977
Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Security)
26th Jul 1974 - 10th Sep 1976
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Security)
8th Mar 1974 - 26th Jul 1974
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Royal Navy)
3rd Jul 1968 - 18th Jun 1970


Division Voting information

During the current Parliament, Lord Owen has voted in 0 divisions, and never against the majority of their Party.
View All Lord Owen Division Votes

Debates during the 2019 Parliament

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
Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton (Conservative)
Foreign Secretary
(3 debate interactions)
Lord Bichard (Crossbench)
(1 debate interactions)
Lord Horam (Conservative)
(1 debate interactions)
View All Sparring Partners
Department Debates
Ministry of Defence
(3 debate contributions)
Department for International Trade
(1 debate contributions)
Leader of the House
(1 debate contributions)
View All Department Debates
Legislation Debates
Victims and Prisoners Bill 2022-23
(796 words contributed)
View All Legislation Debates
View all Lord Owen's debates

Lords initiatives

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


3 Bills introduced by Lord Owen


A Bill to limit the period in which a person may be Prime Minister

Lords - 20%

Last Event - 1st Reading: House Of Lords
Tuesday 11th November 2014

A Bill to re-establish the Secretary of State's legal duty as to the National Health Service in England, Quangos and related bodies

Lords - 20%

Last Event - 1st Reading: House Of Lords
Thursday 16th May 2013

A Bill to re-establish the Secretary of State's legal duty as to the National Health Service in England, quangos and related bodies.

Lords - 20%

Last Event - 1st Reading: House Of Lords
Monday 28th January 2013

Lord Owen has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting


Latest 1 Written Question

(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
10th Dec 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the average bed occupancy in NHS hospitals in England per year for the last 30 years for which figures are available.

Data on the average bed occupancy in National Health Service hospitals in England in each year is held from 2010/11 onwards and is shown in the following table.

Year Total bed occupancy General and acute bed occupancy

2010/11 85.4% 87.1%

2011/12 85.3% 86.9%

2012/13 86.2% 88.0%

2013/14 86.3% 88.0%

2014/15 87.2% 89.0%

2015/16 87.2% 88.9%

2016/17 88.3% 90.3%

2017/18 88.2% 90.3%

2018/19 88.0% 90.1%

2019/20 88.0% 90.2%

2020/21 76.0% 76.6%

2021/22 84.8% 86.5%

Source: NHS England

Note: Data for 2021/ 22 includes figures from 1 April 2021 to 30 September 2021.