Under the last Labour Government, she was Leader of the House of Lords and a member of Gordon Brown’s cabinet. She then served for five years as Leader of the Opposition in the Lords. She was appointed to the Lords in 2004 and became a Government whip with responsibility for health, international development, foreign affairs, equality and Northern Ireland. She previously worked in the European Commission, for Neil Kinnock and for the Labour Group in the European Parliament.

Jan is still an active backbencher with an interest in education, young people, housing, health and social care, social justice, women, diversity and foreign affairs. In addition, she is Chair of the Oxford Strategic Partnership, a Trustee of Full Fact, an independent fact-checking charity, and is associated with many other charities and voluntary organisations.

Jan has always been passionate about education and equality of opportunity and has taken many associated Bills through Parliament from the Government and Opposition benches. She also regularly visits schools in this country and in other parts of the world. She has worked on many policy areas including citizenship and democratic engagement and is a strong supporter of social action for young people.