Vision 2030

Rt. Hon. Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (George Foulkes) is a Labour Life Peer and Privy Counsellor. He was MP for Carrick, Cumnock & Doon Valley for 26 years (1979-2005) and a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) from 2007-2011. He worked as Director of Age Concern Scotland before election to Parliament and has recently been Chair of Age Scotland for three years. He currently represents the UK Parliament on the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) where he wrote the report on the Human Rights of Older People.

Jim Shannon MP (DUP) has represented Strangford, Northern Ireland, since 2010. He previously sat in the Northern Ireland Assembly from 1998 to 2010 as the Member of the Legislative Assembly (Northern Ireland) (MLA) for the Assembly constituency of Strangford, and is a former longstanding councillor.

Steve Allen joined Friends of the Elderly as Group Chief Executive in 2014. He founded Prime Care Community Services, which provided award-winning home-care services to adults and older people throughout the south of England, exiting to a group of housing associations a decade later in 2013. He was Vice Chair of the United Kingdom Home Care Association (UKHCA), and immediate past Vice Chair of the Government’s Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) where he chaired the Digital Catapult for Creative Industries and the region’s Enterprise Zone. He is a Board member of the National Care Forum.

Mick Laverty, Chief Executive, ExtraCare Charitable Trust joined the not-for-profit organisation in 2016 to lead its ambitious £314 million development programme. Mick, a chartered accountant, was previously Chief Executive of the Student Loans Company, a government-funded ‘digital exemplar’ organisation that has seven million customers and distributes £15 billion per annum. He was also formerly Chief Executive of Advantage West Midlands, the regional development agency.

Peter Kyle was first elected as MP for Hove and Portslade in 2015. He sits on the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee, and chairs the all-party groups on Southern Rail, Further Education and Lifelong Learning. Peter has led campaigns in Parliament to protect victims of domestic abuse, reform family courts and lower the voting age to 16. Prior to his election Peter was deputy chief executive of ACEVO, the umbrella body for the voluntary sector, and head of youth employment charity Working for Youth. 

Andrew Mitchell is a long-serving Conservative MP, representing Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, since 2001 and also Gedling, Nottinghamshire, from 1987 to 1997. He served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for International Development from 2010 to 2012.

Lilian Greenwood has been the MP for Nottingham South since 2010. She was previously Shadow Secretary of State for Transport and a Minister in the Department for Transport. Lilian has also been an Opposition Assistant Whip and member of the Liaison and Transport select committees. Before entering Parliament, Lilian was a regional official for the trade union, UNISON, representing public service workers and campaigning on a range of issues including equality, improving pensions, increasing funding for the health service and workers’ rights.

Marsha de Cordova has been the Labour MP for Battersea since 2017. Before her election to Parliament, Marsha was a councillor in Lambeth. She has held a number of prominent roles in the Labour Party since becoming an MP, including Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities, and Shadow Minister for Disabled People. Marsha worked in the charity sector prior to entering politics, including founding South East London Vision, and leading on engagement and advocacy at Thomas Pocklington Trust.

Alex Sobel is the Labour and Co-operative MP for Leeds North West. He sits on the Environmental Audit Committee, the Backbench Business Committee and chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Groups for Net-Zero, Video Games, Social Enterprise and West Papua. Prior to his election, Alex ran Social Enterprise Yorkshire where he supported groups and individuals in setting up social enterprises across the region. 

Bob Blackman has been the Conservative MP for Harrow East since 2010 and has been Joint Executive Secretary of the 1922 Committee since 2012. He was also the Greater London Assembly member for Brent & Harrow between 2004 and 2008 and is a former councillor.

Nick Sanderson is Chief Executive of Audley Group and is ARCO’s Chair. He is the founder and CEO of Audley Group the UK’s largest developer and operator of luxury retirement villages which started in the 1990s. In 2016, Audley launched Mayfield Villages to provide the Audley offer at a more affordable price. Nick is a regular speaker at national and international conferences and a contributor to several publications.

David Williams has been Chief Executive of St Monica Trust since 2014. He previously worked at Housing 21 for four years, first as a Head of Specialist Services before becoming Head of Strategy Development and moving to the Accord Group where he worked for three years as Executive Group Director Health, Care and Support.

David Blunkett was awarded a peerage in the 2015 Honours List, taking the title of Lord Blunkett, of Brightside and Hillsborough in the City of Sheffield. He was MP for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough from 1987-2015, and a member of Tony Blair’s Cabinet for eight years from 1997. He served as Education and Employment Secretary, Home Secretary and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. He is currently a Professor in Practice at the University of Sheffield, Chair of the Board of the University of Law and involved in a range of voluntary and charitable organisations locally and nationally.

Jeremy Porteus, Managing Director, Housing Learning and Improvement Network (LIN) has over 25 years’ experience at the forefront of policy and practice in UK housing for older and disabled people. Until 2011, Jeremy was the National Programme Lead for Housing at the Department of Health (DH), England, and set up LIN as an independent “learning lab”, bringing together policymakers, commissioners and providers of housing, health and social care to test out new ideas and improve the housing-with-care choices for older and vulnerable people.