The Baroness Drake | |
|---|---|
| 👁 Image Official Portrait | |
| Born | Jean Lesley Patricia Drake (1948-01-16) 16 January 1948 (age 78) |
| Member of the House of Lords | |
| Life peerage 20 June 2010 | |
Jean Lesley Patricia Drake, Baroness Drake, CBE (born 16 January 1948) is an English trade unionist and Labour life peer in the House of Lords.
Biography
[edit]After attending university, Drake worked as a research officer at the National Union of Public Employees, before moving to the Civil and Public Services Association in 1976. Drake was a Deputy General Secretary of the National Communications Union and, following a merger in 1995, she held the same position in the Communication Workers Union until 2008.[1] During her tenure, she was also President of the Trades Union Congress in 2005,[2] and supported a 24-hour strike by workers at a Birmingham factory owned by Japanese company Fujitsu, over jobs being moved to the United States.[3]
Drake serves as a trustee of the O2 and Alliance & Leicester pension funds, has been a board member of the Pension Protection Fund since 2004, and was appointed to the board of trustees of The People's Pension in 2020.[4][5][6] She was Deputy Chair of the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST).[2] She also sits an independent member of the Private Equity Reporting Group.[5]
She was a commissioner of the Equality and Human Rights Commission from 2006 to 2009. She has also served as a member of the Employment Appeal Tribunal. On 20 June 2010, she was created a life peer in the House of Lords as Baroness Drake, of Shene in the County of Surrey.[2][7][8][9]
In the House of Lords, Drake has chaired the House of Lords Constitution Committee,[10][11] where she worked on an enquiry about the relationship between UK Government and the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.[12] After the introduction of mandatory photographic IDs for voting, Drake warned how young and elderly people, people with disabilities, and people from ethnic minority backgrounds often do not own a photo ID that is accepted at polling stations and suggested voter authority certificates (VAC) to address this inequality.[13]
Drake was one of the founders of the government auto-enrolment pensions scheme,[6] and later lodged an amendment in the Lords to the Pension Schemes Bill to introduce a carer’s credit paid through the social security system towards a private pension.[14]
Drake also speaks at events, such as on a panel about women and pensions at the 2017 Women of the World Festival, organised by the Fawcett Society.[15]
References
[edit]- ^ "CWU conference: Telecoms". Socialist Worker. 17 June 2008. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
- ^ a b c "Baroness Jeannie Drake". Association of British Insurers (ABI). Retrieved 15 April 2025.
- ^ "Fujitsu staff walk out in protest". Business Live. 8 June 2008. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
- ^ Ferris, Duncan (17 April 2020). "Appointments update - 17 April 2020". Pensions Age Magazine. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
- ^ a b Lamport, Beth (6 June 2018). "The People's Pension Trustee". The People's Pension. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
- ^ a b Simon, Emma (15 April 2020). "AE architect appointed as People's trustee". Corporate Adviser. Archived from the original on 19 January 2021. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
- ^ "No. 59468". The London Gazette. 24 June 2010. p. 11913.
- ^ Baroness Drake UK Parliament. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
- ^ "Britain's new peers – the full list of 56". Financial Times. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
- ^ Cross, Michael (18 January 2023). "Lord chancellor need not be a lawyer, peers conclude". Law Gazette. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
- ^ Drake, Jeannie (30 January 2025). "Ministers must boost safeguards to protect UK constitution from abuse". The Times. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
- ^ "Baroness Drake on "The Governance of the Union": The Latest Report From the House of Lords Constitution Committee". The Constitution Society. 27 September 2024. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
- ^ "Baroness Drake: Government should consider digital voter authority certificates". Local Government Chronicle (LGC). 5 January 2024. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
- ^ Klimes, Michael (4 March 2020). "Auto-enrol founder pushes for carer top up for women". Money Marketing. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
- ^ "The WOW Festival: Women and Pensions - 07/03/2017 13:00:00". The Fawcett Society. 7 March 2017. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
