Member of Parliament
Which position did Guy Opperman hold from Jun 2017 to Nov 2019?
Guy Opperman Guy Thomas Opperman ( born 18 May 1965 ) is a British Conservative Party politician , who was first elected at the 2010 general election as the Member of Parliament ( MP ) for Hexham . He has been the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Pensions and Financial Inclusion at the Department for Work and Pensions since June 2017 . Early life , education and career . Opperman was born in Marlborough , Wiltshire and was educated at Harrow School , an independent all-boys boarding school . Opperman has a degree in law from the University of Buckingham and a first-class diploma from the University of Lille , in France . Opperman was called to the bar in 1989 . He spent 20 years as a barrister of which 15 years were spent predominantly at the criminal bar . Opperman prosecuted and defended in a number of murder and rape trials . While a barrister , he did many years of pro bono work with the Western Circuit Free Representation Unit and the Bar Pro Bono Unit , providing free legal assistance in hundreds of cases on behalf of Victim Support and Citizens Advice Bureau . The Times named him Lawyer of the Week in 2007 and was awarded the Bar Pro Bono Award by the Attorney General , Lord Goldsmith QC , for his voluntary work on behalf of victims in Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals . In 2009 , the Attorney General , Baroness Scotland QC , presented him with a Pro Bono Hero award in the House of Commons for his work on preventing hospital closures . He is now a door tenant at 3PB and is no longer in active practice at the Bar having committed to being a full-time Member of Parliament . Opperman previously stood for election to Parliament in Swindon North at the 1997 general election and for Caernarfon in 2005 . He was a Councillor in Kennet from 1995 to 1999 . Opperman led a legal campaign to oppose the closure of the NHSs Savernake Hospital at Marlborough which he credited with saving his mothers life from cancer . Parliamentary career . Opperman was elected at the 2010 general election as the Member of Parliament ( MP ) for Hexham in Northumberland . He was one of the first MPs in the United Kingdom to employ an apprentice . In September 2012 Opperman was appointed as Private Parliamentary Secretary ( PPS ) to Mark Harper , the Immigration Minister at the Home Office . Opperman has previously described himself as rather on the left of the Conservative Party and has previously opposed regional pay but supported the Living Wage , regional banks , and industrial activism . He called for his party to do more to show it supports the hard working people in our public sector . In 2012 , the New Statesman magazine summarised his positions on low wages , corporate responsibility , and apprenticeships in an article called Meet the Tories the left should be frightened of . In 2015 , Opperman was named by the IPSA for an outstanding £161 in expenses due back . However , the IPSA subsequently apologised due to an error , stating ; <nowiki></nowiki>We have failed you and the public<nowiki></nowiki> in a letter to Opperman . In 2016 , for the sixth successive year Opperman coordinated the collection of more than 300 toys for disadvantaged children in north east England as part of the Northumberland Conservatives Christmas appeal , Buy One More Toy . Opperman was appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions on 14 June 2017 . Footage from 2013 was uncovered showing him stating that he understood what it was like to live on a zero-hours contract because he once worked as a £250-per-hour barrister . Weeks later , in response to the group Women Against State Pension Inequality , he was quoted as saying that older women who face cuts to their state pension could take up apprenticeships as a route to re-employment . Opperman faced criticism in October 2017 for pulling out of a pensions fringe event at the Conservative Party Conference in an apparent attempt to avoid a nearby protest staged by Women Against State Pension Inequality . At a hustings event for the 2019 election Opperman was asked how people using food banks could be helped . He said the Conservatives would raise the minimum wage and the tax threshold . He also suggested that people must get better at handling money . Pensions Minister . Opperman has served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions since June 2017 . His brief includes pensions and financial inclusion . In October 2019 , as Pensions Minister Opperman introduced new Environmental , Social and Governance regulations ( ESG ) . These required a pension fund to update its statement of investment principles and broadly take into account ESG factors when considering its strategic approach to investment . In an article written for the Times , Opperman argued that , Pensions should be harnessed to fight the climate emergency . In a speech at the Pensions & Lifetime Savings Association ( PLSA ) investment conference in March 2020 , Opperman announced the public consultation on new non-statutory guidance for trustees of occupational pensions schemes on the risks and opportunities associated with climate change . In October 2020 , the Pensions Schemes Bill returned to the House of Commons for Second Reading . Opperman said the Pension Schemes Bill will make pensions safer , better and greener . The Bill seeks to make pensions safer by giving the pension regulator more powers to tackle pension scams , better by introducing a pension dashboard and greener by going further on climate change disclosure . In November 2020 , the Bill passed the House of Commons at Third Reading and Report Stage . Political positions . Abortion . Opperman supports the right to choose and does not support any changes to the present law . Assisted dying . Opperman has spoken in favour of changing the law on assisted dying , and spoke of his anger in 2015 at the defeat of the Assisted Dying Bill . He argued that : This Bill does not threaten the lives of vulnerable people . It will not lead to more deaths , but to less suffering . Climate Change . Opperman supports action to tackle climate change . Opperman led the campaign opposing Whittonstall and Halton Lea Gate open cast coal mines in his constituency . He was also strongly opposed to the plans of a new open cast mine at Dewley Hill , describing the plans as a climate change disaster waiting to happen . Community banking . Since being elected in 2010 , Opperman campaigned against payday lenders . He came together with a group of Northumbrian locals and church leaders to set up the Northumberland Community Bank . The bank was launched in 2015 by the Archbishop of York , John Sentamu . The community bank is a not-for-profit financial cooperative , offers secure savings and loan facilities as an alternative to high cost credit – with any surplus being used to enable and grow services in Northumberland . Great North Air Ambulance Service . Opperman campaigned and introduced a motion in the House of Commons calling for a review in the fuel duty paid by the Great North Air Ambulance Service . This resulted in the government exempting emergency services from aviation fuel duty in the 2014 Budget . The measure saved the Great North Air Ambulance up to £25,000 per year . In 2012 , Opperman walked from Sheffield to Scotland and raised £2,079 for the Great North Air Ambulance service . Living wage . On 8 August 2013 , Opperman declared his support for the Living Wage in an article for the New Statesman . In this article he asked : How and why did we let it become acceptable for a full-time job not to pay enough to live on? . Same-sex marriage . Opperman campaigned for , spoke in favour , and voted for the Marriage ( Same Sex Couples ) Act in 2013 . During the debate , he described the UK as being on a ‘journey’ . Opperman later voted for an amendment supporting same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland . Syria . In 2014 , Opperman travelled to Syria , to see the impact of humanitarian aid in refugee camps on the Turkey – Syria border . He called for action for further support to children in refugee camps . Subsequently , Opperman held a specific debate in parliament on the plight of Syria Refugees and UN Resolution 2139 relating to the provision of aid in Syria itself . The Union . Opperman is a supporter of the Union and passionately campaigned for Scotland to remain in the United Kingdom during the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum . Brain tumour . Guy Opperman has raised almost £10,000 for charity including over £4,000 in 2011 for the National Brain Appeal at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery which he credits with saving his life after suffering from a brain tumour . He and Labour MP Paul Blomfield , who also had a brain tumour in 2011 , walked the first section of the Pennine Way in 2012 to raise money for Headway UK . In 2012 , Opperman walked 280 miles from Sheffield to Scotland raising £2,500 for the Great North Air Ambulance . In 2016 , Opperman was shown to be tumour free in a scan 5 years since his original diagnosis . Personal life . Opperman was a director of his family engineering business until 2009 . On 2 June 2017 , during his general election campaign , Guy married his partner Flora . In June 2020 the couple had twin boys who died shortly after birth . Opperman is an amateur jockey and rode his first winner in 1985 . He continues to ride and has won a number of point-to-point horse races , including at Downhills , Corbridge just after his selection as the Conservative Party Candidate for Hexham in 2009 . Author , blogger and podcast host . In 2010 , Oppermans blog was named as in the top 30 of all MPs by Total Politics magazine . In October 2012 , Opperman had his first book published , Doing Time , an examination of the prison service and offender rehabilitation in the United Kingdom . In it he offers a consideration of re-offending , prisoner training , drug rehabilitation , prison management and payment by results in the prison system . Opperman is a member of the Advisory Board of the High Pay Centre and has co-authored an essay with Green Party MP Caroline Lucas and TUC General Secretary Frances OGrady entitled Better Business : Moral Matters . In the essay he contrasts community-focussed businesses in his Northumberland seat with the lack of responsibility demonstrated by the banking sector . Opperman co-authored the report , ‘All Hands on Deck’ with Laura Farris for the Centre for Policy Studies in November 2018 . The report details how businesses and employers can do more to close Britains productivity gap by increasing flexible working . In February 2020 , Opperman launched a podcast Beyond the Bubble . The podcast aims to look at politics from outside the traditional Westminster bubble , by talking to MPs and key figures . Guests have included new Conservative MPs Dehenna Davison , Sarah Atherton and Jacob Young as well as comedian and former Labour advisor Matt Forde . External links . - Guy Opperman MP official website - Hexham Conservative Association