The Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws LT KC
Labour
Member of the House of Lords
F
Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws's full title is The Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws LT KC. Her name is Helena Ann Kennedy, and she is a current member of the House of Lords.
Allowance claims · 2026
Data not yet released for 2026 — the Lords Finance Office publishes monthly CSVs ~6-8 weeks after month-end.
Lords votes · 2026
176 divisions
1 Content(0.6%)
38 Not-Content(21.6%)
137 didn't vote(77.8%)
2026-07-21
Not-Content
173–234
Not-Content
2026-07-13
Not-Content
158–239
Not-Content
2026-04-23
Not-Content
152–207
Not-Content
2026-04-13
Not-Content
69–332
Not-Content
2026-03-05
Not-Content
193–143
Content
2026-03-05
Not-Content
194–140
Content
2026-03-05
Not-Content
198–139
Content
2026-03-05
Not-Content
208–142
Content
2026-03-05
Not-Content
214–142
Content
2026-01-12
Not-Content
201–169
Content
2026-01-05
Not-Content
132–124
Content
Source: lordsvotes-api.parliament.uk. "Result" shows the headline
Content vs Not-Content tally (including tellers). The Lords doesn't
publish a "didn't vote" attendance roll like the Commons, so the
figure above conflates absence with abstention.
Recent Hansard contributions · latest 25
2026-07-17
Genocide Determination Bill [HL]
When I referred to an omertà, I was not suggesting that there had not been discussion in this House about Gaza or the West Bank. I was suggesting that many people around this House feel inhibited about raising this issue or speaking to it because they fe
2026-07-17
Genocide Determination Bill [HL]
My Lords, it always gives me pleasure to be able to support my friend, the noble Lord, Lord Alton. He and I have worked extensively over many years, and I pay tribute to him, as others have. He comes to us again with this Bill, which aims to establish a
My Lords, I strongly support the Bill, and I do see it as a Bill dealing with state-sanctioned abuse. The Bill directly responds to the abusive nature of these sexual relationships which were built on deception. The deception that is involved negates a p
The question is this: the UK banned the purchase of land by Russians in the occupied territories of Ukraine; do the Government have the political will to do the same in the West Bank and Gaza?
I listen to this cabal shouting out. What is happening is unlawful, and we are seeing that it is becoming impossible for the Palestinians ever to have a state of their own because of the actions that are currently taking place.
In 1968, he advised the Government of Israel that the creation of settlements in the Occupied Territories would be contrary to international law, then and now. If only the Israeli Government had listened.
My Lords, I thank the Minister for her reply, but it really is time to match words with actions. There is evidence of purchasing of homes and property on the West Bank in the Occupied Territories. We cannot have British citizens being complicit in violat
To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to criminalise the purchase of settlement houses and land on the West Bank by British citizens.
2026-06-30
Women’s Representation in Peace Processes
The Minister has given us a list of places where terrible conflicts have taken place. I noticed that Gaza was not included. A rather nonsensical peace board has been created. It would be interesting to hear how many women are involved in that, never mind
2026-06-09
British Council
My Lords, I had the great privilege, from 1998 until 2004, of being the chair of the British Council. Sometimes, it is useful to draw on one’s institutional memory. The reason that the British Council was set up in the middle of the 1930s was to share Br
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Alton, my great friend, for securing this debate and congratulate him on introducing his Genocide Determination Bill this morning. I will of course be supporting him.
Only a few years ago, I, too, promoted a geno
2026-05-18
King’s Speech
My Lords, I add my voice in expressing my gratitude to the noble Lord, Lord Hennessy. The noble Lord gave us a great reminder of the bizarre ways in which our constitution has come into being by historically adding lots of small entities and having norms
2026-04-27
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, it is a source of great regret to me that I will be following the noble Baroness, Lady Kidron, and possibly the noble Lord, Lord Nash, into the Lobbies, because I think the Government are making a mistake here. We should have been much more cou
2026-03-17
BBC World Service: Sustainability
My Lords, picking up on the question from the noble Lord, Lord Alton, the risks of transnational repression are experienced by BBC journalists and by journalists from Iran International. Are the Government aware that, only yesterday, a leading commander
My Lords, I cannot begin to express how appalled I am that attacks should have been made upon independent journalists investigating a matter which was a legitimate matter to be investigated by the media. I should declare immediately that I am on the hig
2026-02-05
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I support the noble Lord. This legislation presents a unique opportunity to close long-outstanding accountability gaps in the UK’s universal jurisdiction laws and ensure that the perpetrators of the world’s most serious crimes can be brought t
2026-01-12
Iran: Protests
My Lords, I should declare that I am the director of the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute, which has been monitoring human rights abuses in Iran for many years.
A grave human rights crisis is unfolding in Iran. As many noble Lord
2026-01-12
Iran: Protests
To ask Her Majesty’s Government (1) what assessment they have made of the treatment of protesters in Iran, and (2) how they are engaging with the government of the United States on proposed responses to ensure that these are in accordance with interna
2025-12-17
Jimmy Lai Conviction
My Lords—
2025-12-17
Jimmy Lai Conviction
My Lords, like the noble Lord, Lord Alton, I have been involved with the arrest and subsequent trial of Jimmy Lai. I too am a patron of Hong Kong Watch. I am also on the Joint Committee on Human Rights, and members of my chambers have been acting for Jim
2025-12-09
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, when I became a practitioner at the Bar as a young woman in the late 1970s, freedom of expression was regularly used as the excuse to justify sometimes horrific porn. When there were discussions about this among lawyers, it was almost invariabl
2025-11-27
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I was stimulated to rise by something that the noble Baroness, Lady Doocey, said. She was speaking to the reply that had been given by the Minister, and it made me think that what has to be looked at here is the law and its inadequacies in deal
2025-11-27
Crime and Policing Bill
Before my noble friend rises to reply, I want to emphasise, as someone who has practised at the Bar over many decades, like the noble Baroness, Lady Cash, the importance of our recognising in the course of these discussions that, while we are dealing her
2025-10-20
Official Secret Act Case: Witness Statements
Not the independence of the CPS.
2025-10-20
Official Secret Act Case: Witness Statements
My Lords, does the Minister agree that the charges were brought under the Official Secrets Act, which dates from the beginning of the 20th century, which is one of the reasons it was changed? Unfortunately, the charges were brought when it was still runn
Source: hansard.parliament.uk via hansard-api. Snippets shown
verbatim from the search API; click any debate title for the full record.
Register of Interests · 5 entries on file
Declarations under the Lords Code of Conduct. Free text — no monetary values, no hours worked. A declaration that an interest exists, not a claim about its size.
Category 1: Remunerated employment etc.
-
Chair, Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority (CIISA)
registered 2024-09-03 · amended 2025-04-05
-
Director, International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI)
registered 2019-01-08 · amended 2025-04-05
-
Occasional income from writing and speaking and chairing independent inquiries
registered 2018-12-13 · amended 2025-04-05
-
Member of the Bar
registered 2010-04-22 · amended 2025-04-05
Category 3: Land and property
-
House in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA from which rental income is occasionally received
registered 2019-06-14 · amended 2025-04-05
Source: UK Parliament Members API (Lords register). Refreshed weekly.
Read the full
Lords Code of Conduct
for what each category covers and the disclosure thresholds.
Party history
1997-10-27 → present
Labour
current
Government posts
None recorded.
Opposition posts
None recorded.
Committee memberships
2024-09-05 → 2026-01-27
Human Rights (Joint Committee)
2023-01-31 → 2024-05-30
Human Rights (Joint Committee)
2012-05-16 → 2015-03-30
Human Rights (Joint Committee)
2015-06-08 → 2019-07-01
European Union Committee
2015-06-12 → 2019-07-02
EU Justice Sub-Committee
Chair
+£15,025/yr
2021-04-14 → 2023-01-31
Justice and Home Affairs Committee
2026-01-27 → present
Domestic Abuse Act 2021 Committee
Chair
+£18,305/yr
Contact
Parliamentary office
hilary.hard@btinternet.com
01708 379482 · House of Lords, London, SW1A 0PW
01708 379482 · House of Lords, London, SW1A 0PW
Website
APPGs (2026) · 5 active officership(s) · 8 historic
| Group | Role(s) | Funders | Officers in group | Next deadline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arbitrary Detention and Hostage Affairs
Subject Group
|
Vice Chair | International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute · Magnitsky Foundation | 4 | 2027-01-04 |
|
All-Party Parliamentary Group on International Law, Justice and Accountability
Subject Group
|
Vice Chair | — | 4 | 2027-02-22 |
|
All-Party Parliamentary Group on Lawyers and Judges at Risk Globally
Subject Group
|
Co-Chair | — | 5 | 2023-01-16 |
|
All-Party Parliamentary Group on Legal Aid
Subject Group
|
Vice Chair | Legal Aid Practitioners Group | 6 | 2024-05-15 |
|
All-Party Parliamentary Group on Prevention of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity
Subject Group
|
Vice Chair | Aegis Trust | 4 | 2025-01-15 |
One row per active APPG. Funder names link out via the
/appgs Top secretariat funders panel — click any funder
there to open its full relationship graph. Officer matching is name-based against
the parliament.uk register text and may miss titled / hyphenated variants.
Written parliamentary questions · 2026
Showing
4
of 4 tabled
4 answered(100.0%)
2
departments
2026-03-26
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
Internet: Sexual Offences
Answered
Source: UK Parliament Members API. The amber "interest" tag is set
by Parliament's own system when the asking member has a register entry
it deems related — typically a paid role or directorship in the
sector being asked about. Click any "i" icon to see the full
question and the department's answer.
Bills sponsored & supported · 2026
0 bills
0 as lead sponsor
0 as supporter
No bills sponsored or supported in 2026.
Source: UK Parliament Bills API. "Lead" sponsor is the
primary mover (sortOrder = 1); "Supporter" rows are
members of either House who
backed the bill at introduction. Year is the bill's first-reading
date.
Historic bills (all-time)
3 bills
3 as lead sponsor
0 as supporter
| Bill | Info | Role | Status | Introduced |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genocide (Prevention and Response) Bill [HL] | Sponsored | 3rd reading | 2023-11-23 | |
| Immigration Control (Gross Human Rights Abuses) Bill [HL] | Sponsored | 2nd reading | 2020-01-22 | |
| Immigration Control (Gross Human Rights Abuses) Bill [HL] | Sponsored | 2nd reading | 2017-06-28 |
Same source as the year-scoped panel above, but unconstrained by
year. The "Sponsored" tag = lead sponsor; "Supported" = backed at
introduction. Sorted newest first.