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Official portrait of The Baroness Coussins

The Baroness Coussins

Crossbench Member of the House of Lords F
Baroness Coussins's full title is The Baroness Coussins. Her name is Jean Elizabeth Coussins, 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

162 divisions 11 Content(6.8%) 2 Not-Content(1.2%) 149 didn't vote(92.0%)
2026-04-28
Content
91181 Not-Content
2026-04-27
Content
316165 Content
2026-04-16
Content
115121 Not-Content
2026-04-16
Content
192142 Content
2026-04-16
Content
216141 Content
2026-03-25
Content
306145 Content
2026-03-18
Content
203148 Content
2026-03-18
Not-Content
220191 Content
2026-03-02
Content
121145 Not-Content
2026-01-21
Content
261150 Content
2026-01-21
Content
65162 Not-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

2026-05-19 El Niño: Impact
My Lords, is the Minister aware that the emergency alerts that one can sign up for via the Prepare website are available in English and Welsh only? If there is going to be an El Niño event later this year, will she commit to taking urgent action to make
2026-03-09 Iran and the Middle East
My Lords, what assessment has been made of the impact of the conflict on BBC Persian staff based in London? What can His Majesty’s Government do to help their security and safety?
2026-02-03 Child Poverty: Faith-based and Voluntary Sector Organisations
My Lords, does the noble Baroness agree that it would make a helpful contribution to tackling child poverty if the Government were to lift the ban on asylum seekers taking paid work?
2026-01-30 Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, if we are to have remote assessments, it is very important that we have an exception for one group of people who might be seeking assisted dying: those who require the services of a public service interpreter. Elsewhere in the Bill, the provisi
2026-01-15 Iran
My Lords, can the Minister say whether any additional security and protection are being made available here to people working for the BBC Persian service, who are already being subject to harassment and worse, and who are now expected to be on the receiv
2026-01-08 Schools and Universities: Language Learning
That this House takes note of measures, such as visa waivers, to improve the supply chain of qualified modern foreign language teachers and the sustainability of language learning in schools and universities.
2026-01-08 Schools and Universities: Language Learning
My Lords, I thank the Minister very much for her reply. I am pleased and happy to hear her say that she recognises that schools still have an issue over how complicated and costly the process for applying and getting sponsorship visas can be. I hope very
2026-01-08 Schools and Universities: Language Learning
My Lords, I start by declaring my interests as co-chair of the APPG on Modern Languages and honorary president of the Chartered Institute of Linguists which, along with the British Council and the British Academy, supports the APPG. I am a languages grad
2025-12-18 UK-EU Common Understanding Negotiations
My Lords, can the Minister confirm that rejoining Erasmus+ will include schools for the purposes of trips and exchanges? If so, will His Majesty’s Government back this up by reintroducing group passports, so that we can put an end to the inordinate delay
2025-11-27 Sudan
My Lords, I too thank the right reverend Prelate for tabling this debate. Earlier this year, the UN reported an 80% increase in the risk of women and girls in Sudan being the victims of sexual assault. They are suffering indescribably from flagrant daily
2025-11-11 Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Katz, very much for his response, and I especially thank the noble Baroness, Lady Ludford, for her support. I am encouraged that my concerns have been well understood and I appreciate the commitment to review the In
2025-11-11 Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
I beg to move.
2025-11-11 Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
2025-11-11 Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
My Lords, the three amendments in this group are in my name and that of the noble Lord, Lord Hogan-Howe, who is unfortunately unable to be in the Chamber this evening. I thank him for his support. I also thank the Minister, the noble Lord, Lord Katz, his
2025-11-11 Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
2025-11-10 Curriculum and Assessment Review
My Lords, with the withdrawal of the EBacc and with more and more universities shutting down their modern language courses, what measures are the Government considering to prevent take-up of languages at GCSE plummeting? Secondly, will the noble Baroness
2025-11-10 Curriculum and Assessment Review
My Lords—
2025-11-03 Gaza and Hamas
Can the Minister say what the Government are doing to support the Palestinian Authority in its programme to reform governance procedures, with a view to the PA becoming an electable, credible alternative to Hamas?
2025-10-21 Erasmus+
I thank the noble Baroness for that encouraging reply and appreciate that she cannot go into negotiating detail. Can she at least clarify that the overall objective is to achieve associate membership by the start of the next funding round, in 2027-28, an
2025-10-21 Erasmus+
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper and declare interests as co-chair of the APPG on Modern Languages and president of the Chartered Institute of Linguists.
2025-10-21 Erasmus+
To ask His Majesty’s Government what progress they have made in negotiations with the European Union for the UK to rejoin Erasmus+.
2025-10-13 Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
My Lords, I thank the Minister for his reply and for his very clear statement that the Government agree that they have a moral and legal obligation to make sure that people in these situations clearly understand what is happening. Rather than just writin
2025-10-13 Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
My Lords, Amendment 181 in my name is very straightforward indeed. The noble Baroness, Lady Morris of Yardley, and the noble Lord, Lord Sherbourne of Didsbury, have kindly added their names to it; both regret that they are unable to be present this eveni
2025-10-13 Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
2025-10-13 School Fees: VAT
My Lords, will His Majesty’s Government consider using some of the money that they expect to get from this policy to reverse their recent decision to remove funding from state schools for the international baccalaureate?
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 · 1 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 4: Sponsorship

  • As Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Modern Languages, the member is provided with administrative and policy assistance by The British Academy, British Council and Chartered Institute of Linguists
    registered 2017-09-27 · 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

2007-03-23present
Crossbench current

Government posts

None recorded.

Opposition posts

None recorded.

Committee memberships

2007-11-142012-05-01
Information Committee (Lords)
2013-05-212015-03-30
EU Sub Committee C - External Affairs
2015-06-122016-05-12
EU External Affairs Sub-Committee
2023-01-312026-01-27
International Relations and Defence Committee
2016-05-252019-07-01
International Relations and Defence Committee
2021-01-282023-01-31
Committee of Selection (Lords)
2022-01-192023-01-31
Liaison Committee (Lords)
2026-01-27present
National Resilience Committee Chair +£18,305/yr

Contact

Parliamentary office
coussinsj@parliament.uk
020 7219 5353 · House of Lords, SW1A 0PW

APPGs (2026) · 2 active officership(s) · 2 historic

Group Role(s) Funders Officers in group Next deadline
All-Party Parliamentary Group on Modern Languages
Subject Group
Co-Chair Chartered Institute of Linguists 4 2027-01-09
Peru All-Party Parliamentary Group
Country Group
Vice Chair 12 2024-08-28
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 12 of 12 tabled 12 answered(100.0%) 2 departments
2026-03-23
Department for Education
Languages: Higher Education
Answered
2026-03-23
Department for Education
Languages: Higher Education
Answered
2026-03-23
Department for Education
Languages: Higher Education
Answered
2026-02-23
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
Colombia: Human Rights
Answered
2026-02-23
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
Conflict Resolution: Women
Answered
2026-01-19
Department for Education
Mandarin Language: Education
Answered
2026-01-13
Department for Education
Mathematics: GCE A-level
Answered
2026-01-13
Department for Education
Languages: GCE A-level
Answered
2026-01-13
Department for Education
Languages: Teachers
Answered
2026-01-13
Department for Education
Languages: Teachers
Answered
2026-01-13
Department for Education
Higher Education: Finance
Answered
2026-01-13
Department for Education
Languages: Teachers
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)

0 bills 0 as lead sponsor 0 as supporter
No bills sponsored or supported on record.
Same source as the year-scoped panel above, but unconstrained by year. The "Sponsored" tag = lead sponsor; "Supported" = backed at introduction. Sorted newest first.
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