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Edward Balls

Labour MP for Normanton

• Secretary of State, Department for Children, Schools and Families (since 28 Jun 2007)

• Entered Parliament on 5 May 2005 — General election
• Majority: 10,002 votes. — 159th out of 643 MPs.

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• Voting record
• Committees and topics of interest
• Most recent appearances
• Numerology
• Register of Members’ Interests
• Expenses

Voting record (from PublicWhip)

How Edward Balls voted on key issues since 2001:

• Voted moderately against a transparent Parliament. votes, speeches
• Voted very strongly for introducing a smoking ban. votes, speeches
• Voted very strongly for introducing ID cards. votes, speeches
• Voted very strongly for Labour's anti-terrorism laws. votes, speeches
• Voted strongly against an investigation into the Iraq war. votes, speeches
• Voted very strongly for replacing Trident. votes, speeches
• Voted very strongly for equal gay rights. votes, speeches
• Voted moderately against laws to stop climate change. votes, speeches

Read about how the voting record is decided.

More on well-known issues (from the Guardian) & their full record

• Hardly ever rebels against their party in this parliament.

Committees and topics of interest

Asks most questions about

• Departments: Education and Skills, Trade and Industry, Health, Deputy Prime Minister, Work and Pensions

• Subjects (based on headings added by Hansard): Care Support Services, Care Leavers, Mental Health, Rwanda, Teenage Pregnancy

(based on written questions asked by Edward Balls and answered by departments)

Public Bill Committees (sittings attended)

• Financial Mutuals Arrangements Bill Committee (1 out of n/a)
• Finance Bill Committee (12 out of n/a)
• Finance Bill Committee (8 out of n/a)
• Finance (No.2) Bill Committee (21 out of n/a)
• International Development (Reporting and Transparency) Bill Committee (1 out of n/a)
• Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill Committee (2 out of n/a)

Most recent appearances

Points of Order (25 Jan 2010) has video

“Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. I was grateful to receive the letter from the shadow Secretary of State over the weekend. I was anxious to give him a full reply and I wanted to make sure I knew the views of the Association of Chief Police Officers, which I received in my office only at 2.15 pm today. I was grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving me notice that he would ask...”

Oral Answers to Questions — Children, Schools and Families: Education Maintenance Allowance (25 Jan 2010) has video

“The pre-Budget report announced an investment of £8.2 billion in 2010-11 to fund 1.6 million places and meet our September guarantee to school leavers of a school, college or apprenticeship place. We expect to spend about £580 million on education maintenance allowances which will fund a further 80,000 places, and in 2011 we will remove the EMA bonus scheme to ensure that we can...”

Oral Answers to Questions — Children, Schools and Families: Education Maintenance Allowance (25 Jan 2010) has video

“This is rightly a devolved matter, so it is for the Administrations in Wales and Scotland to decide, but the evidence shows that EMA payments increase participation in education beyond the age of 16 for children from poorer backgrounds. Any decision to scale back funding for EMA payments would be a very retrograde step.”

More of Edward Balls's recent appearances

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Numerology

Please note that numbers do not measure quality. Also, representatives may do other things not currently covered by this site. (More about this)

• Has spoken in 17 debates in the last year — below average amongst MPs.
• Has received answers to 0 written questions in the last year — Ministers do not ask written questions.
• Is a member of 0 select committees (0 as chair).
• Replied within 2 or 3 weeks to a low number of messages sent via WriteToThem.com during 2008, according to constituents.
• Has voted in 82% of votes in parliament with this affiliation — well above average amongst MPs. (From Public Whip)
• People have made 37 annotations on this MP’s speeches — well above average amongst MPs.
• This MP's speeches, in Hansard, are readable by an average 17–18 year old, going by the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score.
• 171 people are tracking whenever this MP speaks — email me whenever Edward Balls speaks.
• Has used three-word alliterative phrases (e.g. "she sells seashells") 484 times in debates — above average amongst MPs. (Why is this here?)

Register of Members’ Interests

Register last updated: 6 Jan 2010. More about the Register

View the history of this MP's entries in the Register

Expenses

Figures in brackets are ranks. Data from parliament.uk (source). Read 2004/05 – 2008/09 and 1st quarter 2009/10 receipts.

² Regular journeys between home/constituency/Westminster: Mileage £4,277 (180th). Rail £7,019 (113th). Misc £50 (197th).

³ Regular journeys between home/constituency/Westminster: Mileage £3,043 (267th). Rail £7,783 (84th). Misc £96 (166th).

¹ Car £5,064 (141st). 3rd party £30 (47th). Rail £8,839 (52nd).