Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for the Lords)

Lord Markham CBE

Biography

Lord Markham was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health and Social Care on 22 September 2022.

He has extensive experience across the public, private and voluntary sectors. Previously he was Lead NED at DWP, Lead NED for MHCLG and Deputy Leader of Westminster Council.

Lord Markham is also a founder of Safe Haven, a social enterprise charity that provides homes for the homeless in London after raising £33 million through an innovative funding model which effectively “securitises housing benefit” thereby requiring no government grants or donations.

Lord Markham has extensive private sector experience with roles including ITV Strategy Director, where he developed the concept of Freeview with the BBC and was in charge of the Carlton and Granada merger. Previously he was CFO of Laura Ashley and CEO of Top Up TV which was the World’s first successful Digital Terrestrial pay TV company which he established on the back of venture capital.

Lord Markham has also served as the Chair of LCR, the part of DfT that specialises in driving regeneration around railways such as Kings Cross and Manchester Mayfield. Under Lord Markham’s leadership, LCR majored on provisioning railway land for housing, making it equivalent to a UK top 10 housebuilder.

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for the Lords)

The Minister for the Lords is responsible for:

  • NHS capital, land and estates:
    • New Hospital Programme and hospital upgrades
    • reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC)
    • energy resilience and Net Zero Strategy
    • car parking
  • innovation
  • data and technology:
    • NHS IT and data to support innovation
    • security management and cyber security
    • Federated Data Platform
  • NHS finance:
    • procurement
    • cost recovery and immigration health surcharge
    • counter fraud
  • Lords’ business
  • sponsorship of:
    • NHS Counter Fraud Authority
    • NHS Property Services
    • NHS Business Services Authority

More about this role

Department of Health and Social Care

Previous roles in government

  • Non-executive board member
  • Lead Non-Executive Director
  • Non-Executive Director