Dame Ann Limb has become the first former further education college principal to be appointed to the House of Lords.
Downing Street announced this afternoon the life peerage has been approved by The King on the recommendation of the prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer.
Limb will sit on the Labour benches and will take the title Baroness Limb of Moss Side in the city of Manchester and the county of Lancashire.
Limb, who grew up in Moss Side and currently chairs The Manchester College, said: “Having worked in and championed FE colleges for half a century, the cosmos has conspired to put me in the right place at the right time. Improving skills levels of all young people and adults is critical to strengthening the nation’s economic, cultural and social fabric. I want to play a role in making this happen.”
She led Milton Keynes College for a decade from 1986 before moving to Cambridge Regional College from 1996 to 2001, and led Learndirect in its formative years until 2005.
She is currently chair of The King’s Foundation, the City & Guilds Foundation, Lloyds Bank Foundation and the Lifelong Education Institute. Limb is also pro chancellor of the University of Surrey and founder and vice president of the Helena Kennedy Foundation, a charity that has supported thousands of students to access higher education. Limb made headlines as the first woman to chair The Scouts and City & Guilds.
Queen Elizabeth II made Limb a dame in her 2022 birthday honours for services to young people and philanthropy.
Limb said: “I have not spent my career believing I would ever be offered a life peerage. However, the opportunity to serve as a life peer in the House of Lords is an experience my parents and grandparents would have deemed both inconceivable and incomprehensible.
“My decision to accept this honour follows a period of personal reflection and discernment over the last two months. In this, I have been sustained by prayer and upheld by my life partner, Maggie Cook. As a Quaker, and as a peer, I shall be guided in all decisions I take by my faith, values, conscience, and independence of mind.”
An outspoken advocate for the sector and its students, Limb has championed inclusion, social justice and leadership. She recently spearheaded the historic sale of City & Guilds to PeopleCert, securing ongoing “significant investment” in the now independent City & Guilds Foundation.
Among Starmer’s other appointments for life peerages was Sir Michael Barber, who was a skills policy implementation adviser under the last government, and Russell Hobby, the former CEO of Teach First and former general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers.
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