Elspeth Howe was appointed to the House of Lords in 2001. She has worked on numerous public bodies, currently serving as Vice-president of the Institute of Business Ethics Advisory Council (2002-). Between 1993 and 99 she chaired the Broadcasting Standards Commission. Howe has also been involved in the areas of employment and equal opportunity, serving on the Board of Business in the Community (1990-98), the Department of Employment’s Working Group on Women’s Issues (1992-97), as President of the Federation of Recruitment and Employment Services (1980-1994), and as Deputy-chairman of the Equal Opportunities Commission (1975-79). She also has an interest in criminal justice, particularly juvenile crime, and served as chairman of an Inner London Juvenile Court for 20 years. Howe has been married to former Tory Foreign Secretary Lord Howe for over forty years. She was born in 1932.