Baroness Catherine Ashton of Upholland MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Sure Start

In July 2002 Catherine Ashton took on this new portfolio within DfES and DWP. Prior to that from June 2001, Catherine Ashton served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for School Standards. Catherine Ashton was the Chairman of East and North Hertfordshire Health Authority from 1988 and then became Chairman of the new Hertfordshire Health Authority until her first Ministerial appointment. Baroness Ashton of Upholland, of St Albans in Hertfordshire, was awarded a life peerage in 1999.

Catherine Ashton was educated at Upholland Grammar School. She then studied at Bedford College and was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of London in 1977.

In her early career, Catherine Ashton worked in the voluntary, private and public sectors before becoming a Director of Business in the Community (BITC) from 1983-89, where she helped to establish the Employers Forum in Disability and Opportunity 2000. She was seconded from the London regeneration organisation, London First, to the Home Office to contribute to its work on the voluntary sector.
Catherine Ashton is married and has brought up three stepchildren and has a 13-year-old son and a 11-year-old daughter. She was a governor of Spencer Junior School in St Albans for five years, before becoming Chair of Governors for the last two years until her first Ministerial posting.