Jane Antoinette Scott, Baroness Scott of Bybrook, (born 13 June 1947) is a British Conservative politician who served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Social Housing and Faith from September 2022 to July 2024. She is a member of the House of Lords, was a Government whip from 2020 to 2022, and is currently a Shadow Minister for Housing, Communities and Local Government. She was leader of Wiltshire County Council between 2003 and 2009 and then of its successor the Wiltshire Council unitary authority from June 2009 until July 2019, when she stood down, also retiring as a councillor in February 2020.

Early life Born on 13 June 1947, Scott was educated at the Convent of Jesus and Mary High School in Harlesden, Brent, London, and then took a diploma in dairying at the Lancashire College of Agriculture, later renamed as Myerscough College.Peter Hetherington, Leader of Wiltshire Council in The Guardian dated 28 May 2013, online at the guardian.com, accessed 16 November 2014.

Career After college, Scott worked in the dairy industry, on farms and also in public relations work, marketing and lecturing.Wiltshire County Council, Clerk's Department page at nationalarchives.gov.uk She moved to Wiltshire in the 1990s and in 1995 was elected to North Wiltshire District Council. Two years later, she was elected to Wiltshire County Council, and in 2001 became chairman of its Education Committee, then cabinet member for children, education and libraries, and finally Leader in 2003.PR 1220 Wiltshire County Council elects a new leader (Tuesday 15 July 2003) at wiltshire.gov.ukMrs Jane Scott at northwilts-communityweb.com In the county council, she represented the Kington division,Kington Electoral Division Mrs Jane Scott Leader of the Council and Conservative Group Leader at wiltshire.gov.uk and in the district council Kington St Michael.Cllr Jane Scott at northwiltsconservatives.com

When chosen to lead Wiltshire County Council in 2003, Scott said: "Being elected leader of the council is a great honour and I intend to devote all of my time and energies to my new responsibilities." For some years, she was a member of the Local Government Association's General Assembly and for a time her name was on the Conservative Party 'A' List of parliamentary candidates.Who is on the A-list? at conservativehome web site As leader of the county council, from 2007 she successfully argued for a unitary authority for Wiltshire, which would mean the demise of the county's four existing District Councils, facing determined opposition from leading Conservatives, including Eric Pickles and Michael Ancram.

In 2009, in the first elections to a new Wiltshire Council, the unitary authority created by merging the county and its districts, she was elected for a new division called "By Brook". This includes the parishes of Biddestone (with Slaughterford), Castle Combe, Hullavington, Grittleton, Nettleton, North Wraxall, and Yatton Keynell.Order map no. 1 of Wiltshire Boundary Review 2008 at Electoral Commission website The Conservatives won 62 of the 98 seats available, and a few days later Scott was elected as the first Leader of the new unitary authority.The Municipal year book and public services directory, volume 2 (Municipal Journal, 2010), p. 1346

Scott was appointed OBE in the 2010 New Year Honours for services to local government. On 27 August 2015 it was announced that on the nomination of David Cameron she was to be created a life peer, giving her a seat in the House of Lords. She was created Baroness Scott of Bybrook, of Upper Wraxall in the County of Wiltshire, on the afternoon of 8 October. The title refers to the Bybrook River, after which Scott's electoral division of Wiltshire was named.

She was a member of the National Youth Agency and the Wiltshire and Swindon Learning Skills Council. chair of the Wiltshire Strategic Board,Wiltshire launches new community safety and drugs strategy (29 June 2005) and a Local Education Authority Inspector for Ofsted.

In May 2019, Scott announced that she was standing down as Leader of Wiltshire Council with effect from July,"Wiltshire Council leader Jane Scott to step down from role" in Wiltshire Times online dated 21 May 2019 and on 10 July 2019, Phillip Whitehead took over from her.GABRIELLA JOZWIAK Baroness Scott to stand down dated 10 July 2019, at lgcplus.com, accessed 11 July 2019 She resigned as a councillor in February 2020, and in March Nick Botterill, a former Leader of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham was selected as the new Conservative candidate for By Brook.Matthew McLaughlin, "By-election: Meet the two By Brook candidates", wiltshiretimes.co.uk, 17 March 2020, accessed 25 April 2020 He was elected at the 2021 elections.Elise Britten, Latest news at the Wiltshire Council election counts - live updates, Swindon Advertiser, 8 May 2021, accessed 8 May 2021By Brook, elections.wiltshire.gov.uk, 8 May 2021, accessed 8 May 2021

Baroness Scott of Bybrook piloted many key government Bills in the 2022-23 Session of Parliament, including the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023, and the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023, and was the Government spokesperson on a number of successful Private Members' Bills in that Session.

Private life In 1986 Scott married Ronald J. Scott, an executive of the International Monetary Fund.Councillors pay increase defended dated 3 February 2014 in Valley News online They had three children, and until 2013 lived near Chippenham on a livestock farm. After a severe fall from a horse in the 1980s, she took up breeding Caspian horses,History & Fleur Scott at caspian-stud.webnode.se, accessed 26 July 2016 and in 1999 her occupation was "horse stud owner". She and her daughter Fleur, a vet, have been active members of the Caspian Breed Society.Jane Antoinette Scott at checkcompany.co.uk, accessed 26 July 2016

See also

1997 Wiltshire County Council election 2001 Wiltshire County Council election 2005 Wiltshire County Council election 2009 Wiltshire Council election 2013 Wiltshire Council election 2017 Wiltshire Council election

Notes

References

External links

Baroness Scott of Bybrook at parliament.uk