Lord Chris Holmes, House of Lords, UK Parliament

Lord Chris Holmes has been a Member of the House of Lords since 2013.

His core policy focus is on digital technology for the public good, with a particular interest in technologies such as AI and Blockchain, and areas of application such as: FinTech, GovTech, RegTech, Assistive Tech and EdTech. Lord Holmes writes regularly on these and related topics for Computer Weekly and Finextra. Other key policy areas are social mobility, employment, education, skills and culture, media and sports.

Lord Holmes is a firm believer in the benefits of diversity and inclusion and has campaigned for more accessible environments for disabled people. He has also advised the government on diversity and inclusion including conducting an independent review on improving access to public appointments for the Cabinet Office, and under his own auspices a two year on Progress Report to assess how far the department had got with implementation.

Technology and inclusion are the ‘golden threads’ that run through everything he does. The opportunity provided by emerging technologies and the value of genuine inclusion provide both the practical and philosophical underpins to his work across the public and private sectors.

He also used to swim and has been described as ‘Britain’s most successful Paralympic swimmer’ winning a total of 9 gold, 5 silvers and 1 bronze. He was honoured to continue his involvement with the Games as Director of Paralympic Integration, responsible for the organisation of the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.