Central Suffolk & North Ipswich / data
Patrick Spencer · Independent · sitting since 04 Jul 2024 · every division, speech and committee appearance.
Since election
659days
from 04 Jul 2024
Divisions
343
of 504 possible
Attendance
68%
161 absent / paired
Whip alignment
48%
vs party majority
Speeches
0
0 debates
Written Qs
119
119 answered
Committees
0
memberships
Expenses
£161k paid
FY 2024–2025 · 83 claims
Interests
7
4 categories
A · Overview
Issue volume
Top issues by total divisions voted — engagement only, not direction.
| Issue | Volume | Votes |
|---|---|---|
| Taxation | 74 | |
| Economy | 72 | |
| Crime & Policing | 41 | |
| Employment | 38 | |
| Constitution and Democracy | 22 | |
| Education | 21 | |
| Housing | 21 | |
| Pensions | 20 |
Speech topics
Words spoken, by topic. Source: Hansard.
Speech overview unavailable.
B · Notable divisions
Free votes, rebellions and high-salience whipped votes — the moments that distinguish this MP from the party machine. The full division-by-division record will follow once the per-MP archive is wired.
| Date | Division | Whip | MP voted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 02 Mar 2026 | Representation of the People Bill: Reasoned AmendmentA vote on a 'reasoned amendment' to block the Representation of the People Bill from proceeding to its next stage. The Bill, introduced by t… | Rebelled | Aye |
| 27 Jan 2026 | Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill: Amendment 1A vote on an opposition amendment to the Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill, which sought to give priority to British citizens in UK fou… | Rebelled | Aye |
| 03 Dec 2025 | Pension Schemes Bill: Amendment 16A vote on a Conservative opposition amendment (Amendment 16) to the Pension Schemes Bill. The amendment was proposed by the shadow Treasury … | Rebelled | Aye |
C · Speeches
| Date | Contribution | Words |
|---|---|---|
| 04 Mar 2025 | Education Committee — Oral Evidence (HC 731)Thank you, Professor Peck, for coming here and putting yourself forward for the role. My question is about freedom of speech on campuses. The Office for Students has always had the… | 79 |
| 04 Mar 2025 | Education Committee — Oral Evidence (HC 731)And you would come down on that university if it did not pursue it as you saw that the legislation sees fit. | 22 |
| 04 Mar 2025 | Education Committee — Oral Evidence (HC 731)I have one follow-up question, and please understand that it comes from experience on campuses in America. What would you say and what would the OfS do if you woke up one morning a… | 66 |
| 27 Feb 2025 | Rural CrimeThe hon. Gentleman is making an interesting point about fly-tipping as an issue of organised crime. I suppose that Opposition Members would also include casual littering in the sam… CrimeAgricultureLocal Government | 61 |
| 27 Feb 2025 | Topical QuestionsWe heard about the financial crisis facing football earlier, but there is also one facing Rugby Football Union. No one likes the RFU, not least because of the whopping bonuses that… Culture CommunityEconomy Jobs | 58 |
| 27 Feb 2025 | Rural CrimeIt is wonderful to see you in your place, Ms McVey. I credit the hon. Member for North Cornwall (Ben Maguire) for securing this debate. I represent a predominantly rural constituen… CrimeAgricultureLocal Government | 706 |
| 25 Feb 2025 | Education Committee — Oral Evidence (HC 492)I will take that. Any other answers to that question? No. | 11 |
| 25 Feb 2025 | Education Committee — Oral Evidence (HC 492)Why do you think that is? It seems to be a really good opportunity. The whole point about intervention—my understanding, and you alluded to this in the first thing you said—is that… | 58 |
| 25 Feb 2025 | SEND Education SupportFor those who do not know, the hon. Lady is my constituency neighbour in Suffolk, and I think she is doing a fantastic job of highlighting the complexities faced by people such as … EducationHealthSocial Care | 106 |
| 25 Feb 2025 | Education Committee — Oral Evidence (HC 492)I would be more interested if you have anything on the early help programmes. You mentioned social and emotional learning. They are class-based interventions. I am less interested … | 69 |
| 25 Feb 2025 | Education Committee — Oral Evidence (HC 492)Dr Luke Sibieta, has the IFS done any analysis on savings later down the system from early help spending? | 19 |
| 25 Feb 2025 | Education Committee — Oral Evidence (HC 492)A quick follow-up question. Agree/disagree: do you think the current system where you have a notional schools grant next to basically high needs funding associated with EHCP is in … | 31 |
| 24 Feb 2025 | Rural CrimePolicing in rural areas is increasingly complex, but rural constabularies receive much less funding than inner-city ones. I know the Minister will jump on this opportunity to compl… CrimeAgricultureLocal Government | 61 |
| 06 Feb 2025 | Attorney General's Office: Transparency and Conflicts of Interest10. What steps she is taking to manage conflicts of interest in the Attorney General’s Office. Mp PerformanceFiscal Policy | 16 |
| 06 Feb 2025 | Water Company Executives: AccountabilityEssex and Suffolk Water has issued a moratorium on commercial businesses pulling water out of the ground, which it says is due to the Environment Agency. The problem is that water-… UtilitiesEnvironmentCost Of Living | 88 |
D · Written questions
Top departments
| Department | Questions | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | 38 | 31.9% |
| Home Office | 20 | 16.8% |
| Department for Education | 14 | 11.8% |
| Department of Health and Social Care | 11 | 9.2% |
| Treasury | 8 | 6.7% |
| Department for Transport | 8 | 6.7% |
| Department for Science, Innovation and Technology | 5 | 4.2% |
| Department for Energy Security and Net Zero | 4 | 3.4% |
Most recent
| Date | Department | Question | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Mar 2026 | Department for Transport | To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the local highways maintenance funding formula for rural road networks. | Answered |
| 10 Mar 2026 | Department for Transport | To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has made an estimate of pothole a) reports and b) repairs per capita in i) urban and ii) rural local authorities in the last 12 months. | Answered |
| 10 Mar 2026 | Department for Transport | To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many potholes were reported per mile of road in (a) rural and (b) urban local authorities in England in the last three years. | Answered |
| 10 Mar 2026 | Department for Transport | To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate her Department has made of the average cost of maintaining a mile of road in (a) rural and (b) urban local authorities. | Answered |
| 10 Mar 2026 | Department for Transport | To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of local highways maintenance funding allocated by her Department has been received by predominantly rural local authorities in each of the last three years. | Answered |
| 10 Mar 2026 | Department for Transport | To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average pothole funding per mile of road is in each local authority. | Answered |
| 02 Mar 2026 | Home Office | To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had any meetings with BASC, has any future meetings with BASC and any other organisations planned, on the issue of combining section 1 and 2 licenses for shotguns. | Answered |
| 02 Mar 2026 | Home Office | To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has evaluated the cost to local police constabulary of changes to licensing requirements around shotgun ownership. | Answered |
| 27 Feb 2026 | Home Office | To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of combining section 1 and 2 licenses on public safety. | Answered |
| 26 Feb 2026 | Home Office | To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what his timetable is for the consultation on Section 1 and Section 2 licensing of shotguns and firearms. | Answered |
| 10 Feb 2026 | Department of Health and Social Care | To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will set out the agreed definition of being housebound that is used by the NHS; and under what circumstances is a person's status from being classed as housebound. | Answered |
| 09 Feb 2026 | Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what data her Department holds on the number of farms that have become (a) insolvent and (b) ceased trading in the last three years. | Answered |
| 06 Feb 2026 | Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of imported agricultural produce on farm-gate prices for British farmers. | Answered |
| 03 Feb 2026 | Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to protect British agricultural produce from foreign competition. | Answered |
| 03 Feb 2026 | Home Office | To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with Suffolk County Council on the (a) social and (b) economic impact of housing (i) refugees and (ii) asylum seekers on the local area. | Answered |
E · Committees
No committee memberships recorded for this MP.
F · Expenses
Every business-cost claim reimbursed by IPSA in the current financial year, grouped by category. “Aggregated” rows are IPSA’s own year-end totals for cost types like payroll and rent that aren’t itemised claim-by-claim.
Category breakdown
| Category | Claims | Paid (£) | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Office Costs | 72 | 23,610 | 14.7% |
| Staffing | 3 | 129,333 | 80.6% |
| MP Travel | 0 | 553 | 0.3% |
| Staff Travel | 0 | 7,062 | 4.4% |
Top itemised cost types
| Cost type | Category | Claims | Paid (£) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rent | Office Costs | 9 | 6,930 |
| Stationery & printing | Office Costs | 28 | 5,469 |
| Pooled staffing services | Office Costs | 1 | 5,265 |
| Software & applications | Office Costs | 2 | 2,040 |
| Equipment - purchase | Office Costs | 4 | 1,459 |
| Bought-in services | Staffing | 2 | 927 |
| Venue hire, meetings & surgeries | Office Costs | 7 | 881 |
| Training - staff | Staffing | 1 | 500 |
| Cleaning services | Office Costs | 5 | 450 |
| Advertising and contact cards | Office Costs | 3 | 426 |
| Landline phone & internet - rental & usage | Office Costs | 7 | 397 |
| Utilities | Office Costs | 6 | 294 |
Most recent
| Date | Category | Description | Paid (£) | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 06 Jun 2025 | Office Costs Venue hire, meetings & surgeries | Repayment of 60291453 | 0 | Repaid |
| 01 Apr 2025 | Office Costs Rent | Rent | 990 | Paid |
| 31 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Landline phone & internet - rental & usage | Landline | 60 | Paid |
| 31 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Utilities | Electricity | 57 | Paid |
| 31 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Rent | 2024-25 [***] rent pro-rata | -990 | Paid |
| 28 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Venue hire, meetings & surgeries | Venue hire, meetings & surgeries | 17 | Paid |
| 26 Mar 2025 | Staffing Bought-in services | Professional & consultancy | 576 | Paid |
| 25 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Stationery & printing | Stationery Constituency Office - guillotine, laminating machine, name badges and conference desk name plaques, flush folders | 531 | Paid |
| 25 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Stationery & printing | Stationery Westminister Office - folders, pens, project tabs, | 136 | Paid |
| 25 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Stationery & printing | WWW.STAMPS4U.CO.UK [200011725-7867] | 78 | Paid |
| 25 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Venue hire, meetings & surgeries | Venue hire, meetings & surgeries | 45 | Paid |
| 25 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Venue hire, meetings & surgeries | Venue hire, meetings & surgeries | 35 | Paid |
| 25 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Venue hire, meetings & surgeries | Venue hire, meetings & surgeries | 24 | Paid |
| 20 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Stationery & printing | Banner March 2025 | 300 | Paid |
| 20 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Stationery & printing | Banner March 2025 | 220 | Paid |
| 20 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Stationery & printing | Banner March 2025 | 138 | Paid |
| 17 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Venue hire, meetings & surgeries | Venue hire, meetings & surgeries | 715 | Paid |
| 04 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Rent | Rent | 990 | Paid |
| 28 Feb 2025 | Office Costs Landline phone & internet - rental & usage | Landline & internet package | 121 | Paid |
| 28 Feb 2025 | Office Costs Cleaning services | Contract Cleaning of Offices [200011803-524] | 90 | Paid |
G · Register of interests
Every financial interest declared by the MP, grouped under the Register’s official categories. Retracted entries are hidden but counted above.
6. Land and property portfolio with a value over £100,000 and where indicated, the portfolio provides a rental income of over £10,000 a year2 entries
16 Aug 2024
Type of land/property: Residential property (House)
Number of properties: 1
Location: Suffolk
Rental income: Yes
(Registered 17 July 2024)
16 Aug 2024
Type of land/property: Residential property (House)
Number of properties: 1
Location: London
(Registered 11 July 2024)
7. (i) Shareholdings: over 15% of issued share capital1 entry
16 Aug 2024
Name of company or organisation: Suffolk Ventures Limited
Nature of business: The company was set up to manage the marketing and rental income associated with property in Suffolk.
(Registered 11 July 2024)
7. (ii) Other shareholdings, valued at more than £70,0001 entry
16 Aug 2024
Name of company or organisation: IPGL
Nature of business: Investment holdings company
(Registered 11 July 2024)
8. Miscellaneous3 entries
16 Aug 2024
Unpaid Director, Suffolk Ventures Limited.
(Registered 22 July 2024)
16 Aug 2024
Unpaid Director, Blue WV Limited.
(Registered 22 July 2024)
16 Aug 2024
Governor, Hollesley Waldringfield Partnership. This is an unpaid role.
(Registered 17 July 2024)
H · Ward results
Most recent winning councillor in each ward — 15 wards, 21 councillor seats.
| Ward | Councillor | Party | Votes | Election |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battisford Ringshall | Dan Pratt | Green Party of England and Wales | 608 | 04 May 2023 |
| Blakenham | Adrienne Joyce Marriott | Liberal Democrats | 434 | 04 May 2023 |
| Bramford | James Caston | Conservative and Unionist Party | 395 | 04 May 2023 |
| Carlford Fynn Valley | Colin Stanley Hedgley | Conservative and Unionist Party | 1,272 | 04 May 2023 |
| Carlford Fynn Valley | Daniel Clery | Green Party of England and Wales | 1,388 | 04 May 2023 |
| Castle Hill | Ian Stuart Fisher | Conservative and Unionist Party | 827 | 02 May 2024 |
| Claydon Barham | Dave Penny | Green Party of England and Wales | 708 | 04 May 2023 |
| Claydon Barham | John Charles Whitehead | Conservative and Unionist Party | 654 | 04 May 2023 |
| Debenham | Teresa Davis | Green Party of England and Wales | 684 | 04 May 2023 |
| Framlingham | Owen John Grey | Liberal Democrats | 1,283 | 04 May 2023 |
| Framlingham | Vince Langdon-Morris | Green Party of England and Wales | 1,652 | 04 May 2023 |
| Kesgrave | Debbie McCallum | Conservative and Unionist Party | 1,958 | 04 May 2023 |
| Kesgrave | Geoff Lynch | Conservative and Unionist Party | 1,261 | 04 May 2023 |
| Kesgrave | Stuart Lawson | Conservative and Unionist Party | 1,367 | 04 May 2023 |
| Needham Market | Ross Piper | Green Party of England and Wales | 943 | 04 May 2023 |
| Needham Market | Terry Lyn Lawrence | Liberal Democrats | 673 | 04 May 2023 |
| Rushmere St Andrew | Deborah Julie Dean | Conservative and Unionist Party | 582 | 04 May 2023 |
| Stonham | Nick Hardingham | Green Party of England and Wales | 615 | 04 May 2023 |
| Whitehouse | Tracy Anne Grant | Labour Party | 754 | 02 May 2024 |
| Whitton | Patricia Bruce-Browne | Labour Party | 812 | 02 May 2024 |
| Wickham Market | Sally Amanda Noble | Green Party of England and Wales | 930 | 04 May 2023 |
I · Demographics
| Indicator | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Population (2021 Census) | 97,982 | Electorate 73,046 (2024) |
| Median age | 46 | years |
| Degree-educated | 30.5% | level 4 or above |
| Ethnicity (White) | 93.1% | 2021 Census ethnic group |
| Owner-occupied | 75.0% | households |
| Private-rented | 13.9% | households |
| Social-rented | 11.1% | households |
| Employment rate | 58.0% | 16-64 in work |
J · Public spending
HMT publishes headline spending identifiable by region in PESA. Constituency-level capital allocations (Levelling-Up Fund, Towns Fund, UKSPF, transport capital, BEIS R&D) are published as separate departmental datasets. We are evaluating the cleanest reconciliation for a per-constituency view.