Dame Sylvia Lloyd Heal is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Halesowen and Rowley Regis from 1997 to 2010, having previously been the MP for Mid Staffordshire from 1990 to 1992.
11 Facts About Sylvia Heal
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Sylvia Heal served as the First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means and a Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons from 2000 until she stood down from Parliament in 2010.
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Sylvia Heal worked as a medical records clerk at the Chester Royal Infirmary for six years from 1957.
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Sylvia Heal was a member of the Young Socialists National Council for four years from 1960, and was appointed as a Justice of the Peace in 1973.
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Sylvia Heal was first elected to the House of Commons at the Mid Staffordshire by-election on 22 March 1990, which followed the suicide of the sitting Conservative MP John Heddle.
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Sylvia Heal lost the Mid Staffordshire seat two years later at the 1992 general election when she was ousted by the Conservative Michael Fabricant by a majority of 6,236.
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Sylvia Heal was re-elected to Parliament at the 1997 general election for the new West Midlands seat of Halesowen and Rowley Regis with a majority of 10,337 and remained the MP in the 2001 and 2005 general elections.
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Sylvia Heal was promoted to the front bench by Neil Kinnock in 1991 as a spokeswoman for health and women.
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Sylvia Heal was appointed as a Deputy Speaker of the House in 2000, in which capacity she remained until her retirement from politics.
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Sylvia Heal announced on 9 March 2010 that she would be stepping down at the 2010 general election, and was succeeded by Conservative James Morris as MP.
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Sylvia Heal was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2022 New Year Honours for political and public service.