Margaret Patricia Munn (born 1959) works in governance and equality. Currently Interim Chair of the Board of Governors at Sheffield Hallam University , Senior Independent Director of the Phone-paid Services Authority (PSA) and Chair of the PeerTalk charity . She is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute .
An international governance consultant with a focus on parliamentary processes, political party development, gender mainstreaming and women's leadership. She works with organisations such as Global Partners Governance, Inter-Parliamentary Union, OECD, United Nations Development Programme, and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE).
She was a British politician and served as a Labour MP for Sheffield Heeley from 2001 to 2015.
Before Parliament
Munn went to Mundella Primary School on Mundella Place in Norton Woodseats, then the comprehensive Rowlinson School on Dyche Lane in Jordanthorpe, Sheffield from 1970 to 1977, (the site became Norton College Campus of Sheffield College, but the old school transferred to Meadowhead School across the road in 1988).
She studied languages at the University of York receiving a BA (Hons) in 1981, later gaining an MA in social work at the University of Nottingham in 1986. Munn later gained a Certificate and Diploma in Management Studies from the Open University and in 2012 became the first MP to be awarded Chartered Manager status by the Chartered Management Institute, subsequently becoming a Fellow of the Institute.
She worked as a social work Assistant for Berkshire County Council from 1981–84; as a social worker for Nottinghamshire County Council from 1986–90, becoming a senior social worker from 1990–92; as a district manager for Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council Social Services from 1992–96, as a child services manager for Wakefield Metropolitan Borough Council from 1996–99; and assistant director of City of York Council Children's Services from 1999–2000.
She joined the Labour Party at fifteen, and was a councillor on Nottingham City Council from 1987–91. Munn was on the Barnsley Regional Board of the Co-operative Group, the UK's largest co-operative society, and the management committee of Wortley Hall, a national co-operative conference centre. She was elected President of the 2006 Co-operative Congress She is a member of USDAW, the Labour Party and the Co-operative Party.
Member of Parliament
Munn was Patron of Heeley City Farm, Patron of Home-Start Sheffield and Patron of Sheffield Young Carers.
As a backbencher, Munn served on the Education and Skills Select Committee 2001–03, and the Procedure Select Committee 2001–02. She was closely involved with the Adoption and Children Act 2002; changing national regulations to allow Local Authorities to register body-piercing studios; supporting small business, including co-operative and mutual enterprises; encouraging women to go into business; and House of Lord's reform. She also served as Chair of the Women's Committee of the Parliamentary Labour Party (2003–05) and Chair of the Parliamentary Co-operative Group (2004–05). She has been Vice-Chair of Labour Friends of Israel, a vice-chair of the group Progress and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Voice group.
Munn served as Parliamentary Private Secretary at the Department for Education and Skills from July 2003 to 2004 and then continuing to be a PPS at the department attached to the Minister of State for Education until May 2005. She was Minister for Women and Equality, based at the Department for Communities and Local Government from May 2005 until June 2007. Munn introduced civil partnerships in the UK in December 2005. She was responsible for the Equality Act 2006, and involved in the Work and Families Act 2006. She established the Equality and Human Rights Commission). For part of this time she was not able to take a ministerial salary, as the maximum number of paid ministers had been appointed. This was criticised by the opposition.
Munn argued strongly in support of the coalition government's plan to participate in military strikes against the Syrian Government in the wake of a chemical-weapons attack at Ghouta in the vote on 29 August 2013, contrary to the Labour Party's position. She was one of four Labour MPs who did not vote against the government motion, which the government lost. Ultimately a negotiated agreement was reached to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons.