About John

John was appointed as Minister of State at the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) on 29 June 2007.

He was appointed Financial Secretary to the Treasury in May 2005. He had previously served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Adults Skills at the Department for Education and Skills and, prior to that, as a member of the Education and Employment Select Committee and Parliamentary Private Secretary to Chancellor of the Exchequer. He has been Member of Parliament for Wentworth since 1997.

John was born in Wakefield and educated at Lady Lumley's Comprehensive School, Pickering, and at Peter's School in York and Christ's College, Cambridge. He worked in the voluntary sector from 1984 to 1990 with the Royal National Institute for the Deaf, the Royal Association for Disability and Rehabilitation and MIND campaigning to improve rights and services for disabled people.

From 1990 to 1994 John worked in communications for Issue Communications, a PR company, and the MSF Union. He was Campaigns Director for the TUC from 1994 to 1997. He has also been a part time tutor at the Open University's Business School.

John is married with one child.

To find out more about the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), please click here.