APPG: Chair, Vice Chairs, Officers & Members
The APPG for Blockchain Technologies is made up of cross-party MPs and Lords who bring a broad range of expertise from sectors including cybersecurity, DLT for public good, research and education, workforce planning, financial services, foreign affairs, digital innovation, public policy, international trade, culture, arts and emerging technologies. The inaugural meeting of the APPG was held in September 2023.
Natalie Elphicke OBE MP
Natalie Cecilia Elphicke OBE is a British Conservative Party politician and a finance lawyer. She studied law (LLB Hons) at the University of Kent in Canterbury, was called to the Bar at Lincoln’s Inn, and admitted as a solicitor in 1999. She worked as a lawyer for the Inland Revenue from 1995 to 1997. She received an OBE in the 2015 Queen’s Birthday Honours for her services to housing. Prior to her parliamentary career, Elphicke was an independent member of the Audit and Risk Committee at the Department for Education from 2016 to 2019.
In December 2019, Elphicke was elected as the first female MP for the Dover & Deal constituency. In Parliament, she is particularly interested in Blockchain and Web3 economy, digital technologies and industry growth, e-commerce, trade and ports, and the UK’s border security. She has also served as a Parliamentary Private Secretary (Ministerial Aide) at the Ministry of Defence, MHCLG (now Department for Levelling Up and Communities).
Lord McNicol of West Kilbride
Lord McNicol is a Labour Party Life Peer and Member of the UK House of Lords. He is a Vice Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Fair Business Banking, Financial Technology, Media Literacy and Trade & Investment APPGs.
Lord Goddard of Stockport
David Goddard, Baron Goddard of Stockport, is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He was made a life peer on 15 September 2014. A gas engineer by trade, he was an elected member of Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council from 1990 until 2012, and was elected again in 2014 before standing down in 2018. He was leader of the council between 2007 and 2012.
Lord Goddard is also a Vice Chair of APPGs on Digital Skills and Internet, Communications & Technology.
Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Lord Vaizey was appointed to the UK House of Lords in September 2020, where he sits as a Conservative Life-Peer and a member of the Communications and Digital Committee.
He was the Member of Parliament between 2005 and 2019. He served as the UK Government Culture and Digital Minister from 2010-16, and is the longest-serving Minister in that role. In his role as digital minister, Ed was responsible for the roll out of the successful rural broadband programme to more than 4 million homes, the introduction of 4G, and tax credits for film, television, animation and video games, which have helped make the creative industries the fastest growing part of the UK economy. In addition, he played a key role in putting coding in the national curriculum for schools, and in attracting inward investment to the UK tech economy.
Lord Vaizey is a member of APPGs on Art, Craft and Design in Education, Commercial Radio, Creative Diversity, Crypto and Digital Assets, Design and Innovation, National Trust, Performing Arts Education and Training, Video Games and Esports.
The Rt Hon Alun Cairns MP
Alun Cairns is a Welsh Conservative Party politician serving as the member of Parliament for Vale of Glamorgan since 2010. He served as Secretary of State for Wales from 2016 to 2019.
Mr Cairns is the Chair of UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Trade & Investment as well as Energy Security. He is the Vice Chair of APPGs on Trans-Atlantic Trade, UK Freight & Logistics, Foreign Affairs, as well as an Officer of APPGs on Broadband and Digital Communication and Cybersecurity.
Jo Gideon MP
Joanna Mary Gideon is a British Conservative Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Stoke-on-Trent Central constituency since 2019.
Gideon is the Chair of All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Social Enterprise, Youth Affairs, and Charities and Volunteering, as well as the Vice Chair of APPGs on BBC, Women and Enterprise, Food & Health, Waterways, and Small and Micro-Business.
The Lord Lucas
Ralph Matthew Palmer, 12th Baron Lucas, addressed formally as Lord Lucas, is a Conservative member of the House of Lords since 1992.
Lord Lucas is a Vice Chair of All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Energy Costs, Independent Education, and Modernising Employment, and an Officer of the APPG on Digital Skills.
Dr Lisa Cameron MP
Dr Cameron is the Scottish National Party MP for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow, and has been an MP continuously since 7 May 2015.
She is the Chair of APPGs on Inclusive Entrepreneurship, Crypto & Digital Assets, New Towns, Health and Foreign Affairs and Psychology.
Disclaimer:
All-Party Parliamentary Groups are informal groups of Members of both Houses with a common interest in particular issues. The views expressed by the Secretariat (The BBA) are those of the group and its Advisory Board, and not necessarily reflect the official position of the UK Government or the Parliamentarian, unless otherwise explicitly stated.
