Personality of the Week - 28th April to 2nd May, 2011

Helen Grant

Helen Grant (born 28 September 1961) is a British lawyer and Conservative Party politician. She is the current Member of Parliament for Maidstone and The Weald in Kent. She was elected at the 2010 general election. Grant was the first black female to be selected to defend a Tory seat and her election made her the Conservatives' first female Black British MP.

Born in London to an English mother and Nigerian father, Helen Grant was brought up on the Raffles council estate in Carlisle for much of her early childhood. She quickly showed sporting talent, becoming captain of the school tennis and hockey teams, and representing the County in Hockey, Tennis, Athletics, and Cross-Country. She later became under-16 Judo Champion in North of England and Southern Scotland.

Helen moved on to obtain a law degree at the University of Hull, undertook solicitors' finals at the College of Law in Guildford and qualified as a solicitor in 1988. Helen is married with two sons. She lives in Marden in Kent and in Kingswood, Surrey, and enjoys tennis, movies, major sporting events and family life.

In 1996 Helen set up Grants Solicitors, a specialist firm focused on dealing with the problems of family breakdown. The practice has acted for over 14,000 clients since the outset and currently employs around 20 people. Perhaps uniquely the firm operates free weekly outreach and advice services in multiple locations across South London, Surrey and West Kent through its own dedicated unit called DVLAAN (Domestic Violence Legal Advice and Assistance Network www.dvlaan.com) which deals with the multiple issues relating to Domestic Violence.

It is also one of very few law firms to offer specialist advice in welfare benefits and debt as well as help for victims of racial, ethnic, homophobic and religious hate. Children form a significant proportion of the work too, which over the years has given Helen a deep understanding of the many problems relating to the health, well-being and behaviour of children within their families and as members of the community generally. The practice is now managed by Helen's husband, Simon.

Helen was a non-executive director of the Croydon NHS Primary Care Trust from January 2005 until retiring in March 2007 to concentrate on becoming an MP. Her role at the Trust involved supervising and overseeing the delivery of integrated healthcare for the community, holding to account the professionally lead executive and helping to ensure best use of financial resources to maximise benefits for patients. Her other roles include being the Vice Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for the Armed Forces, Army Division, President of the Board of Trustees for Maidstone Museums' Foundation, Patron of Tomorrow's People, Maidstone Region, Patron of the Maidstone Rivers Users Association, Honorary Vice-President of the Maidstone MENCAP Trust, and Honorary member of the Institution of Royal Engineers.

In June 2010 she was elected to the Justice Select Committee, a House of Commons select committee which oversees the policy, administration, and spending of the UK's Ministry of Justice. Grant met her husband, Simon, in 1990, and the couple are married with two sons.

Sources include Wikipedia, dailymail.co.uk and helengrant.org