Chris Holmes, Baron Holmes of Richmond

Holmes was born in Peterborough on 15 October 1971. His family moved to Kidderminster when he was three. He was educated at Harry Cheshire Comprehensive School, Kidderminster. He then studied Social and Political Sciences at King's College, Cambridge, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree; in 1998, as per tradition, his BA was promoted to a Master of Arts (Oxbridge and Dublin) (MA (Cantab)) degree. In 2001, he gained a post graduate diploma in law (PGDL) at BPP Law School and in 2002 he completed the Legal Practice Course.[3]

Holmes was already a good swimmer with the goal of representing his country, when he became blind as a teenager due to Familial exudative vitreoretinopathy, a genetic eye disorder. He joined a Birmingham club where he committed to the same training regime as other sighted swimmers aspiring to the Olympics.[6]

Holmes was a member of the Great Britain swimming team from 1985 to 2002 and its captain for five years. He qualified for the Seoul 1988 Paralympic Games, where he won two silver medals and a bronze. At the Barcelona 1992 Paralympics, four years later, he gathered a record six gold medals, and a silver. He went on to take another three gold medals and a silver at Atlanta in 1996 and finally one more silver at Sydney in 2000.[7] He is often described as "one of Britain's greatest Paralympians".[8] He also became a Paralympic activist, in particular drawing attention to the issues of equal accommodations and facilities for Paralympic athletes.[6] In addition to the Games Holmes swam at two World Championships and seven European Championships, and held seven world records, 10 European records and 12 GB records.

Holmes has been involved with various UK sports bodies. He was a member of the Implementation Board for the UK Sports Institute, from 1999 to 2000, seeking to build a world class sports institute to rival that of Australia. From 2001 to 2004 he sat on the UK Sport Awards Panel, responsible for the funding of elite Olympic and Paralympic athletes. From 2005 to 2013 he was a member of the Board of UK Sport, responsible for the funding for the Olympic and Paralympic athletes set to compete at the London 2012 Games.[9] Holmes chaired the Audit and Risk Committee for seven years. He was also a member of the Mission 2012 Panel. Holmes was also an Ambassador to London 2012 Olympic Bid 2003–2005.

From 2002 Holmes was a Commissioner for the Disability Rights Commission where he also sat on the Legal Committee and Audit Committee. Key legal successes included the Ross V Ryan Air Court of Appeal Decision,[10] Roads V Central Trains[11] and Archibald V Fife Council.[12]

Between 2002 and 2009 Holmes worked as a solicitor specialising in commercial, employment and pensions law at Ashurst, London.[13]

In August 2009, he was named the Director of Paralympic Integration for the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics in London.[14] In 2012 the UK delivered the largest Paralympics ever, including more athletes from more nations competing, highest ticket sales and the most extensive media coverage of any previous Paralympics.[15]

In 2013 he was appointed as Non-executive Director to the Equality and Human Rights Commission[16] where one of his projects was working with Ofcom and the Creative Diversity Network to launch a new guide to the law for the broadcast industry providing clarity about initiatives and actions to promote diversity.[17][18]

In 2015 he was appointed as special adviser on Diversity and Inclusion to the Civil Service[19] and in 2016 he was appointed as Non-executive Director to the Channel 4 Board.[20] He is also Chancellor at BPP University.

Holmes has campaigned against 'shared space' street design, publishing a report in 2015 that found shared space to be unpopular with two-thirds of users.[21]

Holmes has been a member of House of Lords Select Committees on Digital Skills, Social Mobility, Financial Exclusion, Artificial Intelligence and Democracy and Digital Technologies[22] and speaks often in debates.[23] He has also introduced a Private Members Bill to prohibit unpaid work experience exceeding four weeks which has been described as a ban on unpaid internships.[24] In November 2017 he published a report called 'Distributed Ledger Technologies for Public and Private Good: leadership, collaboration and innovation' in which he makes a 'call to action' for collaboration between academia, government and industry to develop the potential of DLT.[25][26]

Holmes conducted an independent review for the government exploring how to open up public appointments to disabled people.[27] The government responded to the Lord Holmes Review, accepting the principle of all his recommendations and publishing a refreshed Public Appointments Diversity Action Plan on 27 June 2019, underpinned by the recommendations.[27] Two years on from the Lord Holmes Review, Holmes published a Progress Report calling on the government to implement commitments made in the Public Appointments Diversity Action Plan.[28]

Holmes speaks regularly at corporate, public sector, community and charity events across the UK and worldwide.[29]

In 1992 Holmes was Midlands Today Sports Personality of the year and Bass Midlander of the year. The following year he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1993 New Year Honours for services to swimming for the disabled.[30] The SAF Paul Zetter Award was presented to Holmes in 1996 and in 1997 he was Sports Personality of the year Variety Club of GB. On 4 July 2012 he received an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Bath University.[31]

On 13 September 2013, Holmes was created a life peer taking the title Baron Holmes of Richmond, of Richmond in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.[32] He made his maiden speech on 28 November 2013 in a debate on the Economy: Broadcast Media[33] and has also contributed to debates on the Budget, Employment, Education, the World Wide Web, the legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and pensions.[34] He has been a member of several ad hoc Select Committees in the House of Lords. From 2014-2015 he sat on the Digital Skills Select Committee.[35] From 2015-2016 he sat on the Social Mobility Select Committee; appointed to consider social mobility in the transition from school to work for 14-24 year olds.[36] From 2016-2017 he sat on the Select Committee on Financial Exclusion.[37] From 2017-2018 he was a member of the Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence; appointed by the House of lords to consider the economic, ethical and social implications of advances in artificial intelligence.[38] From 2018-19 he sat on the House of Lords Select Committee on Intergenerational Fairness and Provision.[39] From 2019-20 he was a member of the Select Committee on Democracy and Digital Technologies.[40] Holmes tabled amendments to the Agriculture Bill that focussed on digital infrastructure and innovation. One proposed amendment (Amendment 157) would have required the government to include broadband provision and digital literacy within the section of the bill that deals with financial support for rural development.[41][42] Another proposed amendment (Amendment 253 Page 32, line 36, at end insert “( ) the administration of maintaining marketing standards of imported wine products, including the digitisation of VI-1 forms) encouraged the government to consider the digitisation of wine import forms.[43]

• Media related to Chris Holmes, Baron Holmes of Richmond at Wikimedia Commons
• Results for Christopher Holmes from the International Paralympic Committee (archived)
• Official website of Chris Holmes