The Right Honourable
The Lord Douglas-Miller
OBE
Official portrait, 2023
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Biosecurity, Animal Health and Welfare
Assumed office
1 December 2023
Prime MinisterRishi Sunak
Preceded byThe Lord Benyon[lower-alpha 1]
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
15 December 2023
Life peerage
Personal details
Born
Robert Peter Douglas-Miller

January 1965 (age 58–59)
Political partyConservative

Robert Peter Douglas-Miller, Baron Douglas-Miller, OBE (born January 1965),[1] is a British landowner and life peer. He has served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Biosecurity, Animal Health and Welfare since December 2023 in the Sunak ministry.[2][3][4]

Early life and family

Douglas-Miller was born in January 1965.[1] His family once ran Jenners, a department store in Edinburgh.[5][6][7]

Career

Charity

From 2015 to 2022,[1] Douglas-Miller was the chairman of the Atlantic Salmon Trust, which had Prince Charles as its patron and Alister Jack as a board member.[4]

Business

Douglas-Miller is the managing director of Moorfoot Capital Management, which owns farmland in Scotland.[8]

Political

On 1 December 2023, Douglas-Miller was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Biosecurity, Animal Health and Welfare, a junior ministerial office in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, succeeding Lord Benyon in the Sunak ministry.[2][9] He was created a life peer as Baron Douglas-Miller, of The Hopes in the County of East Lothian, on 15 December,[10] and was introduced to the House of Lords on 18 December.[11]

On 11 December, he announced that legislation would be introduced for the option to issue fixed penalty notices for various animal health and welfare offences, stating "I welcome penalty notices as an additional tool for our partners to use to encourage compliance with the law."[12] On 14 December, legislation for a ban on keeping primates as pets was introduced, with Douglas-Miller saying "we have consistently led the world in raising the bar for animal welfare standards and this legislation is yet another step."[13]

Personal life

Douglas-Miller owns more than 4,000 acres (1,600 ha) of land in Scotland.[5]

Honours

Douglas-Miller was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to wildlife conservation in Scotland.[14]

Notes

  1. ↑ As Minister of State for Biosecurity, Marine and Rural Affairs

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Robert Peter DOUGLAS MILLER personal appointments". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 2023-12-07.
  2. 1 2 "Robbie Douglas-Miller OBE". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2023-12-07.
  3. ↑ "Ministerial appointments: November-December 2023". GOV.UK. 2023-12-01. Retrieved 2023-12-07.
  4. 1 2 Mason, Rowena; Horton, Helena (2023-12-01). "Scottish landowner who 'obstructs public access' made environment minister". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-12-07.
  5. 1 2 Horton, Helena; Mason, Rowena (2023-12-06). "New UK animal welfare minister backed seal and wild bird culls". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-12-08.
  6. ↑ "Robert Douglas Miller obituary". 2023-12-16. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
  7. ↑ "Scotsman Obituaries: Robert Douglas Miller, chairman of iconic Jenners store". The Scotsman. 22 July 2021. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
  8. ↑ "List of Ministers' Interests: December 2023 (HTML)". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
  9. ↑ "Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Biosecurity, Animal Health and Welfare) - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 2023-12-07.
  10. ↑ "No. 64261". The London Gazette. 20 December 2023. p. 25782.
  11. ↑ "Introduction: Lord Douglas-Miller". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Vol. 834. Parliament of the United Kingdom: House of Lords. 18 December 2023. col. 2035.
  12. ↑ "Penalty notices introduced for animal health and welfare offences". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
  13. ↑ "Government delivers on promise to ban keeping of primates". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
  14. ↑ "No. 63218". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 31 December 2020. p. N13.
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