Dame S L Heal DBE {nee Fox born 20th July 1942 ) is a British Labour politician who was the MP for Halesowen & Rowley Regis from 1997 to 2010, having previously been the MP for Mid Staffordshire from 1990 to 1992. She served as the First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means and a Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons from 2000 until she stood down from Parliament in 2010.
Born in Flintshire North East Wales the daughter of Shotton steelworker John Lloyd Fox and Ruby Fox. They were both Labour Councillors. She was educated at Elfed Secondary Modern School Buckley now Elfed High, Coleg Harlech and Swansea University where she was awarded a BSc (Econ) in 1968.
She worked as a Medical Records Clerk at Chester Royal Infirmary from 1957 for six years. Following University she was employed as a social worker at an Employment Rehabilitation Centre and also at a Psychiatric Hospital. During her Parliamentary interregnum she worked as a National Young Carers officer for Carers National Association now Carers UK. She is a member of the GMB.
She joined the Labour Party in 1957 and was a member of the Young Socialist National Committee for four years from 1960. She was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1970.
In 1990 she was first elected to the House of Commons at the Mid Staffordshire by election following the suicide of the sitting Conservative MP John Heddle. She won the seat with a majority of 9,449 on a massive 21% swing from Conservatives to Labour. She lost the seat at the 1992 General Election and was re elected to Parliament at the 1997 General Election for the new West Midlands seat of Halesowen & Rowley Regis with a majority of 10,337 and remained the MP in the 2001 and 2005 general elections.
In her first spell in Parliament she served as a member of the Education Select Committee. She was promoted to the front bench by Neil Kinnock in 1991 as a spokesperson for health and women. Following her re-election in 1997 she was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Defence George Robertson and from 1999 to his successor Geoff Hoon. During this time she was a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of NATO.
She served on the Parliamentary Committee from 1998 to 2000 meeting weekly with the then Prime Minister Tony Blair. In 2000 she was appointed as a Deputy Speaker of the House in which capacity she remained until her retirement in 2010.
She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2022 New Year Honours for political and public service.
She married Keith Heal in 1965 and they have an adult daughter and son and five grandchildren.
She was a founder member of the Women Chainmakers Festival and the Mary Macarthur memorial lecture. She enjoys listening to Male Voice choirs and gardening and remains active in local politics.