Beatrice Serota, Baroness Serota

Beatrice Serota, Baroness Serota, DBE (née Katz; 15 October 1919 – 21 October 2002) was a British Government minister and a Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords.

Beatrice Katz was brought up in the East End of London, the daughter of Jewish refugees from central Europe. She was nicknamed "Bea" or "Bee" from an early age.

She joined the Civil Service in 1941 and worked in the crucial Ministry of Fuel and Power through the difficult years of the Second World War until 1946.

Harold Wilson appointed her as a Government Whip almost immediately and then proposed her for the sensitive post of deputy to Richard Crossman, having refused to promote Roy Hattersley, whom he suspected of disloyalty. She had never been an MP herself, but became a thoroughly competent administrator. She had been a member of the old Hampstead Borough Council immediately after the Second World War and subsequently served successively on the London County Council, as the member for Brixton, and the Greater London Council, as the member for Lambeth. Until the end of her life she was devoted to Hampstead.

She became a Chief Whip when she was on the GLC, a post that would stand her in good stead later. She was vice-chairwoman of the Inner London Education Authority, holding this post for three years until 1967. It was her distinguished career in local government and the work that she did for children which brought her the recognition of a seat in the House of Lords as a recognised authority on the subject. Serota chaired the LCC children's committee for seven years and was a member of the Central Training Council for Child Care for a least nine years.

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