Which MPs and peers raise rare diseases most in Parliament?

Clive Efford, Jim Shannon, Liz Twist lead the ranking of MPs and peers on rare diseases, based on every Hansard contribution since 9 July 2024.

How is the rare diseases ranking calculated?

Vital Signs ranks MPs and members of the House of Lords by a weighted score of their Hansard contributions on Rare diseases — speeches, written questions and committee work — over the course of this Parliament (since 9 July 2024). Ministerial statements and debate speeches carry more weight than written answers; every contribution counts at full weight however early in the Parliament it was made. Contributions are matched to this topic on whole-word keyword matching, so "send" is never mistaken for SEND and "career" is never mistaken for care. Ministers and shadow ministers are labelled, because answering on a brief is their job rather than a choice to raise it; their scores are shown as-is, not adjusted.

Rare diseases: which MPs and peers raise it most

Since the start of this Parliament, 193 MPs and peers have raised Rare diseases in Hansard debates, written questions and committee work. Debate has intensified recently: the last two months produced 24% more mentions than the two months before that.

The debate has been led most vocally by Clive Efford (Labour, Eltham and Chislehurst), whose score of 42.0 is 1.1× that of the next most active contributor, Jim Shannon.

By party, Labour leads with 53% of weighted activity, followed by Conservative (20%) and Liberal Democrat (13%). The House of Commons accounts for 85% of all weighted activity on Rare diseases.

Vital Signs — Rare diseases

Vital Signs — Rare diseases

Mentions since the start of this Parliament

How the ranking works

Debate analysis

Media coverage

Most cited doctors & academics