Joan Ruddock is the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State. She covers climate change, waste and recycling, biodiversity.

Joan Ruddock has been the MP for Lewisham, Deptford since 1987. 

She has introduced a number of Bills to Parliament, including the Organic Food and Farming Targets Bill. In November 2002 she won a place in the Private Members Ballot and took forward the Household Waste Recycling Bill. Now an Act of Parliament, it requires all local authorities to ensure that every household has a collection of at least two types of recyclable waste by the year 2010.

In the last parliament she sat on two Select Committees – the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Select Committee and the Modernisation Select Committee. Until her appointment she was a member of the International Development Select Committee. She is a Vice President of Globe International, and a Vice President of SERA, the Socialist Environment and Resources Association. She piloted a Private Members Bill on Flytipping through Parliament, which became the Control of Pollution (Amendment) Act in 1989.

She attended Pontypool Grammar School for Girls in Wales, and has a degree from Imperial College, London.