Margaret Ann Jones was born to Charles Jones and Helen Jones in Rhyl. She was educated at Rhyl Grammar School and Rhyl High School. She married Adrian Jones in 1973 and has 1 son and 1 daughter.
Career
Ann worked as an Emergency Call Officer and a number of management positions in the control room of Flintshire Fire Brigade and Clwyd Fire Brigade between 1970 and 1979 and as a Fire Control Officer with Merseyside Fire Brigade from 1991 to 1999. Ann served as a national officer in the Fire Brigades Union for a number of years and has sat on the executive boards of the Welsh Labour Party and the Wales TUC. She is a member of UNISON and remains a 'out of trade' member of the FBU.
Political career
Ann Jones was a member of Rhyl Town Council from 1991 to 1999, and Mayor of Rhyl in 1996–7. She was a councillor on Denbighshire County Council from 1995 to 1999 and agent for Chris Ruane MP at the 1997 General Election. She is a member of the Christian Socialist Movement. She was elected to the Senedd Cymru for the Vale of Clwyd in 1999, holding the seat at every Assembly Election since then, although the seat is very marginal. Ann has chaired several Assembly Committees including the Children, Young People and Education Committee, the All Party Group on Deaf Issues and was chair of the National Assembly Labour Group from 2011 to 2016. From 2011–2013, Jones chaired the Communities, Equalities and Local Government Committee. Her political interests include education, tourism, community safety, regeneration, social policy and the Emergency Services. She is a fan of the Rhyl Town Football Club and she remains a Lillywhites season ticket holder. In 2016 she was appointed Deputy Presiding Officer of the National Assembly.
In 2007, Ann Jones won a ballot and had the opportunity to introduce the first Senedd Measure from a backbench member. Ann Jones announced her intention to introduce legislation to make it mandatory to install a fire suppression system in new homes. The process of transferring the law-making powers to the Senedd began in 2007 and in 2010 a Legislative Competence Order was made allowing the Senedd to legislate. was debated in the Senedd in 2010 and 2011 before receiving Royal assent on 7 April 2011. In 2019 Ann Jones donated a related to the legislation to the National Library of Wales.
