Val Lloyd

Valerie Lloyd was born on 16 November 1943 in the Townhill area of Swansea, Glamorgan. Her funeral notice records her family name as Worner. She was educated at Swansea High School for Girls and went on to study at Swansea University.

Lloyd trained and worked as a nurse in primary and secondary health care in Swansea, London and Zambia, then moved into teaching, a career that took her to places including Bahrain. Before her election to the Assembly she was a senior lecturer in nursing at the School of Health Science at Swansea University.

In May 1999 she was elected to the City and County of Swansea Council for the Morriston ward. Her husband, Bob Lloyd, served as Lord Mayor of Swansea in 1999 to 2000, the first time both the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress were sitting councillors. She had sought the Labour nomination for Swansea East in the first National Assembly for Wales election, losing a close contest to Val Feld.

After Feld's death in July 2001, Lloyd was selected for the Assembly's first ever by-election and won Swansea East on 27 September 2001 with 58 per cent of the vote. She resigned her council seat in March 2003 and was re-elected in May 2003 with a majority of 3,997, then again in 2007. In the Assembly she chaired the Labour group of Assembly Members and the Legislation Two Committee, served on the Legislation One Committee and the Health, Wellbeing and Local Government Committee, and chaired the All Party Groups on Nursing and on Waterways. She announced in July 2009 that she would stand down after ten years and left the Assembly on 5 May 2011, succeeded by Mike Hedges.

Val Lloyd was married to Robert "Bob" Lloyd, a Swansea councillor and former Lord Mayor of the city. They had two daughters, Samantha and Rebecca. In later life she lived in London.

Val Lloyd died at her home in London on 21 May 2026, after a long illness, at the age of 82. A notice published in the South Wales Evening Post described her as the beloved wife of Robert and loving mother of Samantha and Rebecca, with a long career of public service. A private funeral service was held in London on Thursday 11 June 2026, with a celebration of her life to follow in Swansea. The family asked for family flowers only, with donations if desired to Alzheimer's Research UK.

Lloyd won the first by-election held for the National Assembly for Wales and represented Swansea East through the Assembly's formative first decade. Her background as a nurse and nurse educator shaped her work on health and on the All Party Group on Nursing. Former colleagues at Swansea University and in the Assembly remembered her as kind, fair and deeply committed to helping others, and residents of Morriston recalled her as a well liked and respected local figure.