Parliament Explained 6

The Houseof LordsThe UK’s second chamber,complementing the work of the Commons.

What is the House of Lords? 1

What does it do? 2

How does the House organise itself? 7

Who does the work? 9

Key dates in the History of the Lords 10

How to find out more 10

The Houseof Lords

What is the House of Lords?

The House of Lords is the second chamber,

or upper house, of the UK’s bi-cameral

(two chamber) parliament. Together with the

House of Commons and the Crown, the House

of Lords forms our Parliament. It has evolved

over hundreds of years and has played a central

role in the UK’s parliamentary system since its

origins in the 14th century. Like the House of

Commons and other ancient institutions, it

continues to change and develop.

The State Openingof Parliament

Most people are familiar with the House of Lords from thetelevision coverage of the State Opening of Parliament. This is agreat parliamentary occasion which takes place at the beginning of the new Parliamentary year, usually in October or November, or immediately after a general election as in May 1997 and June2001. The Queen comes to Westminster for the ceremonial openingof the new session of Parliament. From the throne in the House of Lords (see picture), the Queen reads the speech, prepared bythe Cabinet, which sets out her Government’s plans for theforthcoming year. The State Opening is one of the few occasionswhen all three parts of Parliament meet together – the Crown, theLords and the Commons. It is the main ceremonial event of the Parliamentary year.

1 Parliament Explained

What does it do?

1. Makes LawsThe House of Lords is a key contributor to the process

of initiating, revising and amending legislation. It

spends two-thirds of its time doing this.

2. Scrutinises Government The House of Lords acts as a check on the activities

of the Government (Executive).

3. Provides independent expertise The House of Lords draws on the wide-ranging

expertise of its members and, through its

committees, conducts internationally respected

investigations into specialist subjects.

4. Carries out judicial workThe House of Lords is home to the highest Court

of Appeal in the UK (except for criminal cases in

Scotland).

The House of Lords 2

Revising Legislation 60%Including:Bills 56%Statutory Instruments 4%

Scrutiny 36%Including:

Debates 19%Questions 14%Statements 3%

Other 4%

Source: House of Lords Information Office, March 2002.

What the House of Lords does and how it spends its time

Stages of Public Bills

The House of Lords is an integral part of the law-making process. All laws mustbe agreed by both the House of Lords andthe House of Commons, before receivingthe Queen’s approval (Royal Assent). The House of Lords reviews bills sponsoredby Government which come from theCommons. A sizeable proportion of billsbegin in the House of Lords each year,sometimes because the Bill is technicalrather than political but also to spread the legislative workload more evenlybetween the two Houses.

The House of Lords can propose and makechanges known as amendments. But itspowers are limited; if it doesn’t approveof a piece of legislation, it can only delayits passage into law for up to a year. Afterthat, there are rules to ensure that thewishes of the House of Commons and theGovernment of the day prevail.

3 Parliament Explained

Public BillsBills which affect us all are known as Public Bills. There are two types of public bill: Billsintroduced by Government, and bills introduced by an individual member in either of thetwo Houses. The second type are known as private members’ bills. Often such Bills do notbecome law because of a shortage of parliamentary time, usually in the Commons, butnonetheless provide an opportunity to raise important national issues. One example of asuccessful private member’s bill is The Protection of Animals (Amendment) Act 2000 (knownas the puppy farming bill) which was introduced to secure tighter regulation of commercialdog-breeding.

Private BillsThese are called “private” (as opposed to “private members”) bills because the legislationis specific to one area or group of people. Examples of recent private bills are the KentCounty Council Act 2001 and the City of Newcastle upon Tyne Act 2000.

Delegated legislationWhen Parliament makes a new law it often gives a Government minister the power to fillin the details. This is because Parliament does not have time to oversee all the detailedlegislative requirements of each Government department. This power is known as delegated(or secondary) legislation, and is carried out through Statutory Instruments (SIs), Ordersand Regulations. Procedures exist for examining these, but they come into play after theparent act or primary legislation has passed through Parliament.

Through its Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee, the House of Lords playsa crucial role in ensuring that a proper balance is struck. The committee’s chief concern iswith the extent of legislative powers proposed to be delegated by a bill to governmentministers, and its function is to vet all proposed delegated powers before the Bill passesthrough the House of Lords. The Committee was set up in 1989 partly to increase controlof the Executive while at the same time saving parliamentary time. In the Chamber, unpopularthings could slip through the net if the House of Lords did not act as a watchdog by generallykeeping an eye on and debating this type of regulation.

Introduction and First Reading

Second Reading

Report

Third Reading

Royal Assent

House of Commons

Consideration ofCommons Amendments

Grand Committee

Committee of

the Whole House

Select Committee

Special Public Bill Committee

Public Bill Committee

The Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949

These define the powers of the Lords inrelation to public bills. In general, theLords can hold up most bills they disagreewith for about a year but ultimately theelected House of Commons can reintroduceit in the following session and pass itwithout the Lords' consent, except for:

• Bills prolonging the length ofa parliament beyond 5 years

• Private Bills

• Bills sent up to the Lords less thana month before the end of a session

• Bills which start in the Lords

Although rarely invoked, the ParliamentActs provide a framework and a means of resolving disagreement between theCommons and Lords. They have only beenused three times.

Commons Privilege

The Commons have claimed a generalprivilege in relation to the raising andspending of taxpayers’ money sincethe 17th century. Bills to raise taxesor authorise expenditure always startin the Commons and cannot be amendedby the Lords.

1. Making Laws

The Powers of the LordsThese are limited by both law and convention:

Starred questions (Question time) The House of Lords, like the House of Commons, makes Government ministers answerquestions about their work. At the beginning of each sitting day in the Lords, four oralquestions (or “Starred Questions” – so called because they have stars, or asterisks(*) nextto them on the Order Paper) are asked. Question time in the Lords takes half an hour andincludes opportunities for supplementary questions to be asked.

General debatesIf a member believes strongly in a particular cause (eg the improvement of race relations orthe reduction of Third World debt) then a general debate can be a good way of attractingattention to the issue. The general debate is a discussion, and there is not usually a vote atthe end. Debates will usually tackle some matter of public interest or provide an opportunityfor discussing a report which has just come out. The House of Commons has less time forgeneral debates of this kind so the Lords provides a valuable opportunity to discuss importantmatters, drawing on its members’ wide range of expertise. Most Wednesday afternoons are setaside either for one longer or two shorter debates lasting a maximum of five hours. Suchdebates have tackled topics such as post-16 educational arrangements.

Mini debates (Unstarred questions)The exchanges on a Starred Question are usually brief. But an Unstarred Question leads to a short debate. Like Adjournment debates in the Commons, they can be about almostanything. The member who asks the Question makes a speech, then other memberscontribute and finally the minister explains the Government’s views on the subject.Unstarred Questions are asked on most sitting days, usually in the dinner break or at the end of the day’s business.

Written questionsQuestions may also be put down for a written answer. Full replies are expected within afortnight and printed in the back of the Lords Hansard. The volume of these has increasedsignificantly in recent years.

StatementsGovernment statements on important or urgent issues are made by the Minister responsiblefor the subject in the House of Lords. Most statements are made in the Commons, andrepeated in the Lords by a junior minister. This is followed by a limited time for immediatequestioning. Subjects can range from the announcement of a White Paper to an emergencysuch as a major rail accident or an international crisis.

The House of Lords 4

500

1500

4500

2500

3500

1978 1983 1988 1993 1998 1999 2000

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

Units

It is the duty of Parliament as a wholeto keep an eye on the work of theGovernment by making Governmentministers answer for the work they doand the decisions they make. The Houseof Lords does this in several ways:

2. Scrutinising the Government

The recent rise in Questionsfor Written Answers

Liberal Democrat Baroness Williamsspeaking in a debate.

5 Parliament Explained

Unlike the Commons, Lords investigativecommittees do not mirror the work ofparticular government departments.Instead, they deal with broader issues anddraw on the wide–ranging experience ofmembers. In this way, the House of Lordssystem of committees complements thescrutiny of the executive carried out by the Commons.

There are four main areas of work – Europe,Science, the Economy and the Constitution – but occasionally, for various reasons, aseparate committee will be set up to dealwith a particular issue.

The European Union Committee scrutinisesand reports on proposed Europeanlegislation. Each of the main committee’s20 members serves on one or more of six sub-committees through whichinvestigations are conducted. In total,some 70 Lords are actively engaged on the work of the EU committee (whenmembers co-opted to individual sub-committees are taken into account).

The Science and Technology Committeewas set up in 1979 "to consider scienceand technology" – a very wide brief. Over20 members are involved; including eminentscientists with wide ranging experience ofscience, industry, medicine and research aswell as high-level policy-making. Recentreports have covered areas such asresistance to antibiotics, medicinal uses ofcannabis, human genetic databases and thehealth hazards inherent in long-haul airtravel. It normally operates through twosub-committees enabling it to carry out twoenquiries at a time.

The Economic Affairs Committee looksat issues such as how globalisation shouldbe defined, and whether this should bedifferent from an open and integrated worldeconomy. Members include a former ChiefSecretary to the Treasury, professors ofeconomics, former senior Treasury civilservants, a former newspaper economicseditor as well as practising businessmen.

The Constitution Committee was set up in2000 "to keep under review the operation ofthe constitution". Since our constitution isuncodified and derived from interpretationsof the statute books, this committee keepsa watchful eye on legislative changes thatmay affect the way it operates.

Sometimes ad hoc investigative committeesare set up to look at particular issues whichdo not fit into the 4 main areas above. TheAnimals in Scientific Procedures Committeeis one example. This was established in2000 to look at issues respecting animalsin scientific procedures in the UK, includingalternatives to the use of animals inexperiments whether in medicine,education, defence or product testing.

The Lords also has a number of SelectCommittees, like the House ofCommons. Some of these deal withinternal management andadministration but most carry outimportant investigative work onmatters of public interest. When aninvestigative committee completes itswork on a particular issue, a report ofits conclusions is issued for the Houseto debate, and for the public to seewhat it had discovered. These reportsare highly respected for their balance,independence and authority.

3. Providing independent expertise

The House of Lords 6

The modern form of appeal to the Housewas established by the AppellateJurisdiction Act 1876 when provision wasmade for the creation of Law Lords (thefirst life peers). These peers, formallyknown as Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, alsosit in the House like other members. Todaythere may be up to 12 Lords of Appeal inOrdinary and they are usually appointedfrom the Lords Justices of Appeal, or lessfrequently, from judges of the High Court.In addition, former Lords of Appeal inOrdinary, former Lord Chancellors andholders of other high judicial office areentitled to sit as Law Lords under the Actbut in practice do so infrequently.

If any British citizen disagrees with adecision made by a lower court, he or shehas a right to take action to overturn thatdecision. This right is ancient but theconditions under which an appeal can bemade have become closely defined in statuteover the last century. Permission to pursue a case at this level is known as “leave toappeal” and there are a number of routes a case may take to get this far.

Once it is decided that a case should gobefore the Law Lords, Appeal proceedingstake place. These are open to the public andheld in committee rooms. Proceedings arenot as formal as they are in the lower courts;the Law Lords wear ordinary suits – notrobes or wigs. Once their conclusions arereached, the result is announced in the Lords chamber. This is called the judgment.Sittings for judgments are full meetings ofthe House of Lords and in addition to theLaw Lords who again, do not wear robes orwigs, any member of the House may attend.Judgments are available on the internet.

The House of Lords is the highest court in the land – the supreme courtof appeal. It acts as the final court onpoints of law for the whole of theUnited Kingdom in civil cases and forEngland, Wales and Northern Ireland in criminal cases. Its decisions arebinding for all other UK courts. Thevast majority of members have no part to play in the House’s judicialwork, which is carried out only byhighly qualified judges called LawLords. Only cases of public importancewhere a significant a point of law isinvolved are heard by the Law Lords.

4. Carrying out judicial work

Parties and other groupsThe House of Lords is organised on a partybasis in much the same way as the House ofCommons, but with important differences.Members of the House of Lords are lessrigidly partisan than in the Commons,whose elected members are more sensitiveto political and constituency interests. Manymembers of the House are not members ofany political party. Those who do notsupport one of the three main parties areknown as Independents or Cross Benchers.The crossbench group is a distinctivefeature of the House of Lords.

How business is decidedAll political parties in the House ofLords hold party meetings, as they doin the Commons, to discuss forthcomingbusiness. This process of organisingbusiness involves the ‘Whips’ (businessmanagers) and party leaders. They areoften known as the ‘usual channels’.

The cross-benchers have similar meetings.Each week, a list of forthcoming business iscirculated to members of the party –underlined once, twice or three times, withthree lines indicating the most importantbusiness (a three line whip).

Although party discipline has become stricterin recent years, Whips in the House of Lordsare not in such a strong position as those inthe Commons. Most MPs in the Commons relyon the sponsorship of their party to keeptheir seats.

This is not the case in the Lords which isnot elected, so the Whips can only usepersuasion, not threats. As a result, Whipscannot predict how the Lords will vote. The House of Lords’ contribution to theparliamentary process is characterisedmore by its independence of thought andits breadth of specialist expertise. In thisway it complements the work of theCommons.

Ministers The Lord Chancellor and the Leader of theHouse are usually cabinet members, andthey carry out Government duties inaddition to their roles at the House ofLords. Most heads of governmentdepartments sit in the Commons, and aretherefore not permitted to answer questionsor contribute to debates in the Lords. Butas there is a need for spokespeople who canexplain Government policy in the Lords, theGovernment of the day will often draw someof its senior Cabinet members from theHouse of Lords.

How Does The House Organise Itself?

The Weekly Whip

50

150

Conservative Labour LiberalDemocrats

Cross-bench Bishop Other

0

100

250

200

as at 31 March 2001

(Source: House of Lords Information Office, March 2002)

Party Strengths

Minister at thedespatch box

The House of Lords 8

Not every department has a minister in theLords, and this is where the Whips step in.As well as their normal Whip’s business,they are expected to help out at QuestionTime and in debates. Even with sevenGovernment Whips in the Lords helping outin this way, there are still not enoughspokespeople to go round. Eachspokesperson, therefore, even if holding aministerial post, has to answer questions ona number of different subjects. As allquestions in the House of Lords areaddressed to the Government, not just onegovernment department, some Whips act asspokesmen on several different subjects forseveral different departments.

The working yearand daily businessThe House of Lords sits at 2.30pm onMondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, at3.00pm on Thursdays, and sometimes onFridays at 11am. The House usually sits until10.00 – 11.00 pm, occasionally much laterand sometimes all night. Attendanceaverages at about 350 – 450 a day. Like theCommons, the Lords have breaks atChristmas, Easter, late Spring Bank Holidayand in the summer. They usually sit onabout 160 days a year.

Business in the chamber on a typical day isordered as follows:

• Prayers (before public business begins)

• question time (starred questions)

• legislation

• debates (or motions – these hold priorityover bills on Wednesdays)

• unstarred question (mini-debates)

Select committee work takes place outsidethe chamber in the mornings and theafternoons when members may have tojuggle their time between attending acommittee and participating in business inthe chamber.

The Lord Chancellor is a member of theCabinet and is Speaker of the House exofficio. His role as Speaker is very differentto that of the House of Commons Speaker.The Lord Chancellor sits on the Woolsack,except when the House is in committee, butdoes not call upon members to speak andhas no powers to call the House to order.

The Leader of the House has aresponsibility to the House as a whole aswell as being leader of the party inGovernment. He is also a member of theCabinet. It is to him, and not to the LordChancellor, that members turn for adviceand ‘leadership’ on points of order andprocedure. Lords business is expected to beconducted in an orderly and polite fashionwithout the need for an active Speaker.

The Clerk of the Parliaments role issteeped in history but similar to that of a Chief Executive. As the House of Lords’most senior permanent official, he isresponsible for the House’s management,administration and finances. Essentially,the office’s function is to serve andsupport the needs of the House.

Black Rod’s post, like the Clerk of theParliaments’, has existed for as long as theHouse itself. He is responsible for control ofaccess to the House, maintaining orderwithin the precincts and domesticarrangements within the House. He also hasroyal duties associated with the Order of theGarter and the State Opening of Parliament.The House of Commons equivalent is theSerjeant at Arms.

Some key officers of the House of Lords

Government Administration

9 Parliament Explained

Who Does the Work?Unlike MPs, Lords are unpaid, except for certain allowances to coverattendance which is voluntary. Exceptions include those who arepaid salaries as ministers, and the Law Lords. Currently there arefour distinct types of member:

Life PeersThese make up the majority of the membership (currently about600). The power to appoint belongs formally to the Crown, butmembers are essentially created by the Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister. Life peers’ titles cease on death.

Law LordsUp to 12 Lords of Appeal in Ordinary are specially appointed tohear appeals from the lower courts. They are salaried and cancontinue to hear appeals until they are 70 years of age. Once theyretire they can go on sitting in the House of Lords.

BishopsThe Anglican Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the Bishops ofDurham, London and Winchester and the 21 senior Diocesan bishopsfrom other dioceses of the Church of England hold seats in theHouse. This is because the Church of England is the ‘established’Church of the State. When they retire the bishops stop beingmembers of the House.

Elected Hereditary peersThe House of Lords Act 1999 ended the right of hereditary peers tosit and vote in the House of Lords. Until then there had been about700 hereditary members. While the Bill was being considered, anamendment was passed (known as the Weatherill amendment afterLord Weatherill who proposed it) which enabled 92 of the existinghereditary peers to remain as members. This was agreed on theunderstanding that it was a temporary measure to be revoked onthe implementation of reform’s next stage. The 92 peers are madeup as follows:

•15 ‘office-holders’ ie Deputy Speakers or Chairmen.These were elected by the entire House

•75 Party and Crossbench members elected by their own party group and representing roughly 10% of the totalhereditary peers.

•2 hereditary peers who hold Royal appointments – The Lord GreatChamberlain, who is the Queen’s representative in Parliament andthe Earl Marshal who is responsible for ceremonies such as theState Opening of Parliament.

Black Rod’s box

Spiritual Side

Temporal SideNot content Lobby

Bar of the House

Seats for Members’ spouses

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Chairs of State

Official Opposition back benches

Government back benches

Government front bench

Official Opposition front bench Liberal Democrats front bench

Bishops’ benches

Content Lobby

Officials’ box

Hansard reporters

Clerks’ box

Plan of Lords Chamber

Key Dates in the History of the LordsToday’s House of Lords began in the 14th century as the King’s Council and is the resultof centuries of evolution. The chart shows some of the key dates in this development.

14th century The Lords begin to sit in a separate House from

the Commons. Members of the House of Lords

are drawn from the Church (Lords Spiritual) and

from magnates chosen by the monarch (Lords

Temporal), while Commons members represent

the shires and boroughs.

15th century Lords Temporal become known as “peers”.

18th century Acts of Union with Scotland (1707) and Ireland

(1800) entitle Scottish and Irish peers to elect

representatives to sit in the Lords.

1876 The Appellate Creates Lords of Appeal in Ordinary (Law

Jurisdiction Act Lords) to carry out the judicial work of the

House as the final court of appeal.

1911 and 1949 Allow some bills to become Acts without

Parliament Acts the consent of the Lords and limit the power

to delay other bills to one year.

1958 Life Peerages Act Creates peerages “for life” for men and women;

women sit in the House for the first time.

1963 Peerage Act Allows hereditary peers to disclaim their

peerages, and allows hereditary peeresses and

all Scottish peers to sit in the House.

1999 House of Lords Act Removes the right of all except 92 hereditary

peers to sit and vote in the House.

The House of Lords 10

Find Out MoreArchives Archives from 1497, including original Actsof Parliament, are kept in the House ofLords’ Record Office (The ParliamentaryArchives) which is open to the public, toview records on request tel: 020 7219 3074.

HansardThe day’s proceedings are printed in theOfficial Report, (separate volumes areproduced for the Commons and Lords)referred to as Hansard after its originalprinter. It is also available atwww.parliament.uk by 9.00 the followingmorning.

TelevisionThe televising of Parliament was pioneeredby the House of Lords in 1985, followed bythe House of Commons in 1989. Theproceedings of both Houses can be seen onthe BBC’s parliamentary channel when theHouse is sitting.

WebsiteGo to www.parliament.uk for generalinformation on the role and function ofboth Houses, or details of membership,future business, legislation and SelectCommittee activity. For an experimentalperiod it is possible to view a live webcastof House proceedings at the same address.

A website for young people can be found atwww.explore.parliament.uk

House of LordsGeneral information and enquiries:

Tel: 020 7219 3107E-mail: hlinfo@parliament.uk

Education enquiriesApplications for Gallery tickets for studentsand educational groups and furtherinformation about the work of Parliamentcan be obtained from:

Parliamentary Education UnitRoom 604Norman Shaw Building (North)London SW1A 2TT

Tel: 020 7219 2105Fax: 020 7219 0818E-mail: edunit@parliament.uk

Other titles in this series:

1 Parliamentary Elections

2 House of Commons

3 Parliament & Government

4 Making a Law

5 Debates in Parliament

Parliamentary Copyright 2002

May be reproduced for purposes of privatestudy, research or educational use withoutpermission. Reproduction for sale or othercommercial purposes not permitted.

Chris WeedsEducation Officer

March 2002

ISSN 0261-2658