Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord True on 11 February (HL12711) and 8 March (HL13422), whether they will now answer the question put, namely, what is their assessment of the equivalent figures for (1) the Labour, and (2) the Liberal Democrat, Party when following a similar methodology to the one used to determine underrepresentation of the Conservative Party in the House of Lords.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
Reflecting the method in my previous answers, the Liberal Democrat party is over-represented; the Conservative Party is significantly under-represented; the Labour Party has a proportion of seats in this House that is less than its seat share in the Commons, but not by a significant amount.
Notwithstanding that, there are different ways of assessing the issue. For example, one may wish to consider the share of this House excluding cross-benchers and bishops, or look at composition of peers taking a political whip. Under both measures, Liberal Democrats are significantly over-represented.
The noble Lord will be able to make his own further calculations from public domain information, if he wishes.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord True on 11 February (HL12711), what is their assessment of the equivalent figures for (1) the Labour, and (2) the Liberal Democrat, Party when following a similar methodology to the one used to determine underrepresentation of the Conservative Party in the House of Lords.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
Based on that methodology, my assessment is that the Liberal Democrat Party, in particular, is significantly over-represented in the House of Lords.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord True on 27 January (HL Deb, col 1600), what is the statistical basis for the statement that "the Conservative Party has been underrepresented in your Lordships’ House".
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The Conservative voice is under-represented in the Lords and has been for some time. The Conservative Party has been the largest party in the 2010, 2015, 2017 and 2019 general elections. In the 2019 general election, Conservatives won 56 per cent of the seats. Yet the Conservative Party still only has 33 per cent of the seats in the Lords, a figure which has remained substantively unchanged despite that repeated pattern of strong electoral support.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the representation of the (1) Conservative, (2) Labour, and (3) Liberal Democrat, parties in the House of Lords; and what plans they have to take that level of representation into account in any future recommendations for life peerage appointments to the House.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
Members of the House of Lords are appointed from a wide range of backgrounds to ensure the House is able to carry out its scrutiny work effectively. In line with established convention, the number of nominations to be offered to individual political parties is a matter for the Prime Minister.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord True on 11 August (HL7357), whether they will now answer the question put, namely, what was the total cost of the work of the four Parliamentary Boundary Commissions, from the passage of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 to the publication of their reports of September 2018.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The total expenditure of the Boundary Commissions for England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland in the period 2010/11 to 2017/18, and up to September 2018 in 2018/19, was £15.6m. This includes the cost of the 2018 Boundary Review which was approximately £7.1m.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the total cost of the work of the four Parliamentary Boundary Commissions, from the passage of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 to the publication of their reports of September 2018.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
Figures for expenditure over each financial year are published by the Boundary Commissions for England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland as part of their annual reports. These are available online.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the role of the House of Lords Appointments Commission in relation to the forthcoming hereditary by-election.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The House of Lords Appointments Commission does not have a role in the hereditary by-election process. Under the Standing Orders of the House, this process is conducted in accordance with arrangements made by the Clerk of the Parliaments.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, since 2010, how many House of Lords ministers have been appointed to their posts prior to their introduction to the House of Lords; and, of those who are no longer ministers, what was the average length of their tenure in ministerial office.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
Since 2010, nine ministers have been appointed to their posts prior to their introduction to the House of Lords. Of those who are no longer House of Lords Ministers, the average length of tenure in ministerial office was 23 months.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Young of Cookham (HL Deb, col 1269–1271), what would be the estimated administrative costs of extending the voting rights from 15 years to life for UK citizens permanently resident abroad.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
I refer the noble Lord to the reply Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen gave him on Wednesday 9 November 2016 to HL2721 and HL2722.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Young of Cookham (HL Deb, col 1269–1271), how many additional people would be enfranchised by extending voting rights from 15 years to life for UK citizens permanently resident abroad.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
I refer the noble Lord to the reply Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen gave him on Wednesday 9 November 2016 to HL2721 and HL2722.