Asked by: Lord Hayward (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker whether he will publish the percentage change in staff headcount in each House of Lords Administration department over the past 5 years.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The table below shows the percentage change in the number of staff employed by the House of Lords Administration between 31 March 2020 and 31 March 2025. This provides a snapshot of the number of people employed on these two dates, including any short-term appointments. The overall staff headcount in the Administration increased by 16% between these two dates with increases in eight offices and reductions in five.
Changes in the organisational structures such as teams moving between offices can make office-level comparisons more difficult. Figures are also not available for Parliamentary Knowledge and Information, which was created on 1 April 2024. The Parliamentary Commercial Directorate (PCD) was part of the Finance Office in 2020 and will become a joint department on 1 October 2025; if PCD is excluded from these 2025 figures, the overall increase in staffing since 2020 is 3%.
House of Lords Administration Office | Change in Staffing Headcount between 2020 and 2025 |
|
Archives Relocation Programme/ Parliamentary Archives | -20% | -8 |
Black Rod's Office | -4% | -1 |
Catering and Retail Services | 7% | 11 |
Clerk of the Parliament's Office/Lord Speaker's Office* | 16% | 7 |
Committee Office | 25% | 18 |
Communications | 32% | 6 |
Finance Department | -24% | -10 |
Parliamentary Commerical Directorate |
|
|
Parliamentary Knowledge and Information |
|
|
Hansard | -14% | -9 |
Human Resources Office | 46% | 11 |
Journal Office | 33% | 8 |
Legislation Office | 47% | 9 |
Library | 13% | 6 |
Property & Office Services | -11% | -6 |
Total | 16% |
|
*The Lord Speaker's Office became a standalone office in 2022.
Asked by: Lord Hayward (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker whether the House of Lords Administration plan to reduce staff headcount in line with the planned reduction in Civil Service jobs by 2030.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The House of Lords Commission agreed in May 2025 to the Administration's recommendation not to increase in real terms its resource budget from 2026-27 for three years, subject to the need to maintain the ability of the House and its Members to carry out their parliamentary duties, and any exceptional external factors. There is no specific staaff headcount reduction target within that.
Asked by: Lord Hayward (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker whether it is the policy of the House of Lords Administration to withdraw an employment role that has been vacant for one year.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Heads of Office in the House of Lords Administration review their staffing and vacancies on a quarterly basis, working with Finance and HR teams to remove any vacant posts that are no longer needed. Vacant posts can be removed as soon as they are no longer needed, and the overall vacancy rate is reguarly monitered by the Lords Management Board anf Finance Committee.
Asked by: Lord Hayward (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker what the new roles are of the security staff who were previously allocated to Peers' Entrance.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The operation of Peers' Entrance was met from existing pools of staff. Security officers are allocated to posts flexibly in accordance with the needs of Parliament on any given day. There has been no change to the role of those officers, who continue to be assigned to posts elsewhere on the Parliamentary Estate as required.
Asked by: Lord Hayward (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker, further to his letter placed in the Library of the House on 7 July concerning staffing the Peers’ Entrance, which operations he used as comparators in stating that “It is normal within an operation the size of the Parliamentary Security Department to be able to temporarily reassign resources”.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
My letter, dated 7 July 2025, reflected the information presented to me based on the professional judgement and experience of Parliament’s security advisors of the importance of maintaining a flexible security posture. This flexibility has allowed for the temporary reassignment of security staff to the Peers’ Entrance from our existing numbers, at no additional cost to the taxpayer.
Asked by: Lord Hayward (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker on what date he expects Lord Morse to complete his report on costs associated with the Peers’ Entrance.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Lord Morse’s review into the programme specifications and the cost increases associated with the works at Peers’ Entrance will be reported to the House of Lords Commission on 17 September 2025.
Asked by: Lord Hayward (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 28 May (HL7428), whether they have discussions with the National Police Chiefs' Council about (1) the number of police officers on restricted duties for non-criminal investigations, and (2) the duration that those officers are on restricted duties.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office is currently considering the requirements around police suspension data, supporting the Government's commitment to strengthen the requirements on forces to suspend police officers under investigation for domestic abuse or sexual offences.
Asked by: Lord Hayward (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker what is the current full weekly cost of the staff team who operate the door at Peers' Entrance, including contractual costs and VAT; and who is covering that cost.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The resources costs associated with the operation of Peers’ Entrance have been met from existing pools of staff and departmental budgets, with no additional cost to the House or to the taxpayer. The average annual cost to Parliament of a front-line security officer is around £46K including salary, pension and national insurance.
Asked by: Lord Hayward (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker, further to the remarks by Baroness Smith of Basildon on 12 June (HL Deb col 1533), whether the cost of £9.6 million for the Peers' Entrance door includes VAT and all other associated costs.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The cost of £9.6m for Peers Entrance does include VAT. This sum covers both the design, and the construction works at the Entrance.
In addition, £1,500 in maintenance cost have been incurred for call outs where operator or user error have been the cause.
Asked by: Lord Hayward (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker, further to the remarks by Baroness Smith of Basildon on 12 June (HL Deb col 1528), whether the role to oversee the commercial function as a joint department of both Houses is an additional role in the management structure; and if so what is the cost of that role.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Parliamentary Commercial Department will be led by a Chief Commercial Officer. This is a new senior role in the management structure which will be responsible for overseeing Parliament’s portfolio of contracts, developing and implementing commercial strategies, and ensuring high-performance procurement across Parliament. The post was advertised in March with an annual salary of circa £150K, in line with market expectations for a role of this seniority and complexity in the public sector. The outcome of the recruitment process will be announced as soon as possible.