Lord Lamont of Lerwick

Within the House of Lords, Non-Executive Directors (NEDs) are expected to provide an independent view and expertise on service delivery and provision, governance, and boardroom best practice. The Lords Management Board is seeking two NEDs to bring complementary skills and experience to the Board to provide advice, support and challenge about the management and delivery of services to the House of Lords. The renumeration of the NEDs is in line with wider public sector practice and within the House’s governance arrangements. The remuneration for 2024/25 is £9,495 per annum based on 15 days of engagement.

The House of Lords Management Board supports the Clerk of the Parliaments in the discharge of his functions as Accounting Officer, Corporate Officer and employer of House staff. The Board takes strategic and corporate decisions for the House of Lords Administration within the framework set by the House of Lords Commission. The Commission provides high-level strategic and political direction for the House of Lords Administration on behalf of the House. The Commission works with the Management Board to develop, set and approve the strategic business plan, the annual business and financial plans for the Administration and monitor the performance of the Administration against agreed targets.

The responsibilities of the Management Board are set out in more detail in its terms of reference, and include:

· Preparing the strategic plan, business plans, financial plans, annual estimates and annual reports for approval by the House of Lords Commission;

· Managing the resources agreed by the House of Lords Commission;

· Assessing and managing each of the House of Lords Administration’s corporate risks, and maintain a system of prudent and effective controls;

· Monitoring the House of Lords Administration’s performance in achieving its objectives, as set out in the strategy approved by the House of Lords Commission; and

· Managing change in the House of Lords to increase, protect and drive value for money, improve performance and reduce costs so that the House operates and delivers services more efficiently and effectively.

By statute, the Clerk of the Parliaments is accountable to the House of Lords as a whole, but in practice this is primarily channelled through the Commission. The Clerk of the Parliaments regularly reports to the House of Lords Commission on the work of the Administration, and the Commission, Services, Finance, and Audit and Risk Assurance Committees scrutinise the work of the House of Lords Administration.

The full Terms of Reference are set out in the Management Board Handbook and Operating Framework, which is available on ParliNet.

This is a fair and open competition approach in line with sector-wide best practice, including in the Civil Service. All candidates are asked to submit a full application and provide an anonymised CV. While the supporting HR team have full access to candidates’ information, the recruitment panel receives anonymised information which enables candidates’ written applications to be assessed solely against the job criteria. The element of anonymity ends once candidates are shortlisted and invited to interview.

The amount spent by the FCDO on provision of the Continuity in Education Allowance for 494 children in UK schools in the financial year 2023/24 was £14,502,476.00

On 29 July, the Government announced that, as of 1 January 2025, all education services and vocational training provided by a private school in the UK for a charge will be subject to VAT at the standard rate of 20%. This will include fees paid by CEA.

A small minority of diplomatic officials and service personnel are posted abroad for extended periods. In such circumstances, the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office provide the Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) to ensure this does not interfere with their children's education.

The government will monitor closely the impact of these policy changes on affected military and diplomatic families with any changes to this scheme being considered as part of the ongoing Spending Review.

The Government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity, ensuring every child has access to high-quality education, which is why we have made the tough decision to end tax breaks for private schools. This will raise revenue for essential public services, including investing in the education system.

The Government has set out the details of this policy in the technical note Applying VAT to Private School Fees and Removing the Business Rates Charitable Rates Relief for Private Schools which can be found at the below link. A technical consultation on the technical note and draft VAT legislation will be open until 15 September 2024.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-on-private-school-fees-removing-the-charitable-rates-relief-for-private-schools

The cost of Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) overall for FY 2023/24 for the Ministry of Defence was £88.35 million. Of the total contributed in FY 2023/24, £13.9 million was to Service Personnel serving overseas; this equates to 16% of MOD's total spend of the allowance.