Prison: Support for Dependent Children
Debate between Lord McFall of Alcluith and Baroness Deech(9 months, 2 weeks ago)
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The Lord Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)
My Lords, there was a one-minute delay to the clocks starting, and the 10 minutes have elapsed.
House of Lords: Number of Members
Debate between Lord McFall of Alcluith and Baroness Deech(3 years, 7 months ago)
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The Senior Deputy Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)
I call the noble Lord, Lord Roberts of Llandudno. Lord Roberts? I call the noble Baroness, Lady Deech.
Baroness Deech (CB) [V]
It seems to me that legislation to cap our numbers is being blocked in a way that does us no credit. Will the Minister urge the party groupings each to find a consensual way to limit their own numbers? The House of Lords Appointments Commission needs power to vet the suitability of proposed Peers or to cap the numbers. I hope that he agrees. If ever there was a case for getting rid of royal prerogative, this is it. I suspect that the Government think that only by shovelling us into a less comfortable venue during refurbishment, or by going entirely virtual for the duration, will we find a large number of retirements. That is not the way to do it. How does he propose that we do it?
House of Lords: Size
Debate between Lord McFall of Alcluith and Baroness Deech
The Senior Deputy Speaker [V]
I inform the noble Lord that the Burns committee is still sitting. If it had not been for the lockdown, the committee would have been producing its fourth report. I am sure that will come shortly, so I await the comments of Burns regarding peerages in light of the new Government.
Baroness Deech (CB) [V]
Will the Senior Deputy Speaker join me in congratulating the House of Lords Appointments Commission on maintaining the highest standards in approving appointments, and in the hope that I express that it will extend its remit to considering the ability of appointees to contribute to the House? In relation to the suggestion by the noble Lord, Lord Balfe, will the Minister note that to do anything like that would open the appointments system to judicial review all the way to the Supreme Court, and would drag the Crown in as those appointments are made by the Crown?
The Senior Deputy Speaker [V]
That is a very perceptive point on this issue, and it feeds into the point I made about the limits on the House and the Procedure Committee. The Appointments Commission has done an excellent job on that issue, and I am sure that any further suggestions or initiatives it produces will be looked at seriously.