House of Lords: Size
Debate between Lord McFall of Alcluith and Lord Fowler
Lord McFall of Alcluith [V]
My Lords, I understand that the Burns committee, the Lord Speaker’s committee, has agreed to meet again to consider the latest situation. As we know, the committee is an informal body, which I do not speak for. The noble Lord would be best placed to speak to the noble Lord, Lord Burns, directly—but I will bring this Question to the notice of the noble Lord, Lord Burns.
The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)
My Lords, the time allowed for this Question has now elapsed.
Hereditary Peers’ By-elections
Debate between Lord McFall of Alcluith and Lord Fowler
The Senior Deputy Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith) [V]
My Lords, this Motion will further delay outstanding hereditary Peers’ by-elections until the start of 2021. Standing Order 10(6) states that by-elections must take place within three months of the vacancy occurring. On 23 March, the House agreed to suspend these provisions until 8 September, which at that time was expected to be the first day back after the Summer Recess. On 16 July, the Procedure and Privileges Committee met and agreed that a further suspension until the end of the year was necessary. The Motion before the House today gives effect to that decision.
The current state of the pandemic makes this suspension necessary for a number of reasons, including the difficulty of holding hustings, of allowing Members to vote in person in whole-House by-elections, and indeed for newly elected hereditary Peers to come in to take the Oath in person before contributing. I beg to move.
The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)
I call the noble Baroness, Lady Smith of Basildon.
The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)
My Lords, I have not received notice that anyone else in the Chamber wishes to speak, but does anyone else in the Chamber wish to take part? No. If that is the case, I call the Senior Deputy Speaker to reply.
The Senior Deputy Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith) [V]
My Lords, I thank Members for their comments and for the history lesson, which I followed with great interest, but I remind them that the Motion before the House relates to a suspension of the Standing Order relating to by-elections. I am very happy for Members to write to me on the relevant wider issues they wish to see the Procedure Committee looking at, and I will certainly take a report back to the Procedure Committee as a result of the wider debate today. I note that the noble Lord, Lord Trefgarne, is not in favour of these proposals or the Grocott Bill.
It is my information that the Lord Speaker’s Committee has agreed to meet again to consider the latest situation—but, again, that is not relevant to the Motion. The points made today about delaying by-elections indefinitely, with some individuals saying they should be abolished, are certainly policy issues, as the noble Baroness, Lady Smith, noted. I am content to take any comments, including those today, back to the Procedure Committee for discussion. We will meet regularly. We are meeting in the next two weeks and then in the first half of October. We have a number of meetings before the Christmas Recess, so the noble Lord, Lord Balfe, can be reassured that there is sufficient time for us to look at these issues. With that, I beg to move.
House of Lords: Remote Proceedings
Debate between Lord McFall of Alcluith and Lord Fowler
The Senior Deputy Speaker
I thank the noble Lord for his question. He has already been in touch with me this week on this issue. I mentioned to him then, and reassure him today, that this is a temporary measure. Our primary aim at the moment is to have a virtual Chamber so as to ensure that every Member of the House is able to participate to the same extent if they wish. The Procedure Committee met last week; it will meet again next week. As chairman of the committee, I can assure the noble Lord that we will meet as and when. The views of Members are important to me and to the committee. I look forward to constant engagement with Members so that we get this right. The primary aim is to get the virtual Chamber in place now and then to review it as we go along, informed by the views of Members and the usual channels.
The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)
Supplementary question: the noble Lord, Lord Newby.
The Senior Deputy Speaker
I thank the noble Baroness for her question. She may have heard me explain earlier that the House of Commons has precedence in taking up Zoom, so we have been behind on that issue. We have been advised by the experts that there are certain questions of security. I will not go through them now but I am happy to write to the noble Baroness on this issue. She may have heard the Lord Speaker on the “Today” programme this morning, where he presented the House of Commons case very well indeed and mentioned that we will hopefully move to Zoom eventually in stage 2.
The Lord Speaker
My Lords, I regret that the time allowed for this Question has now elapsed. I very much apologise to those who have been cut out by that time division.