Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many ministers (1) in the House of Lords, and (2) in the House of Commons, are presently unpaid.
Answered by Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen
In the present Government there are five unpaid Ministers who are members of the House of Lords and three unpaid Ministers who are members of the House of Commons.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many (1) Ministers of State, and (2) Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State, in the House of Lords are presently unpaid.
Answered by Baroness Stowell of Beeston
There are three unpaid Ministers of State and three unpaid Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State in the House of Lords. A full list of ministers by department is already in the public domain on the gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/government/ministers.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government on what basis they consider that the provisions of the Lords Spiritual (Women) Bill comply with the terms of the European Convention on Human Rights, given the impact of the bill on male diocesan bishops.
Answered by Lord Faulks
The Bill is fully compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights. Both Strasbourg and domestic case law has established that the right to participate in the work of the House of Lords does not engage the Articles of the Convention.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many Ministers are presently unpaid (1) in the House of Lords, and (2) in the House of Commons.
Answered by Lord Wallace of Saltaire - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Cabinet Office)
I refer my noble friend to the answer I gave to Lord Jopling on 26 September, Official Report, Column WA399 and WA400. For reference, as of November 2014, there are three Ministers who are members of the House of Commons and ten Ministers who are members of the House of Lords who are not in receipt of a ministerial salary.