Motion to Agree

Part of Privileges Committee: Second Report – in the House of Lords at 3:45 pm on 16 March 2010.

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Photo of Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe Labour 3:45, 16 March 2010

My Lords, I shall follow up on the points made by the noble Lord, Lord Neill of Bladen. I have two questions. The first relates to an issue that I spoke on back in November when I expressed my unease at the inability to raise issues that would lead to changes in the code of conduct, which at that time I felt was deficient.

Paragraph 4 makes it clear that the sub-committee will review the guide and the code and change it as appropriate. However, if an individual Member of the House has cause for dissatisfaction, not with another Peer, but feels uneasy about particular rules or paragraphs in the guide or the code, how can that individual raise the matter and ensure that it is examined and acted upon if appropriate? I have described previously how, when one felt unhappy and went to different Leaders or Clerks, quite often the complaint disappeared somewhere within the machinery of the House. I would like some clarity on that.

If there is a requirement for a change, I hope that at that point we might pick up on my previous suggestion to my noble friend the Leader of the House. We need a reference to the Register of Lords' Interests, Members' Interests, and those of secretaries and research assistants. The House will recall that the press went into this some years ago and, as a consequence, we were required to draw up such a register. I felt that the lack of reference to this was an omission from the report of the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Eames. I understand that there is an indirect reference in the facilities document which comes before us later this afternoon, but quite frankly, it has disappeared. Unless we cover issues such as accountability, we leave ourselves open, the press will come back to them and the House will be in difficulties again. I hope that I can finally have an answer on what will happen in that regard. Do I need to continue pursuing the issue in one form or another and, if so, what is the mechanism for doing so?

My final point concerns the undertaking in paragraph 9, on which we have had a full discussion and which I fully support. It states:

"We hope that the House of Lords Appointments Commission will be willing to assist by making potential nominees for peerages aware of the provisions of the Code of Conduct-though it would be inappropriate for the Commission to require the potential nominee to undertake before nomination that they would sign the undertaking".

I would like to know why. I have spoken to the noble Lord, Lord Jay of Ewelme, about some of the issues arising from the operation of the Appointments Commission. We see at the other end that more examination of public appointments is taking place. I am in favour of elections, but I do not foresee them in the near future, and I find it amazing that we may have 80 or 90 new Peers entering this House without any changes in the procedures under which they will be appointed.

I would have hoped that we might have given a stronger indication to the Appointments Commission on how it might conduct its affairs. If promises are given to or required of individuals to enable them to enter the House, that should be known publicly. It should be open to the public and to the House to examine those issues in due course. We should ask the Commission very firmly to ensure that the code of conduct is signed in advance by anyone who wants to enter the House.