🗣️ Speeches and Debates
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Time is up. The Tellers for the Contents and for the Not Contents have not been appointed pursuant to Standing Order 53. A Division therefore cannot take place, and in accordance with Standing Order 56, which provides that the Question before the House shall be resolved in the negative unless there is a majority in favour of such rejection, I declare the Motion disagreed to. Happy Recess....
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My Lords, I should say first that I think we are fortunate that the two Back-Bench Members of the Joint Committee from this House will bring to its deliberations a very deep level of expertise and experience of the issues. I do not think that we could have selected two stronger candidates. On the particular issues that the noble Lords raised, the basis of selection for the Joint Committee is...
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I am sorry that I forgot the question asked by the noble Lord, Lord Foulkes—a sin of omission indeed. My understanding is that the committee will operate on the basis of Mr Grayling in the Commons chairing one session and the Leader of this House chairing the alternate session. I understand that that is how they will proceed.
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I can give that confirmation: it is six each. Motion agreed.
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My Lords, I beg to move the first Motion standing in my name on the Order Paper and in so doing will speak to the first and second Motions. The two Motions before the House will implement the House’s new power to expel Members or to suspend them for any length of time. As such, it gives effect to the House of Lords (Expulsion and Suspension) Act 2015. The new Standing Order will allow the...
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My Lords, I appreciate that this is an unusual request and therefore it may be appropriate to give a few words of explanation. The Select Committee on the Equality Act 2010 and Disability includes several members who use wheelchairs or whose mobility is restricted. The committee will meet on Tuesday afternoons, and therefore its meetings may well coincide with Divisions in the House. If there...
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An independent appraisal of options for the restoration and renewal of the Palace of Westminster is published today. It was requested by the House of Commons Commission and the House of Lords House Committee in the last Parliament following a pre-feasibility study and preliminary strategic business case which was published in October 2012. The new study has been carried out by a consortium...
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My Lords, as we have seen over recent weeks, there are few certainties in politics, so it is reassuring to know that one continues to exist: the annual criticism by the noble Lord, Lord Pearson of Rannoch, of the establishment and composition of the EU Select Committee and its sub- committees. I will deal with the points that he raised. The House considered the number and scope of the EU...
More of Lord Sewel's speeches and debates
✍️ Written Questions and Answers
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In June 2012 a working group established by the Speaker of the House of Commons and the Lord Speaker reported on the operation and funding of all-party groups. The working group had three members of the House on it. It heard from the then chairman of the House of Lords Sub-Committee on Lords’ Conduct; conducted an email survey of members of the House; and held a discussion meeting open to...
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No representations have been made by the House of Lords authorities to the Speaker of the House of Commons about the decision that only MPs can chair All-Party Parliamentary Groups. Since the House of Commons passed the first resolution regulating all-party groups in 1985, decisions on the rules for all-party groups have been for the House of Commons. The Register of All-Party Groups is...
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No. Paragraph 84 of the Guide to the Code of Conduct states that “Other non-financial interests are not normally registered, though it may be necessary in certain circumstances to declare them. Such interests include: other trusteeships, for example of private estates; unpaid ordinary membership of voluntary organisations or pressure groups; membership of churches or other religious bodies...
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The maximum amount of financial assistance available to opposition parties will be: £259,357 to the Liberal Democrat party in the period 8 May 2015 to 31 March 2016; and £577,871 to the Labour Party in the period 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2016. The amount given may be less, depending on claims. For each subsequent year, the maximum amount for the previous year is increased by the percentage...
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The House’s Estate has been carefully managed over the last fifteen years to enable the Administration to provide a desk to all Members who need one, whilst pursuing objectives of good management of property and value for money, and working within agreed property benchmarking and space targets. Desks are allocated to the party groups by the Accommodation Steering Group (a sub-group of the...
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It is difficult to estimate the amount of asbestos that is present in the Palace of Westminster and on the parliamentary estate because asbestos materials of various types have been widely used (often concealed in ducts and voids, and buried in the fabric of the building) over the years. Before the dangers of asbestos were known it was used extensively in building works due to its strength...
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The tiles in St Stephen’s Hall were not in a special pattern to mark the spot of Spencer Perceval’s assassination as some have suggested; they were poor repairs done after the original tiles were damaged during the Second World War. A plaque has been erected in St Stephen’s Hall near the spot where Spencer Perceval was assassinated.
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The Parliamentary Estates Directorate has links with Historic Royal Palaces and the occupied Royal Palaces. These bodies, along with the Government Historic Estates Unit and the National Trust, share knowledge gained from both the execution of works affecting the historic fabric of their buildings and the extensive research which precedes any such operation. The Restoration and Renewal...
More of Lord Sewel's written questions
