House of Lords written statement – made at on 24 June 2009.
Lord Brabazon of Tara
Chairman of Committees, House of Lords, Deputy Speaker (Lords)
On
The chairman of the SSRB has asked me to forward to Members the following message.
"I should like to invite all Members of the House of Lords to attend one of the discussion groups to be hosted by the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB). The SSRB is, at the request of the House of Lords and the Prime Minister, conducting a review of the financial assistance available to Members of the House of Lords.
In order to understand the various positions and views among Members of the House of Lords, we shall be hosting three discussion groups as part of the consultation process. To encourage Members to feel able to express themselves freely and frankly, there will be only a non-attributed, summary record of the discussions.
The groups will be held at the House, in the Moses room, at:
15:30-17:00,
12:00-13:30,
15:45-17:15,
A consultation document will be circulated before the discussion groups, highlighting the issues we hope to address. The SSRB looks forward to meeting you and hearing your views.
Bill Cockburn, Chairman of the Senior Salaries Review Body".
The house of Lords is the upper chamber of the Houses of Parliament. It is filled with Lords (I.E. Lords, Dukes, Baron/esses, Earls, Marquis/esses, Viscounts, Count/esses, etc.) The Lords consider proposals from the EU or from the commons. They can then reject a bill, accept it, or make amendments. If a bill is rejected, the commons can send it back to the lords for re-discussion. The Lords cannot stop a bill for longer than one parliamentary session. If a bill is accepted, it is forwarded to the Queen, who will then sign it and make it law. If a bill is amended, the amended bill is sent back to the House of Commons for discussion.
The Lords are not elected; they are appointed. Lords can take a "whip", that is to say, they can choose a party to represent. Currently, most Peers are Conservative.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
