House of Lords written statement – made at on 22 March 2012.
Baroness Hanham
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
I am today announcing that key performance targets have been agreed for the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre for the period
The agency's principal financial target for 2012-13 is to achieve a minimum dividend payment to the Department for Communities and Local Government of £2.25 million as proposed in the business plan for the year.
The agency also has the following targets to achieve:
A minimum 64% occupancy of its rooms based on a theoretical full occupancy revenue of £9,680,970;overall score for value for money satisfaction of greater than 90%;the number of complaints received to be less than two per 100 events; andan average response time when answering complaints of less than four working days.
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.
