Cabinet Office written question – answered at on 6 April 2017.
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb
Green
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether there is a moratorium on the appointment of new peers by the House of Lords Appointment Commission; whether the Commission has recommended any new peers since the last set of appointments in October 2015; and whether it plans to appoint any new peers in 2017.
Lord Young of Cookham
Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip), Lords Spokesperson (Cabinet Office)
There has been no change to the appointments process, which is that appointments to the House of Lords continue to be made by the Sovereign on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. This includes those nominations for non party political peerages made on the advice of the House of Lords Appointments Commission. There have been no changes made to the Commission's remit. Any future announcements about appointments to the House of Lords will be made in the usual way.
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The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
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.
