The role of the Speaker of the This note summarises the arrangements agreed by the House of Lords in relation to the Speaker who will take up office on 4 July 2006. It draws on the documents listed in the annex.

Title The usual title of the office is “”.

Length of appointment The Lord Speaker is elected for five years. No Lord Speaker may serve for more than two terms.

Role in the Chamber of the House of Lords The Lord Speaker will enter the Chamber in procession at the start of each sitting. The House has approved for inclusion in the Companion the following description of the Lord Speaker’s role in the Chamber: (1) The primary role of the Speaker is to preside over proceedings in the Chamber, including Committee of the whole House. The Speaker seeks the leave of the House for any necessary absence of a full sitting day or more. (2) The Speaker has no power to act in the House without the consent of the House. (3) The role of assisting the House at question time rests with the Leader of the House, not the Speaker. (4) At other times of day the Lord on the Woolsack or in the Chair may assist the House by reminding members of the relevant parts of the Companion. Such assistance is limited to procedural advice and is usually given at the start of the business in hand, for example how time is to be divided between the front and back benches in response to a statement, the correct procedure at Report stage, the handling of grouped amendments, and the procedure to be followed in the case of amendments to amendments. Assistance may be helpful at other stages when procedural problems arise. (5) The Government Chief Whip advises the House on speaking times in debates. Enforcing such time limits is handled by the front benches rather than the Speaker. Timed debates are brought to an end (if necessary) by the Speaker on an indication from the Table. (6) Interventions, in particular those calling attention to the failure of an individual Member to comply with the rules, may come from the front benches or other Members. This would be the case, for example, when arguments deployed in committee were repeated at length on report. Such interventions would not normally come from the Speaker. (7) The Speaker observes the same formalities as any other Member of the House. He addresses the House as a whole, and not an individual Member. He does not intervene when a Member is on his feet. His function is to assist, and not to rule. The House does not recognise points of order. Any advice or assistance given by the Speaker is subject to the view of the House as a whole. It is expected that the Lord Speaker will occupy the Woolsack, or the Chair when the House is in Committee, usually for not less than three hours per sitting day except when other commitments as Speaker make that impossible. The Chairman of Committees or a member of the panel of Deputies would preside at other times, and in Grand Committee.

Role outside the Chamber Private Notice Questions Private Notice Questions will be submitted in the first instance to the Lord Speaker before 12 noon (or before 10 a.m. when the House sits in the morning). The decision whether the question is of sufficient urgency and importance to justify an immediate reply will rest in the first place with the Lord Speaker, after consultation, and ultimately with the general sense of the House.

Emergency recall The Lord Speaker will have the role of authorising the recall the House during a recess (under Standing Order 17), subject to consultation with Her Majesty’s Government.

Matters sub judice The Lord Speaker will have the role (previously carried out by the Leader of the House) of determining whether the sub judice rule may be overridden.

Select Committees The Lord Speaker will chair the House Committee and be a member of the Procedure Committee.

The The Lord Speaker will have formal responsibility for the security of the Lords part of the Parliamentary estate. The Lord Speaker will be one of the three “keyholders” of Westminster Hall, together with the Speaker of the House of Commons and the Lord Great Chamberlain.

Ceremonial occasions The Lord Speaker will take over the ’s role of speaking for the House on ceremonial occasions, such as the presentation of Addresses to Her Majesty the Queen.

Representational role The Lord Speaker is expected to have a strong representational role acting as non-political spokesman for the House at home and abroad. The Lord Speaker will also have an important educational role making sure that the public understand the significance of the work of the House. The Lord Speaker will represent the House at international Speakers’ conferences and entertain visiting Speakers and parliamentarians from abroad.

Miscellaneous statutory functions Schedule 6 to the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 confers on the Lord Speaker the following functions previously undertaken by the Lord Chancellor: • under the Clerk of the Parliaments Act 1824, the power to appoint, subject to approval by the House, clerks officiating at the Table other than the Clerk of the Parliaments; • under the Parliamentary Papers Act 1840, the role (held concurrently with the Clerk of the Parliaments) of certifying that papers have been published by order of the House; • under the Church of England (Assembly) Powers Act 1919, the appointment of the Lords members of the Ecclesiastical Committee; • under the Statutory Instruments Act 1946 and the Laying of Documents before Parliament (Interpretation) Act 1948, the role of receiving notifications in cases where a statutory instrument comes into operation before being laid; – 2 – • under the Consolidation of Enactments (Procedure) Act 1949, certain functions in relation to the parliamentary scrutiny of consolidation bills which incorporate “corrections and minor improvements”; • under the Exchequer and Audit Departments Act 1957, the giving of authority for an authorised officer to perform functions of the Comptroller and Auditor General; • under the Ministerial and other Salaries Act 1975, the power to determine who is the Leader of the Opposition in the House. In addition the following functions are expected to be transferred to the Lord Speaker by an Order subject to approval by both Houses: • under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, the duty of recalling the House if emergency regulations are made during an adjournment ending more than five days later; • under the Statutory Instruments Regulations 1947, the function, jointly with the Speaker of the House of Commons, of nominating the members, and establishing the quorum, of the Statutory Instruments Reference Committee. Salary and expenses The Lord Speaker’s annual salary (subject to approval of the necessary Order by both Houses) will be £102,685 from 5 July 2006 (the day after appointment), and £103,701 from 1 November 2006. In addition the Lord Speaker will be entitled to an office-holder’s allowance, currently £33,990 (220 times the overnight subsistence allowance for backbench Members) or a London Supplement of £1,667. A former Minister or MP in receipt of a Parliamentary pension would not receive that pension while holding office. It is expected that other public service pensions would not be affected, but prospective candidates should consult their pension provider. The Lord Speaker will be able to recover the same expenses as other office-holders, namely: • Secretarial expenses incurred in respect of Parliamentary duties (subject to an annual limit of £5,025 per annum); • Travelling expenses from home to the House of Lords; • Expenses of a spouse or civil partner and dependent children travelling to a parliamentary occasion in London (subject to a maximum of 15 return trips per person per annum).

Political activity The Lord Speaker will be expected to lay aside any party or group affiliation on appointment, and to refrain from political activity, including voting in the House.

Outside interests The Lord Speaker will be expected to lay aside financial interests in the following categories, based on paragraph 12 of the House’s Code of Conduct: (a) any consultancy agreement to provide parliamentary advice or services; (b) employment or any other financial interest in businesses involved in parliamentary lobbying on behalf of clients, including public relations and law firms; (c) any remunerated service provided by virtue of his or her position as a member of Parliament; (d) employment as a non-parliamentary consultant; (e) remunerated directorships; (f) remunerated employment (including occasional income from speeches, lecturing, broadcasting and journalism); (g) provision by an outside body of secretarial and research assistance;

– 3 – (h) visits with costs paid in the United Kingdom and overseas, made as a member of Parliament, except any visits paid for from public funds, and except for minor hospitality. There is no requirement to lay aside shareholdings, and there are no special requirements in relation to the interests of a spouse, relative or friend. The Registrar of Lords’ Interests will be available to advise. The Registrar shall consult the Sub-Committee on Lords’ Interests of the Committee for Privileges when necessary. A Lord Speaker who acts on the advice of the Registrar will satisfy these requirements fully.

Accommodation and support The Lord Speaker will occupy the office currently occupied by the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery on the Principal Floor and will be supported by a Private Secretary and a Personal Secretary. In addition the Reading Clerk will move to an office close to the Lord Speaker’s.

Dress The Lord Speaker will wear a gown when in the Chamber, like that worn by Clerks at the Table and QCs. Under the gown, and for other official duties outside the Chamber when a gown would not be suitable, it is expected that the Speaker will wear court dress. For State occasions and similar ceremonies outside the Chamber, when Parliamentary robes might be unsuitable, the Lord Speaker will wear a black and gold robe (without a train).

Clerk of the Parliaments’ Office 10 May 2006

Annex: documents relating to the Speakership of the House of Lords • Report from the Select Committee on the Speakership of the House, Session 2005–06 (HL Paper 92, agreed to by the House on 31 January 2006), and the Report from the predecessor committee, Session 2002–03 (HL Paper 199) • Third Report from the Procedure Committee, Session 2005–06 (HL Paper 153, agreed to by the House on 24 April 2006), and the consequential changes to Standing Orders agreed to by the House on 3 May 2006 (HL Paper 173) • First Report from the House Committee, Session 2005–06 (HL Paper 152, agreed to by the House on 2 May 2006) • Fourth Report from the Procedure Committee, Session 2005–06 (HL Paper 172, agreed to by the House on 10 May 2006)

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