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Annual Report 2014-15 HOUSE OF LORDS Annual Report 2014/15 Published by TSO (The Stationery Office) and available from: Online www.tsoshop.co.uk Mail, Telephone, Fax & E-mail Published by the Authority of the House of Lords TSO PO Box 29, Norwich, NR3 1GN London: The Stationery Office Limited Telephone orders/General enquiries: 0870 600 5522 Fax orders: 0870 600 5533 £8.50 E-mail: [email protected] Textphone 0870 240 3701 HL Paper 23 TSO@Blackwell and other Accredited Agents Ordered to be printed 14 July 2015 House of Lords Annual Report | 2014/15 3 Contents Foreword by the Lord Speaker 4 Preface by the Clerk of the Parliaments 5 House of Lords Administration Structure 6 Introduction 7 Implementation of the Business Plan 13 Expenditure 36 Audit Committee Annual Report 2014/15 38 Sustainability Report 47 Diversity and Corporate Responsibility Report 52 Appendix A: House of Lords Administration Strategic Plan 2014-19 54 Appendix B: House of Lords Organisation Structure 57 Appendix C: Composition of the House of Lords 2014/15 58 Appendix D: Activity Data 2014/15 60 Appendix E: Aggregate Activity Data 2011-2015 63 4 House of Lords Annual Report | 2014/15 Foreword by the Lord Speaker This year’s Annual Report demonstrates the volume and breadth of work undertaken by the House during the final session of the 2010-15 Parliament. The House scrutinised a total of 36 bills in the Session including significant Government bills such as Modern Slavery and Serious Crime as well as high-profile Private Members’ Bills including the Assisted Dying Bill. The House’s Select Committees also continued to be effective in considering specific areas of Government policy in detail. Select Committee work in this session included three ad-hoc Committees which produced significant reports on Digital Skills and the UK economy, Affordable Childcare and the Arctic. The House also appointed a Committee to conduct post-legislative scrutiny of the Extradition Act 2003 and extradition law. This has been a year of positive change in terms of rules on membership of the House. One of the most welcome developments was the entry into force of the House of Lords Reform Act 2014 last August, which allowed members to retire from the service of the House. 11 members retired in the 2014-15 session, with others following suit in the dissolution period and the new Parliament. I would like to use this opportunity to reiterate my thanks for the years of public service provided by those members who have now retired. The year has also seen two other important developments on membership of the House. The House of Lords (Expulsion and Suspension) Act 2015, a private members’ bill sponsored by my predecessor Baroness Hayman, made provision for the House to expel or suspend members in certain circumstances. The Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015 made time-limited provision for vacancies among the Lords Spiritual to be filled by bishops who are women in order to ensure women bishops are present in the House as soon as possible. These important changes go toward ensuring the membership of the House is fit for a 21st Century Parliament. The Annual Report also demonstrates the hard work going on to make Parliament more sustainable. The Sustainability Report included below shows progress toward achieving our objectives for reducing carbon emissions, water consumption, waste generation and recycling. This is important work in which every member and member of staff needs to play their part to help the House achieve its goals. This programme is just part of the wider efforts of the Administration to support the work of the House and ensure it functions efficiently and effectively, which is amply demonstrated in this Annual Report. D’Souza House of Lords Annual Report | 2014/15 5 Preface by the Clerk of the Parliaments The year covered by this report, largely coinciding with the last session of the 2010-15 Parliament, was a busy one for the House of Lords Administration, with a particular focus on partnership and joint working with the House of Commons. In addition to maintaining business as usual, perhaps the most high-profile issue was the future of the Palace of Westminster and preparations for the publication of the Independent Options Appraisal in June 2015. Taking the Restoration and Renewal Programme forward will be a major priority in 2015/16. There was much else besides, including the work leading up to the formation of the Parliamentary Digital Service on 1 April 2015. The Digital Service brings together all online and ICT services (previously divided between the Parliamentary ICT Service and the Web and Intranet Service) into a single organisation with the aim of delivering rising levels of satisfaction with Parliament’s digital services from Members, staff and the public. In relation to security, the House Committee and House of Commons Commission agreed to a more coherent governance structure following a review commissioned jointly by the Clerks of both Houses, and to bring the Metropolitan Police Service’s civilian security officers in-House. Both changes will come into effect during the next year. The House of Commons Governance Committee, which reported in December, recommended twice- yearly meetings between the House of Commons Commission and the House Committee, and the first such meeting will take place in October 2015. The House of Commons Governance Committee also supported a suggestion which I made in evidence that there should be a review of the opportunities for further joint working between the two Houses. The results of that work are due to be discussed at the joint meeting in October. Governance in the House of Lords is now the focus of a Group appointed by the Leader of the House which was announced in March 2015 and is chaired by Baroness Shephard of Northwold. This Annual Report includes for the first time a Diversity & Corporate Responsibility Report. This is an area in which we have made some good progress recently but where in some respects, as shown for example in the diversity statistics for appointments made in 2014/15, I am keen to be able to do much better. One of my aims over the coming year will be to see how we can most effectively focus our efforts, not just in relation to staff of the House but also, for instance, in meeting the needs of disabled members and visitors. On this, and more generally, I am keen to hear ideas about how the Administration can better serve the House and its members. I look forward to continuing to engage with the Leader’s Group on governance and then to working with members to make a success of implementing any changes which the Group may recommend. David Beamish House of Lords Annual Report | 2014/15 Administration Structure Lords of House 6 Principal Ofce Holders Baroness Lord Sewel D’Souza Chairman of Lord Speaker Committees Da Management Board Andrew David Beamish Clerk of the Parliaments Clerk of the Parliaments’ Ofce Da Da Da Da Da Da Andrew Andrew Andrew Andrew Andrew Da Andrew Simon Elizabeth David Andrew MatthewRobRob To m Edward Carl Burton Hallam Smith Leakey Makower Greig Mohan Ollard Woodall Reading Director of Black Rod Finance Director of the Director of Clerk Director of Clerk Information Director Parliamentary Human Assistant Facilities Services and Black Rod’s Digital Resources Corporate Services, Librarian Department Finance Service Parliamentary Department Overseas Ofce and Department Human Services of Facilities Lord Speaker’s Ofce Information Services Parliamentary Resources Digital Service Heads of Offices netJ BenetPatrickP Benet netJ BenetJ netJ BenetAdrain Brownf netJ Patrick Benet Adrian Chloe netJPhilippa Jake John Tim Fiona Vollmer Hiscock Brown Mawson Tudor Vaughan Vice Lamming Smith Director of Director of Director of Clerk of Clerk of Clerk of Editor of Head of Head of Library Public Parliamentary the Journals Committees Legislation Debates Catering and Property and Services Information Archives Retail Services Office Services Journal Committee Legislation Hansard Library Information Parliamentary Ofce Ofce Ofce Catering and Property and Ofce Archives Retail Services Ofce Services July 2015 House of Lords Annual Report | 2014/15 7 Introduction The strategic aim of the House of Lords Administration is to enable the House and its members to carry out their parliamentary functions effectively. This annual report for the financial year from 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2015 shows delivery against that aim of the House of Lords Business Plan 2014/15.1 The report focuses primarily on strategic developments for the Administration and sets out an assessment, by strategic objective, of the fulfilment of the chief tasks contained in that Business Plan. This is the first annual report to be published under the House of Lords Administration’s Strategic Plan 2014-19, adopted by the House Committee on 18 June 2013 (Appendix A), which also informed the production of the 2015/16 Business Plan published in March 2015.2 Alongside the Sustainability Report, a Diversity and Corporate Responsibility report is included in this report for the first time. House Committee The House Committee is the principal domestic committee of the House. It sets the policy framework for the Administration of the House, provides non-executive guidance to the Management Board and has particular responsibility for financial matters. It approves the House’s strategic, business and financial plans, annual reports, annual estimates and supplementary estimates and supervises the arrangements relating to financial support for members. The House Committee has approved this annual report. The Committee, which is chaired by the Lord Speaker, has twelve members. The Leaders of the three main parties, the Convenor of the Crossbench Peers and the Chairman of Committees are members on an ex officio basis.
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