Visit: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1999/01/99/lords_reform/252856.stm

1. Visit: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1999/01/99/lords_reform/252856.stm

2.  Starter Watch ‘Parliament Uncovered’ on the House of Lords and complete a table similar to the one below. What are the differences between Life, Hereditary & People’s Peers?

3. Answers

4. Do we need an Upper Chamber?  Aims To identify the membership & key functions of the HoL To compare the functions of the HoC with those of the HoL

5.  Your task Using Roberts, p.286. Write short definitions of the following: • Lords Temporal • Lords Spiritual • Hereditary peers • Life peers • Non-party or ‘people’s peers’ • Crossbenchers

6. Membership of HoL • Lords Temporal (Peers that have been created by the monarch on the advice of the PM) • Lords Spiritual (26 most senior bishops) • Hereditary peers (Peers who inherited their title) • Life peers (Appointed as members for life, i.e. non-hereditary) • Non-party or ‘people’s peers’ (Recommended on the advice of the public by the Appointments Commission) • Crossbenchers (Independent peers)

7. Composition of the Lords • November 1999 House of Lords Act(second stage recently abandoned) • First stage of reform of upper house • 92 hereditary peers (c.10% of total) remained • 10 hereditary peers given life peerages • 2000,Appointments Commission set up to recommend ‘people’s peers’ • 679 peers, 113 women (Feb. 2004) Baroness Amos. Are women better represented in the HoL compared with the HoC?

8. Before reform

9. After reform (1999)

10.  Your task • Study Roberts, p.287-8 and Watts p.186-7 and create a spider diagram summarising the key functions of the HoL: • legislative role • scrutinising role • deliberative role • legitimating role • judicial role

11. Legislative role • HoL amends & revises Bills sent from HoC • More leisurely pace & less partisan allows for more detailed examination of Bills • Substantive amendments likely to be overturned in HoC

12. Parliament Act, 1911 Removed Lords power of veto over public legislation Power to delay Bills for maximum of two years (reduced to 1 year, Parl. Act, 1949) Removed HoL power to amend or veto money Bills Powers to veto any proposal to extend life of a Parl. Beyond 5 years Legislative role

13. Legislative role Salisbury doctrine (convention) • Conservative Leader of the Lords, Lord Salisbury, 1945 • “Since Labour govt. had a mandate to introduce policies such as nationalisation & welfare state, Lords should not oppose them at second reading”

14. Scrutinising role • HoL no structure of departmental select committees • HoL can set up committees to investigate particular policy areas or subjects

15. Scrutinising role Select Committee on European Communities • 6 sub-committees • Investigates Euro policies which raise important questions of policy or principle • Could consider ‘merits’ of proposals as well as detail • Could employ specialist advisers • Widely admired (e.g. Norton)

16. Scrutinising role Joint committee for scrutinising delegated legislation • Members of both Houses scrutinised delegated legislation such as statutory instruments

17. Scrutinising role • Question Time in HoL • Question time is briefer (30 mins. Compared with 55 mins for Ministerial Questions) • Up to four ‘starred questions’ answered per day by one peer

18. Deliberative role • Whips are present but not adhered to as rigidly as in HoC • Quality of HoL debates is open to interpretation (click here for Adonis view)

19. Legitimating role • HoC is chief legitimating (approval giving) body because it is elected • HoL contributes to legitimating because it gives formal approval to Bills

20. Judicial role • HoL is the highest court of appeal • Law Lords (including Lord Chancellor) are part of HoL

21.  Your task • Roberts p. 289. Use items A & B to list the ways in which the procedures of the HoL differ from the HoC. • Give arguments for and against maintaining that the HoL plays an important role using items A-C. • Study items C & D. Why do you think New Labour is so determined to reform the HoL?

22.  • This house believes the HoL is out of date and undemocratic and should be replaced by a wholly elected second chamber.

23.  • Do you think the House of Lords still has an important role to play in modern society? Look back over the different functions of the House of Lords and decide which in your view is the most important. Be prepared to explain your choice.

24. Statutory instruments “In order to reduce unnecessary pressure on parliamentary time, primary legislation often gives ministers or other authorities the power to regulate administrative details by means of secondary or delegated legislation known as statutory instruments. These instruments are as much the law of the land as an Act of Parliament. There are about 2,000 statutory instruments each year” HMSO, 1994, pp.77-8

25. Starred questions Starred questions are so-called because they appear on the order paper with an asterisk against them. They are asked in order to obtain specific information, and not with a view to making a speech or raising a debate, although supplementaries may be asked. In addition ‘unstarred’ (debatable) questions may be asked at the end of business on any day, when speeches may be made. HMSO, 1994, pp.91-2

26. HoL Debates – Adonis view “Lords debates may not entirely be without influence, but they rarely make an impact which is more than minor and indirect.” Adonis, 1993, p.216