The work of the House of Lords

Rowena Hammal

The work of the House of Lords

Functions

In the financial year 2011–2012 the House of Lords cost £108.8 million. This

equates to approximately £3.61 per taxpayer.

So, what do the Lords do to justify that money?

There are three main functions of the House of Lords. If you can, jot them down

from memory…

The work of the House of Lords

Functions

The functions of the House of Lords are:

1To make laws.

2To scrutinise the executive and hold it to account.

3To provide a source of specialist knowledge and expertise.

The work of the House of Lords

Making laws

A bill may begin in the House of Commons or the House of Lords. If a bill originates in

the Commons, once it has passed its third reading it is passed to the House of Lords

where:

It is discussed by the whole house.

It is examined by a committee which writes a report suggesting amendments.

Amendments are voted on by the whole house.

The amended bill is discussed by the whole house (Third Reading).

The amended bill is then sent back to the House of Commons, which discusses the

amendments and decides whether to accept them.

Example: The Lords made 374 amendments to the Health and Social Care Bill. These

were all agreed by the Commons, and the bill received royal assent in 2012.

The work of the House of Lords

Making laws

What if the two houses disagree?

If the Commons does not accept the amendments, or if it amends them further,

the bill is sent back to the Lords. It may go back and forth between the houses until

agreement is reached. This is called ‘parliamentary ping-pong’ – see here for an

example, the 2005 Prevention of Terrorism Bill.

If the Lords refuses to agree with the Commons, the Commons can use the

1949 Parliament Act to force the bill through. This allows the Lords to delay a bill by

1year, but no longer. It is used rarely: a recent example was the Hunting Act (2004).

The Lords cannot delay a money bill.

The work of the House of Lords

Scrutinising the executive

The House of Lords scrutinises the executive (government) in the following ways:

Questions Peers put questions to a government spokesperson at the start of the

day, in a 30-minute question-time session.

Debates Peers debate specific issues and at the end of each debate a government

minister responds to the matters raised.

Example: In 2011 the Lords debated the Libya crisis.

Select committees These are set up to consider areas of public policy. Some are

fairly quick enquiries with a narrow focus, others are broader so take longer. A

report of their findings is debated in the House of Lords and responded to by the

government.

The work of the House of Lords

Scrutinising the executive

Select committee examples:

In 2011 the Science and Technology Committee published a report onBehaviour

change and ‘nudging’. This criticised the government’s strategy of ‘nudging’ people

to change their behaviour, finding that ‘nudging’ alone was unlikely to be effective,

and that some regulatory measures were required.

In 2013 the Public Service and Demographic Change Committee published Ready

for ageing? This report argues that Britain faces a demographic time bomb due to a

rapidly ageing society, and that no government, including the current coalition, has

adequately prepared for this.

The work of the House of Lords

Expertise

The House of Lords Appointments Commission recommends people for non-political

Crossbench peerages. Political parties recommend people for party-political

peerages. As a result, there is a range of expertise in the House of Lords:

Ex-politicians make up the largest group.

There are large numbers of lawyers, business people, financiers, and academics.

There are smaller numbers of architects, engineers, transport experts, teachers,

scientists, and representatives of the leisure industry.

Peers with a background in manual trades are rare.

What are the benefits and limitations of this range of expertise?

The work of the House of Lords

Benefits of peers’ expertise Specialist knowledge means that some Lords will be able to offer excellent

insights in debate.

Example: In the 2011 Lords debate on Libya, many of the speakers had extensive

international experience, including three former defence chiefs and a former

NATO secretary general.

Lords’ committees have many members with relevant knowledge and expertise.

Example 1: The committee which examined the Health and Social Care Bill included

many current practising doctors, who used their working knowledge of the NHS to

draft amendments.

Example 2: many top scientists sit on the Science and Technology Committee,

including Lord Winston, the fertility expert and television presenter.

The work of the House of Lords

Benefits of peers’ expertise Lords can be appointed who have expertise in particular areas, or are a member

of particular groups, which would otherwise be underrepresented in Parliament

Example 1: Tanni Grey-Thompson is a former Paralympian who uses a wheelchair

and has spina bifida. As one of the few disabled parliamentarians, she has been

heavily critical of the government’s disability benefit reforms. See article here.

Example 2: Waheed Alli is a media entrepreneur and a Labour life peer. He is also

one of the few Muslims in Parliament, and the first openly gay member of the

House of Lords.

The appointments system allows a House of Lords which is actually more diverse

than the elected House of Commons.

The work of the House of Lords

Limitations of peers’ expertise

Some groups remain relatively underrepresented, e.g. science and engineering.

However, this is a problem for Parliament in general, as the House of Commons

has even fewer members with a background in science.

Peers do not use their professional expertise all the time: often they will debate

issues in which they have no specialist knowledge.

Acquiring professional expertise takes time, so peers have a much higher

average age than the general population.

Having busy careers means that some peers do not have time to attend many

sessions in the House of Lords.

Regardless of their expertise, peers are unelected. Reform campaigners argue

that this is undemocratic and means that the House of Lords is unaccountable

to the electorate.

The work of the House of Lords

Definitions check

It’s important to be able to define key terms. You should be able to write

approximately four sentences for each definition, including an example. You should

also know about some of the most important legislation which has affected the

Lords.

See how well you do with the following examples, and then use the hyperlinks to

help you with any problems.

The work of the House of Lords

Questions to consider

1 ‘The House of Lords is essential if British legislation is to be properly considered.’

Do you agree?

2 Why do Lords Select Committees perform an important function? (Give as many

reasons as you can.)

3 Has the removal of hereditary peers improved the House of Lords? (Explain why)

4 Should the Lords Spiritual be removed from the House of Lords?

5 What limitations does the House of Lords face when carrying out its work?

6 Does the House of Lords provide good value for money to the taxpayer?

7 Is further reform of the House of Lords needed?

The work of the House of Lords

Learn more

The following websites provide additional information if you wish to study this topic

in greater depth:

http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/laws/passage-bill/ gives an excellent

explanation of how a bill is passed through Parliament.

http://www.parliament.uk/documents/lords-information-office/work-of-the-house-of-

lords-2010-12.pdf is a report into the work of the Lords in 2010–12, and is full of

detailed examples.

http://www.parliament.uk/business/lords/whos-in-the-house-of-lords/members-and-

their-roles/how-members-are-appointed/ explains how peers are appointed.