Energy Bill [HL]

Baroness D'Souza Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd December 2010 Lords Chamber

[Baroness D'Souza]

My Lords, it is that extremely nice time of the year when it is a very welcome task to pay tribute to all the staff who have served us so well. I do so on behalf of the Cross-Benchers, from the lofty levels of the Lord Speaker, the Chairman of Committees, the acting Black Rod, and the Clerks, to the cleaners, and everyone in between. I extend heartfelt thanks for their support, particularly to the Cross-Benchers, during this time which, as has been said, has been somewhat difficult. There are a lot of new Peers, which is extremely welcome—it is now a very bustling House—but it is also rather difficult for the staff to have had to cope with putting names to a lot of new faces and making sure that they match. The people in catering services have had to feed many more mouths over the past few months, and have done so with great grace and cheerfulness.

I particularly single out the Doorkeepers and the Attendants, who have been consistently cheerful and patient, with wonderful memories, coping with very large Divisions taking a great deal longer than the prescribed eight minutes. It is astonishing to me how they manage to be so friendly and pleasant. I must come in and out of that door about 10 times a day, and each time, they say, “Hello”, “How are you?” and “Have a nice day”. I find that quite incredible. One does not get that on the outside. As I said before, the outside world is a bit of a shock after one has been in here for some time, because of the great deal of courtesy.

I have two retirees to whom I would like to pay tribute, both of them from the House of Lords Library, both of them with extremely long service. Colin Ross, who retired in September, has had 30 years in the Library, so will be familiar to many of your Lordships here. He was an IT whizz-kid with enormous technical knowledge and, therefore, very welcome in the Library and sadly missed—no doubt being replaced by someone who is about 12 years-old but equally good at IT. You know how the IT business goes. We understand that he is also a very keen skier, so perhaps he is also a very happy retiree this winter.

Then there is Glenn Dymond, who has 22 years in the House of Lords Library. He is not a whizz-kid at IT, but is a whizz-kid at law. He is known for his legal expertise and was highly valued by the Law Lords during his time, for whom he did a great deal of work over the years. He was also responsible for a number of the Library notes, which all of us over time will have discovered are the most excellent source of impartial information about Bills coming before this House. If anyone is not aware of them, I hereby give notice that they are ones to look at. In recent years, Glenn Dymond wrote authoritative works on the Parliament Acts, the appellate jurisdiction of the House of Lords and the creation of the Supreme Court, and the ceremony of House of Lords.

To those two retirees, we send enormously good wishes and hope that they will enjoy skiing. Glenn Dymond, as I understand it, enjoys Italy with his wife. His holiday home will now be of enormous benefit to him.

I end by extending my warmest thanks to staff—to colleagues, of course—but particularly to the staff of the House for all that they have done and wish everyone a very happy Christmas.

Motion agreed.