Found: 10:00am–12:00 midday in Committee Room 1 Attendance • Lord Speaker (Chair) • Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Found: 10:00am–12:00 midday in Committee Room 1 Attendance • Lord Speaker (Chair) • Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Found: Letter from Lord Gardiner of Kimble to Lord Johnson of Lainston, Chair of the International Agreements

Found: Letter from Lord Johnson of Lainston, Chair of the International Agreements Committee, to Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Found: Letter from Lord Gardiner of Kimble to Georgia Gould OBE MP, Minister of State (Minister for School Standards

Found: gov.uk/defra The Baroness Sheehan Environment and Climate Change Committee and Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Found: at 10am Present: Baroness Bull Lord Mancroft Earl of Caithness Lord McFall of Alcluith Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Found: 10:00am–12:00 midday in Committee Room 1 Attendance • Lord Speaker (Chair) • Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Found: midday in Committee Room 1 and via Teams Attendance • Lord Speaker (Chair) • Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Found: Membership Lord McFall of Alcluith Lord Gardiner of Kimble The Earl of Kinnoull Lord McLoughlin

Found: Membership • Lord McFall of Alcluith • Lord Gardiner of Kimble • The Earl of Kinnoull • Lord McLoughlin

Found: Apologies were received from Irene Campbell MP (delegate for Steve Barclay MP), Catherine Ward, Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Found: Barclay MP) Judith Cummins MP (for Mr Speaker) (Chair) Marianne Cwynarski Officials Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Found: MP Rachel Blake MP Lord Vaux of Harrowden Simon Burton Marianne Cwynarski Officials Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Found: In a letter to our Committee, Lord Gardiner of Kimble, Senior Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords,

Question

To ask The Senior Deputy Speaker, further to the Written Answers by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 30 July 2025 (HL9539) and 18 February 2026 (HL14266), why a safety deck was constructed for the safety of workers but does not enable access for peers and others; and what the justification is for the apparent inconsistency between the assessment of the safety implications in those two scenarios.

Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble

The area around the base of Victoria Tower is currently a restricted access construction site with preparatory groundwork, including deep excavations, underway ahead of the full scaffolding build later this year. It is not safe for Member or public access or thoroughfare. The workers who need to access the area do so with numerous safety measures in place. A pedestrian walkway will be reinstated as part of the final full scaffolding build.

No description available