Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
These initiatives were driven by Lord Hayward, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
A Bill to make provision for ensuring the secrecy of ballots cast in polling stations at elections; and for connected purposes
This Bill received Royal Assent on 2nd May 2023 and was enacted into law.
A Bill to enable competent adults who are terminally ill to be provided at their request with specified assistance to end their own life; and for connected purposes.
Lord Hayward has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting
The Parliamentary Commercial Department will be led by a Chief Commercial Officer. This is a new senior role in the management structure which will be responsible for overseeing Parliament’s portfolio of contracts, developing and implementing commercial strategies, and ensuring high-performance procurement across Parliament. The post was advertised in March with an annual salary of circa £150K, in line with market expectations for a role of this seniority and complexity in the public sector. The outcome of the recruitment process will be announced as soon as possible.
The resources costs associated with the operation of Peers’ Entrance have been met from existing pools of staff and departmental budgets, with no additional cost to the House or to the taxpayer. The average annual cost to Parliament of a front-line security officer is around £46K including salary, pension and national insurance.
The cost of £9.6m for Peers Entrance does include VAT. This sum covers both the design, and the construction works at the Entrance.
In addition, £1,500 in maintenance cost have been incurred for call outs where operator or user error have been the cause.
The cost to Parliament of a traffic marshal supervisor on the Parliamentary Estate (working 12 hours a day, 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year) would be approximately £105K including VAT. However, actual marshalling hours vary according to operational need, and this sum is not what a traffic marshal supervisor would receive in pay.
I was recently made aware that the answer to HL9892 on 19 September 2023 used data collected from a study in 2019 which looked at the total number of vehicles accessing and leaving the Estate from both Carriage Gates and Black Rod's Garden. This data was used as it was from a study carried out by traffic consultants prior to the COVID pandemic and helped inform the implementation of the one-way system in January 2023. The study provided an average estimate of traffic movements on the Estate of circa 3,500 vehicle movements in sitting times, compared to 2,500 vehicle movements during recess periods.
Since the implementation of the one-way system in January 2023 counting has been carried out internally, and the system was refined to provide more precise figures, rather than an estimate. This data was used to answer the written question HL2638 on 5 March 2024, to give an average of 4,052 vehicles in sitting times and 2,285 in recess, based on the data collected in the 2023 calendar year. Unfortunately, it was not identified in HL2638 that this was based on 2023 figures rather than the original 2019 data.
In December 2023, the cost of the provision of a marshal service at one marshal point for 12 hours a day, 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year would have been approximately £75K including VAT.
Further to the Written Answer on 28 March 2025 (HL5836), the cost of the provision of a marshal service at one marshal point for 12 hours a day, 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year would be approximately £75K including VAT.
It remains the case that Strategic Estates contracts for a service rather than paying individual marshals directly. Because working patterns and shifts are variable, it is not possible to identify accurately the annual cost of individual marshals on the Parliamentary estate. For financial year 24/25 the estimated total cost of traffic marshals to Parliament, excluding those marshalling the underground car park, is £606K excluding VAT. Illustratively, the cost of the provision of a marshal service at one marshal point for 12 hours a day, 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year would be approximately £63K excluding VAT. However, actual marshalling hours vary according to operational need, and this sum is not what an individual traffic marshal would receive in pay. In common with all of our contractors and sub-contractors working in London, we require that our traffic marshals are paid at least the London Living Wage.
The Home Office is currently considering the requirements around police suspension data, supporting the Government's commitment to strengthen the requirements on forces to suspend police officers under investigation for domestic abuse or sexual offences.
The requested data is not currently collected or held by the Home Office, and could only be obtained for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.