House of Lords: Appointments Commission

Lord Low of Dalston Excerpts

Monday 28th November 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park]

I am afraid that the noble Lord will expect my answer not to be yes. What is most important is that this House does an incredibly important job, and we can see by looking across the House, and across all Benches, the wealth of expertise and experience that we have. This is important and we should celebrate and talk positively about the role of the House, rather than perhaps continuing to add to some of the public perception that we do not do the job which we actually do.

[Lord Low of Dalston (CB)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as a member of the House of Lords Appointments Commission. The commission has not discussed this issue but, speaking for myself, an amendment of the kind suggested by the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, would be not unhelpful because it is often quite difficult to radically distinguish questions of suitability and propriety.

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park]

I thank the noble Lord for his insight, particularly in view of his role, but as I said, we have no plans to amend the commission’s remit.