House of Lords: Domestic Committees

Lord Wallace of Tankerness Excerpts

Monday 9th May 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Wallace of Tankerness (LD)]

My Lords, I thank the Leader of the House for introducing this debate and setting out the background to the report from the Leader’s Group on Governance, its recommendations and how she proposes to move forward. I also express thanks and appreciation to the Members of the Leader’s Group who have done a very thorough job in a relatively short time. I particularly wish to pay tribute to the noble Baroness, Lady Shephard of Northwold, for her excellent chairing of the group, the clarity with which she set out the group’s report to your Lordships’ House today, and the example she gave of the lack of clear boundaries between committee responsibilities. That underlined the need for the work that has been done. I also thank my noble friend Lady Doocey, who served on the group. She made great efforts to engage with colleagues on these Benches and ensured that our views were fed through to the work of the Leader’s Group.

I very much welcome the report from the Leader’s Group and I fully support its recommendations. As it clearly sets out, this House had changed considerably since the last time there was a thorough review of the domestic governance arrangements, conducted under the chairmanship of my noble friend Lord Tordoff in 2001-02. The House is busier, with more and more Members, who engage more regularly in the legislative responsibilities of the Chamber, which are rightly taken extremely seriously. There have been procedural innovations to ensure that more Members can participate fully in all aspects of the work of the House, such as the establishment of ad hoc Select Committees and of topical QSDs, which allow the Chamber to discuss issues that are currently relevant to the country in a timelier manner.

As the report points out, this has led to an increase in demands for services and facilities, which are necessary to ensure that the Members of this House can carry out their roles as legislators in a professional way. We cannot function as a proficient legislature, undertaking the serious work of scrutiny of the Executive, which is our primary role, without such help and support as IT support, a desk, the production and distribution of papers et cetera. This is also an important opportunity to thank all the members of staff—the clerks, the technicians, the catering staff, the cleaners—who work to support this House and its Members to ensure that we play our roles effectively and efficiently.

There is also, rightly, more scrutiny of this House than ever before. As we are an unelected Chamber, the public must be confident that our practices and procedures are as scrupulous as those in the House of Commons, if not more so. This extends not just to how we conduct our business in this Chamber, but to how we take decisions about the facilities and services that support aspects of work in the House. We have a responsibility to ensure that our internal arrangements are governed by best practice, that our financial decisions are underpinned by best value, and that we are open, transparent and accountable.

I was struck by two contradictory thoughts when looking back at the work conducted some 15 years ago under the chairmanship of my noble friend Lord Tordoff. On the one hand, progress has clearly been made in tackling some of the internal difficulties that the House faced then. It has been some time since Members felt it necessary to raise any great dissatisfaction with the delivery of services or internal governance directly on the Floor of the House. On the other hand, the issues raised in my noble friend’s review regarding communication, consultation, and clarity of roles and decision-making are still recognisable today. It is disappointing that the ambitions expressed by the review have still not been realised. In particular, the objective set out in paragraph 52 of that report—

“The fundamental objective of our suggestions is that Members of the House should be able to influence decision-making on the services and facilities that they enjoy. Views should be expressed at the beginning of the process, not at the end”—

still has not come to fruition. The role of the domestic committees as “user groups”, canvassing the views of Members and providing a vital channel of communication for Members to make complaints or suggestions about the services, has, I believe, not been realised. Therefore, I was, and remain, fully supportive of the decision of the noble Baroness the Leader of the House to establish this group to review the governance arrangements.

As well as the informal consultations that my noble friend Lady Doocey conducted among Members on these Benches, I initiated a discussion at a group meeting to enable colleagues to air their views on domestic governance arrangements in your Lordships’ House. The view of my colleagues was very much that a radical overhaul of the domestic committees is needed, including the House Committee. Colleagues felt that there needs to be more transparency in how the business of the domestic committees is conducted, and they were keen to see a fundamental change of culture and attitude in the committees, with new ways of working and support being given for new and innovative ideas.

I was therefore pleased, although not wholly surprised, to see some of these concerns well reflected in the report from the Leader’s Group. It is clear, as has been echoed in comments that have already been made about the unanimity of views expressed to the group, that the issues are not just of concern to Members of my own party, but felt right across the House. In my view, the recommendations contained in the report give us an opportunity to start afresh. As I indicated, I fully support the recommendations. I believe that the new structure proposed in the report resolves some of the issues that have been of most concern to Members. Having a strong senior committee, responsible for developing, setting and approving the strategic, business and financial direction of the House administration, will ensure that there is appropriate, high-level oversight of the running of your Lordships’ House.

A particular concern of mine during my time as a member of the House Committee is that I was not always confident that its strategic aims filtered through to the numerous domestic committees to ensure that the decisions then taken by those committees reflected the overarching objectives of the House Committee. I am pleased to see the recommendation from the Leader’s Group that the chairs of both the finance and services supporting committees should also be members of the senior committee. This will be vital to tie the work of the supporting committees into the work of the senior committee, and to ensure the flow of information in both directions.

I also agree with the conclusion of the group that there need to be clearly defined terms of reference for the domestic committees, and clearly defined reporting structures and relationships between them. I am hopeful that with fewer domestic committees, as the report suggests, it will be easier to establish who has responsibility for what, and that the many decisions taken to ensure the smooth and effective running of this House are taken at the appropriate level. I also approve of the recommendation to encourage greater sharing of working practices between senior administrative staff and Members of the House. As the noble Baroness, Lady Shephard, reflected, the committee should not approach its work as a Select Committee, even down to the seating arrangements. I do not think I am giving away any secrets if I say that the Joint Committee on the Palace of Westminster took a view very early on that we should not operate as a Select Committee but more like a board. Those of us who have served on that committee believe that has worked well.

My noble friend Lady Maddock will seek some clarification on the position of the Works of Art Committee, which she so ably chairs. This is an important committee, particularly in its role in ensuring a historical record of this House for future generations. It is important that we reflect on that committee’s views.

I recognise, as the report itself does, that the proposed new structures impact upon the duties of the Lord Speaker and the Chair of Committees. As has been said, the Chair of Committees will continue to chair, amongst other committees, those relating to the procedures of this House: the Liaison Committee, the Committee of Selection and the Committee for Privileges and Conduct. These are essential to how we operate as a House, and our reputation in the country. However, in light of the recommendations, the Chair of Committees will not chair as many committees as they did previously. I therefore ask the noble Baroness, the Leader of the House, whether she intends to take forward the suggestion in the report that the remuneration attached to the post of Chair of Committees should be reviewed. I probably share the view that a proper name will evolve and we will find it without having to go down the path of primary legislation. Given the status of the Chair of Committees—or senior deputy speaker or whatever—and of the chair of the European Union Committee, and the fact that significant salaries are attached to both, it is my personal view that they should be elected by the whole House in the same way that the Lord Speaker is.

I absolutely agree with the view expressed by the group that new ways of working are fundamental to the success of the new committee structures. For Members to be confident that the new committees are working on their behalf, there must be better communication, innovative working practices and a willingness to embrace ideas and suggestions from Members across the House. Although much of this challenge will rest on the shoulders of the chairs of the new committees, it will be incumbent upon all their members to embrace that philosophy and take it forward. I therefore hope that the leaders of the respective parties, and the Convenor of the Cross Benches, will recommend individuals for membership of these committees, bearing in mind the requirements of membership.

It was a particular honour and privilege for me to serve as Deputy Leader of this House during the latter stages of the coalition Government. I am therefore mindful that one’s responsibility, as the leader of a political party, is not just to one’s own Benches but to the House as a whole. That responsibility is to ensure that how we conduct ourselves conforms to the highest standards of propriety. I therefore conclude by saying that I look forward to taking up my responsibilities as an ex officio member of the new senior committee, and I wholeheartedly endorse the recommendations of the Leader’s Group on Governance.