Lord Foulkes of Cumnock
Main Page: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)
Lord Hope of Craighead (CB)
My Lords, I should like to follow what the noble Baroness has just said. I too am a member of the Liaison Committee. When we were told about the people who should be thanked, it occurred to me that among others they should be the clerk to the committee and those who worked for her. One thing which all of us shared was a substantial briefing, prepared by her and her assistants, on each of the topics before us. The decisions that we took were based not only on discussion among ourselves but on private reading, so that we had informed ourselves as to what the issues were and how the various contestants should be balanced against each other. As was pointed out, it was a two-stage process. First, there was the reduction of a wide number of cases to a shorter list. Secondly, when we looked at it again, that shorter list was supported by further research. It should be understood that these decisions are not taken lightly. I am not aware of any political influence. As a Cross-Bencher, I think that the decisions were taken on their merits and on the basis of the information which we were given.
Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab)
My Lords, as I am a member of the committee as well, I want to endorse what the noble and learned Lord, Lord Hope, has just said. The staff did a tremendous job. I hope that my noble friend Lord Campbell-Savours was not implying that a huge amount of work was not done by them, because it was—they did scoping reports on each of the subjects, right from the start. As my noble friend knows, I agree with him that his is an important topic but, with respect, he is not the only one who is disappointed by their topic not having been chosen.
One thing that the Senior Deputy Speaker said needs to be underlined. I agree on the importance of the work of committees of this House. I have recently been rather annoyed by some of the comments about the work of the House, which have detracted from the work done in committees. I was particularly disappointed that the documentary series “Meet the Lords”, which otherwise had some quite good parts in it, did not cover the work of committees. The EU Select Committee and all its sub-committees, and all the other committees, were not there. When I suggested to one of the producers that they should cover them, they said, “Committees are boring—they don’t make good television”. But if you want to give a clear idea of what the House does, you should cover committees, where a huge amount of work is done.
I must declare an interest. Not only am I a member, but I was lucky enough this year that the only topic I suggested was elaborated on and ultimately included in the recommendations.
Lord Foulkes of Cumnock
The House is jumping to the wrong conclusion. If your Lordships look back to a year ago, you will see that I also spoke in that debate and, on that occasion, I had put forward six proposals. None of those was accepted and I still thought that the committee had done a damn good job.
Particularly with the noble Lord, Lord McFall, in the chair—like with his predecessor the noble Lord, Lord Laming—a huge amount of careful work is done. The noble Lord, Lord McFall, spent hours and hours going into this and discussing options with the staff. In the end, someone will always be disappointed—more than one on this occasion, although only one has raised it.
I would go along with what my noble friend Lord Campbell-Savours has said, and if further resources are available, the topic ought to be looked at carefully. But I hope that will not stop this report being endorsed, because as I understand it, the committees need to be up and running immediately after the Queen’s Speech if they are to be effective. If we delay endorsing this report until after Easter, that will not be possible. I hope we will give a vote of confidence to the noble Lord, Lord McFall, and to the staff of the Liaison Committee, who have done a tremendous job.
Lord Harries of Pentregarth (CB)
I would like, very briefly, to commend the committee for its work on a very wide and interesting range of subjects, but in particular for the way, at least in respect of one proposal, it has managed to put together three proposals. That seems to me to be a very satisfactory way of approaching this, if it is possible.