Question

To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker what was the recruitment process for the lay members of the Conduct Committee; how many people applied for each lay member vacancy; who conducted the interviews for these positions; and what remuneration the lay members receive.

I have consulted the Chair of the Conduct Committee in preparing this answer.

The four lay members of the Conduct Committee were appointed following an open and rigorous recruitment process. In common with other senior, lay member or non-executive positions, the House engaged a recruitment consultancy to conduct a search and initial sift of candidates. A total of 322 candidates were identified through this process. Of these, 12 were invited to interview by a panel consisting of two members of the Conduct Committee (Lord Mance, Chair, and Baroness Anelay of St Johns), the then Clerk of the Journals and two external members (Sheila Drew Smith and Emily Jackson), with the four top-ranked candidates accepting the offer of appointment. Lay members are remunerated at the rate of £600 per eight hour day.