House of Commons Public Bill Committee Proceedings

Session 2013 - 14
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Other Bills before Parliament

1

House of Commons

Wednesday 15 January 2014

Public Bill Committee Proceedings

House of Lords Reform (No. 2) Bill

Dan Byles

Agreed to  1

Clause  1,  page  1,  line  2,  after ‘A’ insert ‘member of the House of Lords who is a’.

Dan Byles

Agreed to  2

Clause  1,  page  1,  line  2,  after ‘or’ insert ‘otherwise’.

Dan Byles

Agreed to  3

Clause  1,  page  1,  line  5,  leave out ‘retirement or’.

Dan Byles

Agreed to  4

Clause  1,  page  1,  line  10,  leave out ‘Retirement or resignation’ and insert

‘Resignation’.

Clause, as amended, Agreed to.

Dan Byles

Agreed to  5

Clause  2,  page  1,  line  12,  leave out ‘peer who’ and insert ‘member of the House of

Lords who is a peer and’.

Dan Byles

Agreed to  6

Clause  2,  page  1,  line  14,  leave out ‘Subsection (1) applies’ and insert ‘A peer

“does not attend the House of Lords during a Session”’.

Dan Byles

Agreed to  7

Clause  2,  page  1,  line  15,  leave out ‘did not attend at any time during the Session’

and insert ‘at no time during the Session attended the House’.

Public Bill Committee Proceedings: 15 January 2014
2

House of Lords Reform (No. 2) Bill, continued

Dan Byles

Agreed to  8

Clause  2,  page  1,  line  18,  at end insert—

‘( )
Subsection (1) does not apply to a peer in respect of attendance during a Session

if—

(a)
the peer was disqualified from sitting or voting in the House, or

suspended from its service, for the whole of the Session, or

(b)
the House resolves that subsection (1) should not apply to the peer by

reason of special circumstances.’.

Dan Byles

Agreed to  9

Clause  2,  page  1,  line  19,  after ‘of’ insert ‘attendance during’.

Dan Byles

Agreed to  10

Clause  2,  page  2,  line  4,  leave out ‘from’ and insert ‘in respect of attendance

during’.

Dan Byles

Agreed to  11

Clause  2,  page  2,  line  4,  at end insert ‘and subsequent Sessions’.

Clause, as amended, Agreed to.

Dan Byles

Agreed to  12

Clause  3,  page  2,  line  8,  leave out ‘is to be treated as having been convicted of a

serious offence’ and insert ‘“is convicted of a serious offence”’.

Dan Byles

Agreed to  13

Clause  3,  page  2,  line  9,  after ‘person’ insert ‘, while a member of the House of

Lords,’.

Dan Byles

Agreed to  14

Clause  3,  page  2,  line  13,  leave out subsection (3) and insert—

‘( )
It is irrelevant for the purposes of subsection (2)—

(a)
whether the offence is committed at a time when the person is a member

of the House of Lords;

(b)
whether any of the offence, conviction, sentence, order, imprisonment or

detention occurs in the United Kingdom or elsewhere; (but see

subsection (6)).

( )
The reference in subsection (2) to an offence is only to an offence committed on

or after the day on which this section comes into force.’.

Public Bill Committee Proceedings: 15 January 2014
3

House of Lords Reform (No. 2) Bill, continued

Dan Byles

Agreed to  15

Clause  3,  page  2,  line  17,  at end insert—

‘( )
The reference in subsection (2) to a person being sentenced or ordered to be

imprisoned or detained indefinitely or for more than one year does not include

such a sentence or order where the sentence or order is suspended.’.

Dan Byles

Agreed to  16

Clause  3,  page  2,  line  18,  leave out ‘takes effect on the day on which’ and insert

‘under subsection (2) takes effect when’.

Dan Byles

Agreed to  17

Clause  3,  page  2,  line  19,  leave out from ‘If’ to end of line 21 and insert ‘a person

who has ceased to be a member of the House of Lords in accordance with this section is

successful on appeal—’.

Dan Byles

Agreed to  18

Clause  3,  page  2,  line  23,  at beginning insert ‘on the issue of that certificate,’.

Dan Byles

Agreed to  19

Clause  3,  page  2,  line  24,  at end insert—

‘( )
A person who has ceased to be a member of the House of Lords in accordance

with this section “is successful on appeal” if, and only if, the Lord Speaker

certifies that—

(a)
the conviction certified under subsection (2)(a) has been quashed, or

(b)
the sentence or order certified under subsection (2)(b) has been—

(i)
varied so that it is no longer a sentence or order that the person

be imprisoned or detained indefinitely or for more than one year

within the meaning of subsection (2)(b), or

(ii)
replaced with another sentence or order that is not a sentence or

order that the person be so imprisoned or detained.’.

Clause, as amended, Agreed to.

Dan Byles

Agreed to  20

Clause  4,  page  2,  line  33,  after ‘not’ insert ‘be entitled to’.

Dan Byles

Agreed to  21

Clause  4,  page  2,  line  34,  after ‘Life Peerages Act 1958,’ insert ‘by virtue of the

dignity conferred by virtue of appointment as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary,’.

Dan Byles

Agreed to  22

Clause  4,  page  2,  line  37,  leave out subsection (4) and insert—

Public Bill Committee Proceedings: 15 January 2014
4

House of Lords Reform (No. 2) Bill, continued

‘(4)
If the person is a hereditary peer who is excepted from section 1 of the House of

Lords Act 1999 by virtue of section 2 of that Act, the person ceases to be excepted

from section 1 of that Act (and accordingly section 3 of that Act applies (removal

of disqualification on voting in parliamentary elections or being an MP)).’.

Dan Byles

Agreed to  23

Clause  4,  page  2,  line  39,  leave out from beginning to ‘disqualified’ and insert ‘If

the person is a peer other than a hereditary peer, the person is not, by virtue of that

peerage,’.

Dan Byles

Agreed to  24

Clause  4,  page  2,  line  42,  at end insert—

‘( )
In relation to a peer who ceases to be a member of the House of Lords in

accordance with this Act, any reference in section 1(3) or (4)(b) of the

Representation of the People Act 1985 to a register of parliamentary electors is to

be read as including—

(a)
any register of local government electors in Great Britain, and

(b)
any register of local electors in Northern Ireland,


which was required to be published on any date before the date on which the peer

ceased to be a member.’.

Dan Byles

Agreed to  25

Clause  4,  page  2,  line  42,  at end insert—

‘( )
The Standing Orders of the House required by section 2(4) of the House of Lords

Act 1999 (filling of vacancies) must make provision requiring the holding of a by-

election to fill any vacancy which arises under this Act among the people

excepted from section 1 of that Act in consequence of an election.’

Dan Byles

Agreed to  26

Clause  4,  page  2,  line  42,  at end insert—

‘( )
Subject to section 3(5), a person who ceases to be a member of the House of Lords

in accordance with this Act may not subsequently become a member of that

House.’

Clause, as amended, Agreed to.

Dan Byles

Agreed to  27

Clause  5,  page  3,  line  3,  leave out ‘, and shall not be questioned in a court of law’.

Clause, as amended, Agreed to.

Clause 6 Agreed to.

Public Bill Committee Proceedings: 15 January 2014
5

House of Lords Reform (No. 2) Bill, continued

New Clause

Interpretation

Dan Byles

Agreed to  NC1

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)
For the purposes of this Act a person is a member of the House of Lords if the

person is entitled to receive writs of summons to attend that House.

(2)
In determining whether a person is so entitled, ignore—

(a)
section 2 of the Forfeiture Act 1870 (disqualification on conviction of

treason);

(b)
sections 426A and 427 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (disqualification on

insolvency);

(c)
regulation 4 of the European Parliament (House of Lords

Disqualification) Regulations 2008 (S.I. 2008/1647) (disqualification

where MEP).

(3)
In this Act “peer” includes a person upon whom a dignity has been conferred by

virtue of appointment as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary.’.

Dan Byles

Agreed to  28

Title,  line  1,  leave out ‘retirement’ and insert ‘resignation’.

Bill, as amended, to be reported.



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