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House of Lords' Offices: Select Committee Report

3.44 p.m.

The Chairman of Committees: My Lords, I beg to move that the Second Report from the Select Committee (HL Paper 54) be agreed to. Perhaps I may say a word or two on the two subjects of smoking and accommodation. This is about as near a baptism of fire as one can get. The Offices Committee met following a letter from 18 Members who had written to the noble Lord, Lord Mackay of Ardbrecknish, in December requesting changes to the House's smoking policy. As a result, both the Offices Committee and its sub-committees have reviewed the rules and made proposals which are contained in the report.

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This is a compromise. People at either end of the spectrum will not be totally satisfied, but the Offices Committee believes that this offers provision for both smokers and non-smokers. The details are in the report. I shall go into the details later if noble Lords wish. I hope that noble Lords accept that this is a reasonable compromise. This subject arose yesterday in the Second Reading debate. The message from the House was that there had to be reason and compromise in these difficult matters. I hope that noble Lords accept this.

I turn to the question of accommodation. There has been considerable worry about the amount of accommodation available to noble Lords. I believe that this has become particularly acute since another place has built a rather large building in which to accommodate itself. That shows up the disparity in accommodation between the two Houses. The noble Lord, Lord Trefgarne, will move an amendment in a moment and I shall reply to that in detail. But perhaps I should tell noble Lords immediately that the Leaders of the three main parties and the Convenor have written to the Leader of the House of Commons to request the return of 43 rooms located on the upper committee corridor south, which is above the Lords end of the committee corridor. The rooms were not identified in the report, because at that stage a letter had not been sent to the Commons and we did not want to frighten them off before they received it. No response has been received so far, but that is only because it is fairly recent.

Moved, That the Second Report from the Select Committee (HL Paper 54) be agreed to.--(The Chairman of Committees.)

Following is the report referred to:

The Committee have met and been attended by the Clerk of the Parliaments and the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod.

1. Black Rod

The Queen has approved the appointment of Lieutenant-General Sir Michael Willcocks KCB as Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod and Serjeant-at-Arms in succession to General Sir Edward Jones.

The Committee wish to record their gratitude to Sir Edward Jones for the assistance which they have received from him during the six years he has served as Agent of the Administration and Works Sub-Committee.

2. Smoking Policy

The Committee have reviewed smoking policy in the House of Lords and make the following recommendations.

LIBRARY

The Library comprises the Truro Room (the silence room at the northern end); the Derby Room (between the Truro and Brougham Rooms); the Brougham Room (newspapers); the Queen's Room (stall); and the Salisbury Room (round the corner, separate from the main suite of rooms). At present, smoking is permitted in the Brougham and Derby rooms, but not elsewhere.

The Committee recommend that smoking should be permitted in the Truro Room and prohibited elsewhere; and that the Salisbury Room should be provided with different furniture and become a silent area in place of the Truro Room.

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REFRESHMENT OUTLETS

The House's smoking policy varies across its different refreshment outlets, which are listed in the first column in Annex A. The current rules for each outlet are set out in the second column of the table in Annex A.

The Committee recommend the following changes to existing policy in the refreshment outlets:

- Dining Room Guest Area: the introduction of a designated smoking area in the far corner where smoking is permitted after 1.30 p.m. at lunch; after 5 p.m. at tea; and after 8.30 p.m. at dinner

- Dining Room Long Table: smoking permitted after 5 p.m. at tea; and after 8.30 p.m. at dinner (no change to the existing no-smoking rule at lunchtime)

- Guest Room Bar and Lords Bar: no smoking at the counter

- Home Room: no smoking at any time

The effect of these recommendations is set out in the third column of the table in Annex A.

OTHER AREAS

The current rules on smoking policy in other areas are set out in the second column of the table in Annex B.

The Committee recommend the following changes to existing policy:

- No smoking in corridors and staircases, except in the Committee corridor (it is already permitted at the Commons' end of the Committee corridor); and the Bishops' corridor (between Prince's Chamber and the Library).

- No smoking in division lobbies.

- No smoking in the TV room.

The effect of these recommendations is set out in the third column of the table in Annex B.

3. Accommodation

The Committee reviewed the office and other accommodation available to the House of Commons and the House of Lords, and agreed that the Leaders of the parties and the Convenor of the Cross-Bench Peers should approach the Leader of the House of Commons with a view to recovering certain accommodation for use by Members of the House of Lords.

The Committee also agreed, as part of a strategy to achieve a significant improvement in working conditions for Members, to adopt a target that each Member who requires a desk should have 10m ² floor space. At present, desks are allocated on the basis of 5m ² floor space.

4. Medical screening for peers

The Committee agreed that, on a rolling basis, once every three years each Member of the House should be offered free medical screening. A similar service is already available for MPs. It is intended that screening will be provided within the Palace of Westminster under a contract with St Thomas's Hospital. As the contract will have to be negotiated and extra staff recruited, it is unlikely that the new service will be available until 2002.

5. Salaries of the Chairman and Principal Deputy Chairman of Committees

The Committee approved revised salaries for the Chairman of Committees (from £66,294 to £68,283 per annum) and the Principal Deputy Chairman of Committees (from £61,773 to £63,626 per annum), with effect from 1 April 2001, following similar salary increases for Ministers.

6. Printing and Publishing Services

The Committee took note of the award of contracts to The Stationery Office plc for the printing of the Minute, Hansard and Select Committee documents, with effect from 1 April 2001.

7. Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology

The Committee took note of the establishment on a permanent basis of the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology from 1 April 2001. Since 1993 POST has been funded under temporary arrangements which expire on 31 March 2001.

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Annex A--Smoking policy in the refreshment outlets
Area	Current policy	Recommended policy
Dining Room Guest Area	Lunchtime: yes, smoking permitted after 1.30 p.m. Tea: no rules Dinner: yes after 9 p.m.	Designated smoking area in far corner in the "L" where smoking permitted as follows: Lunch: after 1.30 p.m. Tea: after 5 p.m. Dinner: after 8.30 p.m.
		no smoking elsewhere*
Dining Room Long Table	Lunchtime: no Tea: no rules Dinner: yes	Lunchtime: No: Tea: Yes after 5 p.m. Dinner: Yes after 8.30 p.m.
Guest Room Bar	Yes	Yes, other than at the counter
Bishops' Bar Coffee Room (sandwich counter)	No	No (no change)
Bishops' Bar Main Room	Yes	Yes (no change)
Home Room	Lunchtime: no Dinner: yes	No
Barry Room	Yes	Yes (no change)
Millbank House (to open October 2001)	No	No (no change)
Lords Bar	Yes, except in non-smoking area	Yes, other than in the non-smoking area and at the counter
Staff restaurant	No	No (no change)
*The exact dividing line between smoking and non-smoking tables to be decided flexibly by management, according to demand.
Annex B--Smoking policy in the general areas
Area	Current policy	Recommended policy
Members' Offices	No, unless all occupants of the room decide to permit it	(no change)
Committee corridor	Yes	Yes (no change)
Other corridors and staircases	Yes	No, except in the Bishops' Corridor (between Prince's Chamber and the Library)
Division lobbies	Yes	No
Telephone kiosks, lavatories, lifts	No	No (no change)
Writing Room	Yes	Yes (no change)
TV Room	Yes	No
Prince's Chamber	No	No (no change)
Peers' Lobby	No	No (no change)
Royal Gallery and Robing Room	No	No (no change)
Committee rooms-- Main building, and 1 The Abbey Garden Conference Room	Public meetings: no Private meetings: no, unless the Committee decides to permit it	(no change)
Millbank House Conference Room	No

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Lord Trefgarne rose move, as an amendment to the above Motion, at end to insert "and that this House, while in no way wishing to replicate the scale or the degree of comfort that the House of Commons has seen proper to provide for its Members, considers that the conditions for its own Members are in need of drastic improvement and believes that it should set itself the same target as the House of Commons set for itself in 1987, namely of providing an office for every Member who wants one, and accordingly:

(i) requests the House authorities to ascertain as soon as possible how many Members wish to have (a) an office to themselves, (b) shared office space and (c) office space for a secretary/researcher; and

(ii) asks the Leader of the House to open discussions with the Leader of the House of Commons with a view to a division of the Palace of Westminster on all floors on a line running through the Central Lobby on the axis of St. Stephen's Hall".

The noble Lord said: My Lords, I rise to move the amendment standing in my name on the Order Paper to the Motion moved by the Chairman of Committees. I confess that the inspiration behind the amendment comes from the noble Lord, Lord Gilbert, who has been much concerned with these matters for a long time. The noble Lord and I have had a number of conversations on this matter, and I share the broad thrust of his views, although perhaps not every single word. Be that as it may, for almost 40 years I have had the privilege of being a Member of your Lordships' House, and the plain fact is that for all that time there has been an acute shortage of accommodation for every noble Lord. Even in the far off days there were insufficient desks and rooms, and only the most senior noble Lords had anything like the kind of facilities which were necessary. I believe that I had been here for 15 years before I was even on the list for a desk, never mind a room. By and large, nowadays it is only Ministers or Opposition Front Bench spokesmen who have that facility. Therefore, the thrust of the amendment, inspired by the noble Lord, Lord Gilbert, but supported and moved by me today, is one with which I have total sympathy.

As the amendment points out in paragraph (i), there is considerable doubt as to how many noble Lords want the more spacious facilities suggested. I agree it is probable that not every noble Lord would want a room of his own. Some noble Lords would be satisfied to have even a desk. Many noble Lords do not have one. Perhaps there are some noble Lords who do not want even that.

The broader point contained in paragraph (ii) of the amendment is a separate matter but one which, in the new circumstances in which we find ourselves with the different relationship between the two Houses, should be considered.

The position of the Pugin Room is one issue which has, for a very long time, rankled with many noble Lords. A few years ago that room was hijacked--there is no other word for it--by the House of Commons. We should have stood up to them and not allowed them to have it. I hope that in the Chairman of

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Committee's discussions with the authorities of the other place he will put the recovery of the Pugin Room at the very top of his list of priorities.

The Chairman of Committees referred to the 43 rooms which may be available from above the committee corridor. That would certainly be a just return, given, as the noble Lord pointed out, the new and very grand premises now available to the other place on the other side of Bridge Street.

Certainly the time has come for an important review of the facilities available to noble Lords. Many noble Lords are much more active than Peers were in former years. For example, when I first took my seat in this House none of the European sub-committees even existed. So the work which noble Lords contribute to those committees was not part of the activity of the House at all. There were a tiny number of Select Committees of your Lordships' House which involved a few Members of the House and which would not, perhaps, have justified the suggested increase in the facilities which are now called for.

Clearly a new situation exists. The Chairman of Committees has said that he is involved in discussions with the authorities in the other place on the matter. I very much hope that those discussions succeed. In the meantime, I hope that my amendment will add strength to his elbow. I beg to move.

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