ANNEX
A JOINT NOTE FROM THE BRITISH-AMERICAN PARLIAMENTARY
GROUP, BRITISH GROUP OF THE IPU, BRITISH IRISH INTER-PARLIAMENTARY
BODY, CPA UK BRANCH
Rt Hon. the Baroness Hayman
Lord Speaker and Chairman of the House Committee
House of Lords
London SW1A 0PW
November 2007
THE FOUR PARLIAMENTARY GROUPS - PARTICIPATION
OF MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS IN THE FOUR PARLIAMENTARY GROUPS[1]
Reference:
A. Four Groups Joint Submission to Lord Speaker
dated 1 November 2007.
The House of Lords Committee has requested further
details of the participation of Peers to the work and activities
of the four Parliamentary Groups.
Each of the four Groups greatly values the experience
and commitment that Peers bring, although it is for Peers themselves
to decide how valuable their participation is. Further details
are:
Membership. Peers' membership
of the four Groups is:
- BAPG
- BGIPU
- BIIPB
- CPA UK Branch
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- 260 Peers (386 MPs)
- 336 Peers (443 MPs)
- 6 (+ 3 Associate) Peers (19 (+ 17 Associate) MPs)
- 317 Peers (432 MPs)
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Representational - The Lord Speaker. The
Lord Speaker is Joint President of the BAPG, BGIPU and the CPA
UK Branch. In that capacity she hosts receptions, meets incoming
delegations and frequently speaks at events for these Groups.
As an example, on Monday evening 26 November 2007 the Lord Speaker,
together with the Speaker and the Prime Minister welcomed the
85 parliamentary delegates to the International Parliamentary
Conference on Climate Change being run by the CPA UK Branch.
Governance - Executive Committees. Peers are officers
and members of the Executive Committees of the Groups:
- BAPG
- BGIPU
- BIIPB
- CPA UK Branch
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- 3/16 members of ExCo are Peers
- 5/25 members of ExCo are Peers
- 1/3 members of the Steering Committee is a Peer
- 3/24 members of ExCo are Peers, one is Vice-Chairman
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Activities. Although taken across the year, Peers' participation
in the activities of the four Groups is perceived to be in the
region of 30% (slightly lower in the case of the BAPG), much of
the day-to-day participation is not recorded and the table below
shows examples from 2006 records from the BGIPU and the CPA UK
Branch, and the 2007 records from the BIIPB, which reflect an
overall slightly lower participation of 28.45%. However, it is
important to take into account other tangible support that Peers
give to activities; such as participating on panels and in the
body of conferences and seminars held at Westminster, asking questions
pertaining to each of the four Groups in the House, participating
in debates about the Groups or organisations they represent (the
Commonwealth debate, 9:22 pm on Wednesday 18 July 2007) and meeting
with overseas visitors to Westminster.
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- Conferences in Ireland & UK (Total) - 32%:13 Peers, 28 MPs
- Committees A-D - 37%: 9 Peers, 15 MPs
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- Outward Delegations - 22%: 13 Peers, 45 MPs
- Inward Delegations - 25%: 68 Peers, 208 MPs
- IPU Assemblies - 24%: 4 Peers, 13 MPs
- Other Conferences - 33.3%: 4 Peers, 8 MPs
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- Outward Delegations - 21%: 13 Peers, 50 MPs
- Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference 2007 - 33.3%: 3 Peers, 6 MPs
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The Intangibles. It is considered that it also is most
important that account is taken of the great warmth and general
support that Peers give to the four Groups.
Allowances - Comments. As stated in Reference A, the Chairman
of the BAPG and Father of the House, Rt Hon. Alan Williams MP
is most keen to stress the view that the current rules applying
to House of Lords' expenses inhibit the participation of Peers
in the events of the four Groups other than the annual conferences.
Andrew Tuggey
Andrew Tuggey DL
Secretary
CPA UK Branch
1 The four Parliamentary Groups - the British-American
Parliamentary Group (BAPG), British Group IPU (BGIPU), British
Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body (BIIPB) and the CPA UK Branch. Back
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