1ST REPORT FROM THE PROCEDURE
COMMITTEE
Assistance in the Chamber
1. We have considered a request from Baroness
Campbell of Surbiton that she be allowed to call upon an assistant
both to provide practical and personal help in the Chamber or
Grand Committee, for instance in managing papers or taking notes,
and, on occasions when she is unable to complete a speech, to
read out the text of that speech on her behalf.
2. Standing Order 12, which dates from 1707,
states that "When the House is sitting, no person shall be
on the floor of the House except Lords of Parliament and such
other persons as assist or attend the House." The Report
of the Committee of Privileges on which this Standing Order was
based made it clear that this prohibition should apply to "all
Persons, except the necessary Attendants of the House".[1]
These "Attendants of the House" are the staff of the
House—clerks and doorkeepers—whose work in supporting
the House as a whole requires them to be on the floor of the House
while the House is sitting. Thus Standing Order 12 prohibits the
admission of a member's personal assistant (such as a researcher),
and we are clear that this general prohibition should be maintained.
3. Baroness Campbell of Surbiton was nominated
by the House of Lords Appointments Commission in 2007 on the basis
of her work in the field of equal rights for those with disabilities,
including as a Commissioner of the Disability Rights Commission.
The nomination was made in full knowledge of the progressive nature
of her own disability. The House has an excellent record in supporting
disabled members, and it is right that it should do everything
possible to enable Lady Campbell to continue to draw on her experience
and knowledge in contributing to the work of the House. Her condition
is such that she already needs a high level of support, and this
level will increase further as time passes.
4. The concept of a "reasonable adjustment"
or "reasonable accommodation", a modification to the
physical environment or to working practices made in order to
assist a disabled person to participate equally in normal activities,
is familiar in domestic and international law.[2]
Such an adjustment may be made in response to special circumstances
affecting a particular individual. In Lady Campbell's exceptional
case, not agreeing to her request for personal assistance in the
Chamber would limit and ultimately prevent her from taking part
in the work of the House. Moreover, the nature of the assistance
she requires is such that it is more appropriately provided by
her carers, rather than by other members or by staff of the House.
Her request that her assistant be on hand to provide her with
personal and practical help is therefore, in our view, a reasonable
one in the circumstances.
5. The same principles apply to Lady Campbell's
request that her assistant be authorised to read out speeches
on her behalf. Hitherto other members of the House have finished
reading speeches which Lady Campbell has begun. However, we do
not consider it appropriate that she should continue to be required
to seek the help of other members in order to be able to participate
in the work of the House. We therefore conclude that this request
too is a reasonable one in the circumstances: her words, when
she cannot herself deliver them, should be spoken by an assistant,
employed by her and whose presence will not be recorded in the
Official Report.
6. In agreeing to Lady Campbell's requests, we
are grateful for her assurances, made in person to the Committee
and in a subsequent letter to the Chairman of Committees, that
she will use her judgement in deciding when to make use of these
adjustments, so as to ensure that other members of the House are
not inconvenienced or inhibited. In particular, she has indicated
that she will not consider bringing an assistant into the Chamber
at times when it is full, such as during oral questions.
7. In conclusion, we emphasise two further considerations:
first that we regard these measures as reasonable adjustments
in light of Lady Campbell's exceptional circumstances; and, secondly,
that the general principle contained in Standing Order 12, as
set out in paragraph 2 above, will continue to apply. Any further
request for such adjustments would be considered afresh, in light
of the specific circumstances of the individual case.
8. We therefore recommend that Standing Order
12 be dispensed with to the extent necessary to enable Baroness
Campbell of Surbiton's assistant to enter the chamber of the House,
or any committee of the House, in order to provide her with necessary
practical and personal help, and to read out the text of speeches
on her behalf.
Divisions
9. In the last two years the average size of
whipped divisions has increased very considerably. In the 2009-10
session the average number of members voting in whipped divisions
was just under 200; in 2010-12 this rose to almost 380. Larger
divisions have caused long queues to form in and around the chamber
and the lobbies. This has in turn resulted in divisions taking
significantly longer.
10. The size and lay-out of the chamber and lobbies,
and number of members voting, mean that there is limited scope
to speed up divisions. However, we are persuaded that giving tellers
discretion, once both tellers and both clerks are in place, to
start counting members through the lobbies, rather than waiting
for the question to be repeated after three minutes, would help
to reduce the length of queues. In the event of either the contents
or the not contents not replying when the question is repeated
after three minutes, the division would be cancelled as at present.
11. We recommend that tellers be given discretion,
once two tellers and two clerks are in place, to start counting
members through the division lobbies.
House of Lords Business
12. We have considered a number of proposals
from the Clerk of the Parliaments to make savings by reducing
the number of pages printed in House of Lords Business.
We have agreed the following changes, which will take effect when
the House returns in October:
- The full lists of "Motions
for Balloted Debate" and "Questions for Short Debate"
will be printed weekly, rather than daily.
- Any new motion falling under "Other Motions
for Debate" will be printed on the day it was tabled, but
the daily printing of the full list of Other Motions for Debate
will be discontinued.
- Lists of members voting in divisions will no
longer be printed in House of Lords Business, but will
continue to be printed in the Official Report and the House of
Lords Journal.
13. Up-to-date lists under all these headings
will continue to be published in the daily online version of House
of Lords Business. However, it is expected that the reduction
in printing described above will yield a saving to the House of
around £50,000 per annum.
1 Lords Journal, volume 18, p. 306. Back
2
The concept of "reasonable adjustment" was set out
in the Disability Discrimination Act 1995; "reasonable accommodation"
is defined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities, which was ratified by the United Kingdom in
2009. Back
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