---

House of Lords: Financial Support for Members

My Lords, I should make it clear at the outset that I speak personally on this matter, although, from the limited consultations that I have been able to undertake, I believe that other Members on these Benches welcome the report and urge its speedy implementation. A number of speakers have already emphasised the word "independence". Indeed, the independence of the recommendations is what is important at this time. The self-regulation of the House is a very important characteristic of the House, but self-regulation does not preclude proper recourse to independent and authoritative advice. That is the key aspect of this report. Even if some Members of the House feel unhappy about aspects of the report, independence is absolutely crucial, as the noble Lord, Lord McNally, emphasised. I also associate myself with the noble Lord’s views on the Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill and on other issues to do with the reform of the House. In many ways, I am a minimalist in this, but if we do nothing we will jeopardise the House as we know it more than anything. That lurks in the background of our debate this afternoon. I have a couple of words to add about accommodation, particularly given the general experience of Members on the Bishops’ Bench, who are usually not here sufficiently often to justify renting accommodation. I strongly welcome the idea of access to a booking agent or accommodation office for Members of the House, which would be very valuable particularly when we need to book accommodation at short notice. If we are booking some way ahead, I am sure that suitable accommodation within the figure of £140 could be found. Sometimes, however, business comes up at short notice in the House and one needs to book accommodation, so to have the use and protection of an accommodation office would be a wholly helpful development, not least if the market rate in London at that time was pushing above £140. Indeed, I go further and ask why, if we might be able to use a travel card, the underlying bill itself should not be met by the accommodation office directly if the accommodation has been booked through it. There is one small proviso, however. The report talks about the recommended standard of accommodation, but, so far as I can see, is rather silent about what that standard should be. That needs to be teased out with care, because it should not be assumed that all we need is a bed for the night. If I am in London, typically I work into the evening on the business of the House. I could work in the Bishops’ Room, but the Bishops’ Room has only three desks and I ask noble Lords to imagine what would happen if all 26 Bishops turned up to work in it. You would need the Danish police to exercise crowd control and to sort things out. There is a need to have somewhere outside the House where one can at least have a desk or a table at which to work. Those who maintain flats almost certainly have that. Those who stay in booked accommodation need more than just a bed. I am not asking for luxury, and I hope that the House Committee will look at those matters. Secondly, there is an assumption in the report that Members of the House have only one principal residence. In the case of Bishops, that is a little hard. We have a see house where we live, but which we do not own. Typically, towards retirement, a bishop may buy a retirement house somewhere else in the country. Most often, understandably, we will travel to London from our see house. I do not think that I have ever travelled to London from my house in the Scottish borders, but I can imagine that circumstances will arise when I will need to do so. We need to give attention to whether there can be proper reasons why a Member of the House has two residences; that is, the principal residence and, as in my case, a separate house which for tax purposes is the only house that I own. I hope that the House Committee will look at details of that sort. I feel that it is incumbent upon us to look at issues like that and to move as swiftly as we can to accept this report.