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Tributes: Staff

My Lords, it is customary at this time of the year when the House is due to rise for the Christmas Recess for me and my colleagues in the usual channels to pay tribute on behalf of the House to the staff who have facilitated our work during the year. Normally, that is done at the end of business when we move to adjourn the House. On this festive occasion, however, with the leave of the House, we propose to pay our tributes now before we proceed on to the next items of business. This has been a difficult year for the House and not just for its Members. Staff at all levels have been on the front line in facing the scrutiny and criticism that the House and its Members have attracted over the course of the year. Their professionalism, discretion and composure in handling such attention has, I am sure all will agree, been consistently impressive. I am sure that I speak for the whole House in saying that we are deeply indebted to them all. We recognise that it has been a demoralising time to be working for the House. The commitment and enthusiasm that staff at all times have and continue to display are of great credit to them. They have hugely assisted and encouraged us all. I know that my opposite numbers will in their tributes single out individual members of staff who have completed, or are shortly due to complete, their long service to the House. The former Black Rod, Lieutenant General Sir Michael Wilcox, and the staff of the House’s Judicial Office have been the subject of tributes earlier in the year, but I am sure that the House will wish to join me in reiterating our thanks to them. On this occasion, I should like to begin by paying tribute to a member of staff who on 21 August this year, at the very young age of 37, lost her battle with cancer just under eight years after having joined the Committee Office. In 2001, Siobhan Conway began her career in the House as a personal secretary in the Committee Office. She was soon promoted to become an IT support officer. In that role, Siobhan played a crucial role in supporting Select Committees and their staff, notably in the preparation and publication of their reports at a time when the activity of the House’s Select Committees grew significantly. She was an inspiration. She was known, however, not only for her expertise, which was beyond question, but also for her warmth and sense of fun. I have it on good authority that Siobhan was the life and soul of every office party and, indeed, of the very corridor on which she worked. Her loss came as a great shock to her colleagues, many of whom were present at her funeral this summer. I am sure that the whole House will wish to join me in extending our sincere condolences to Siobhan’s family and friends. I also want to focus on a member of staff who has been at the forefront of the trials and tribulations that we have experienced in the past year. Mary Morgan, a legend, was the House’s director of public information. She retired at the end of October after 13 years of service. Mary was no novice in handling politically sensitive issues of interest to the media. At a very early stage in the course of her career here, she had to address stories about the Lord Chancellor’s wallpaper and the Lying in State, to name but two, even before this year’s expenses became the hot political topic. It is perhaps an indicator of how much the House has changed that her post was originally an experiment proposed by the then Finance and Staff Sub-Committee. Mary used her role as a platform from which to build the House’s well-reputed information service. She set up and developed the highly respected and valued range of publications which now actively promote the work of the House, including the Work of the House of Lords brochure and the annual House of Lords calendars, for which, I am told, there is a market on eBay. I am sure that all noble Lords will wish to join me in thanking Mary for her immense contribution to our work and in wishing her a long and happy retirement—I should add, with or without a subscription to the Sunday Times. All that remains for me to do is to wish all staff and noble Lords a restful and enjoyable festive period and to give thanks to my colleagues in the usual channels, who, in a difficult and trying year, have been most helpful and co-operative at all times.