My original reply set out national insurance and income tax deductions made from all gratuities. In addition, a 3% card commission deduction is made from table gratuities paid using credit and debit cards. This will be reviewed.

Between 1 January and 31 December 2014 the House of Lords Administration advertised 81 job vacancies on either the intranet (for internal vacancies) or the parliamentary website (for external vacancies). All external vacancies were open to internal applicants. Of the 81 job vacancies advertised, 42 (51.85%) were advertised to external candidates on the parliamentary website. In many cases, externally advertised vacancies were also uploaded onto job boards and specialist websites.

All Catering and Retail Services staff, with the exception of staff grade A and above, receive a share of gratuities and function service charges, including those paid on debit and credit cards. The formula for working out the share for each permanent member of staff is based on contracted hours. Gratuities are distributed three times a year through payroll after deductions for National Insurance and income tax. A proportion of gratuities and function service charges is paid to zero hour staff (none of whom has a contractual exclusivity clause) split on a pro-rata basis according to the number of hours they have worked.

The House of Lords Administration offers three internships: one in the Committee Office and two in the library. These posts are salaried. In addition, the Administration offers an apprenticeship in the library and up to 24 work experience placements for school students.

The Encaustic Tile Programme is a seven year conservation programme to replace and repair the encaustic tiles throughout the Palace of Westminster. As part of the programme, tiles which are in good condition are either left in place or re-used elsewhere whenever possible.

In some cases, the tiles cannot be re-used elsewhere, and the Administration and Works Committee in the Lords and the Administration Committee in the Commons have agreed that, in these cases, some tiles should be kept for archival purposes, some tiles should be donated to museums or related institutions, and a limited number of tiles should be sold.

The Committees in both Houses are currently discussing the details of this proposal.

75 people are currently employed on zero-hours contracts in the House of Lords Administration, with 43 of those employed in Hansard and 32 in Catering and Retail Services. The Administration has no plans to introduce zero-hours contracts in other offices.

No apprentices or interns are currently employed by the House of Lords Administration, nor have any been employed in the past five years. The Administration does not offer apprenticeships, but it does run training schemes for certain groups of staff including staff in Catering and Retail Services, the Parliamentary Archives (the only bicameral department based in this House), the Finance Department and the Human Resources Office. These schemes involve sponsored study with day-release or study leave and lead to recognised professional qualifications. The Administration has a generous scheme of support for further and higher education. It also runs a work experience programme, which this year hosted 21 work experience students.

In the last five years, PICT has employed two apprentices and no interns. Of those, neither have become full-time members of staff.

The House of Lords provides funding for the Opposition and the Convenor of the Crossbench Peers (“Cranborne money”), but the use of that money is a matter for those offices.

That room has been allocated to the Labour Party, and the use of that room is therefore a matter for the Labour Accommodation Whip. For security reasons, the House does not disclose publicly to whom particular rooms are allocated on the parliamentary estate.

The allocation of offices within the House of Lords part of the Parliamentary Estate is shown below, broken down by political party or group. Offices across the estate vary in size considerably, as do the number of desks in each office. The allocation of desks within offices is managed by the relevant political party or group.

There are only seven offices allocated specifically to Peers' personal staff, all of which are in the outbuildings. Peers' staff may also sit at the desk of the Peer for which they work, with the Peer's permission.

Apart from the party rooms mentioned below, there are no other study rooms or researchers' rooms allocated to particular parties or groups.