The Lords of Appeal in Ordinary moved to the Supreme Court in 2009. Since then, the Library has purchased 1,298 volumes of law reports in total, with 446 volumes held in the vicinity of the offices on the Law Lords’ corridor. The cost of all volumes since 2009 is not recorded. The total spend for the current year on volumes stored in that corridor is £3,143. The Library holds the legal collection for both Houses of Parliament, and law reports are an essential part of a law library. The law reports are stored in a number of locations, including on the Law Lords’ corridor, to enable timely retrieval. There are currently no plans to move or sell the law reports. Subscriptions to law reports are reviewed at the point of renewal, and where volumes are deaccessioned from the collection they are offered to other libraries.

The Senior Deputy Speaker has asked me, as Chair of the Services Committee, to respond on his behalf. Key stakeholders including the Clerks, both Speakers and the Chief Whips were advised that a full evacuation of the Palace of Westminster, including both Chambers while sitting, was necessary to test processes under realistic conditions and to assess the effectiveness of existing fire evacuation arrangements. The advice reflected a requirement identified by the Crown Premises Fire Safety Inspectorate following an inspection in November 2024 that a full test of the Palace’s evacuation procedures should be undertaken at a busy time and occupancy. Previous drills had taken place on a non-sitting day, when only minimal numbers of staff, members and visitors were present.

The exercise was intended to respond to the Crown Premises Fire Safety Inspectorate recommendation, familiarise Members and staff with evacuation procedures, test arrangements for disabled and other vulnerable people, evaluate the effectiveness of training and fire safety systems, and identify any lessons to strengthen future emergency preparedness.

The Senior Deputy Speaker has asked me, as Chair of the Services Committee, to respond on his behalf. It is understood that there are currently 14 Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs) in place for members of the House of Lords. The nature of the exercise means it is not possible to identify whether and how every PEEP holder participated in it.

The Senior Deputy Speaker has asked me, as Chair of the Services Committee, to respond on his behalf. The House of Commons was fully involved in the evacuation drill. For the purposes of evacuation, the Parliamentary Estate is treated as a single zone. Accordingly, the House of Commons Chamber was also evacuated during a debate.

The London Fire Brigade was informed in advance of the exercise. Its control room was notified and remained in contact throughout the drill. The local Borough Commander and the Station Commander from Soho were also informed. A representative from the London Fire Brigade's Risk Management Team attended and observed the exercise in order to provide feedback. In addition, the Chief Inspector from the Crown Premises Fire Safety Inspectorate attended to observe the evacuation.

The evacuation took a total of 15 minutes from commencement of the exercise until all members of the public and staff, excluding security personnel and designated observers, had left the building.

The Senior Deputy Speaker has asked me, as Chair of the Services Committee, to respond on his behalf. The evacuation was a pre-planned fire evacuation exercise. The drill had been approved by the relevant senior stakeholders, including the Lord Speaker, the Clerk of the Parliaments, Black Rod's Department and the party Chief Whips. The Services Committee had not been informed of the drill in advance, but had supported the initiative in previous discussions.

The Senior Deputy Speaker has asked me, as Chair of the Services Committee, to respond on his behalf. The evacuation was a pre-planned fire evacuation exercise. The drill had been approved by the relevant senior stakeholders, including the Lord Speaker, the Clerk of the Parliaments, Black Rod's Department and the party Chief Whips. The Services Committee had not been informed of the drill in advance, but had supported the initiative in previous discussions.

The contract with Churchill Cleaning is jointly held with the House of Commons. Parliament has outsourced the majority of its cleaning services for more than 15 years for operational efficiency and financial reasons. It is for our contractor to explain the reasons for its employment decisions. However, the House Administrations have made clear their concerns to Churchill Cleaning about the pace and scale of the proposed changes and have received assurances regarding continued delivery to contractual standards. Our cleaners are highly valued members of our community and we are emphasising this to Churchill Cleaning in our discussions with them.

Grand Committee debates are printed and published daily in Hansard as part of a separate document and are eventually included in the Bound Volumes. They are produced to the same timelines and standards

The Administration and Works Committee (the precursor to the Services Committee) decided in December 2012 that the daily reports of proceedings in the Chamber and in Grand Committee, and of written answers and statements, should be printed separately. This decision was taken to reflect member demand for the Grand Committee daily report which is typically around a third the demand for the Chamber daily report and to reduce cost and paper wastage.

This approach to printing Hansard has continues to reflect member demand & deliver significant savings to the House, as well as wider environmental benefits.

The presence of the Lords Spiritual in the House of Lords reflects the constitutional position of the Church of England as the established Church and the Sovereign as the Supreme Governor of the Church.

The Government believes the House of Lords benefits from having a membership with a wide and diverse range of backgrounds including faith and religion.

Essential works to lift HOP12 as part of the overall lift refurbishment programme are expected to last until the summer recess.