12.30 pm: In the bleak Committee Room W3, adjoining the late medieval splendour of Westminster Hall. Listened to the British Ambassador to the Republic of Moldova at an All Party Group. Asked him about the million or so Moldovans who are obliged to seek work outside their country. 1.00 pm: At a larger public meeting…
One rather encouraging aspect of this summer has been the number of parliamentary select committees that have been meeting. Some have held evidence-taking sessions – some quite high profile, as with the Governor of the Bank of England – and a number have issued reports. I have not noticed such use made of the summer…
The BBC has picked up on a written answer from Baroness Royall on the cost of Parliament, showing that the cost of the Lords this past year was down on the previous year. As the figures also show, the cost of running the Lords is almost a quarter of the cost of running the Commons. We tend…
After all the dreadful stories in the past months about Parliament, I’m very pleased to bring you a piece of good news today! As many of you will know, our Information Committee has been carrying out an inquiry into how the House of Lords and Parliament as a whole can engage with the public and…
As Chairman of the Lords Information Committee, I want to tell you how we have got on in our Inquiry on “How can we improve the relations between Parliament and the Public?”. Obviously, this is now a sixty-four dollar question. Since we started in March we’ve received many many comments from people. We’re now having…
