Whilst the lack of women in prominent positions in the House of Commons has already drawn comment elsewhere on the site, in the Lords, the story is rather different, especially from a Liberal Democrat perspective. With nominations now confirmed for all but the sub-committees of the European Union Select Committee, our Leader in the Lords, Jim Wallace, and Chief Whip, Dick Newby, have drawn upon the array of talent within our Parliamentary Party – now 35% female – to reflect its new position as the legislative engine for scrutiny within the Party. So, who should we be watching out for over the next session? We’ll start with the four new Ad Hoc Committees, set up to look at particular topics.
The Equality Act 2010 and Disability Committee has been set up to consider the impact of the Act on people with disabilities, and Party President and wheelchair user, Sal Brinton, and Celia Thomas, a Vice President of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, will be representing us there.
The Built Environment Committee will look at the development and implementation of national policy for the built environment – think planning and infrastructure. Matthew Taylor, who led the 2012 review of government planning practice guidance, and Kate Parminter, a former Chief Executive of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, will be authoritative voices.
Emma Nicholson will chair the Sexual Violence in Conflict Committee, ably supported by Meral Ece, as they consider the UK’s policy and practice of preventing sexual violence in conflict.
And finally, Claire Tyler’s efforts to persuade the House to examine the issues around social mobility have been rewarded by the creation of the Social Mobility Committee, which will consider social mobility in the transition from school to work. She will be joined there by Margaret Sharp, who has spoken on education in the Lords in recent years.
There are five permanent Committees in the Lords, all of whom will be key to enabling proper scrutiny of the Government’s programme in the coming year.
The three nominees to the European Union Committee are all women. Ros Scott continues in post, and is joined by Kishwer Falkner and Alison Suttie. The Committee is currently engaged in some important new initiatives, and having three Liberal Democrats with established internationalist credentials is very welcome.
Given some of the less welcome proposals coming out of the Government, having a credible voice on the Constitution Committee will be key, and Anthony Lester and Robert Maclennan will doubtless have much to say in terms of proper devolution of powers both to the nations and regions.
John Sharkey and Robin Teverson are among the new members of the Economic Affairs Committee, which tends to look at such insignificant topics as the economic case for HS2, the likely impact of Scottish independence on the UK economy and the taxation of multinationals. I suspect that they’ll have a lot of reading to do…
The Communications Committee will have rather a lot to say on the future of the BBC, so having Jane Bonham-Carter and the legendary Floella Benjamin representing a liberal perspective will be rather handy.
And finally, Chris Fox, the former Party Chief Executive, and Iain Vallance, the former Chief Executive and Chairman of BT, are the Party’s nominees to the Science and Technology Committee.
Elsewhere, my personal highlights would be Sally Hamwee’s appointment to the Human Rights Joint Committee, and that of Patrick Glasgow to the Works of Art Committee, chaired by Diana Maddock.
Follow @libdemvoice.org on Bluesky
Like us on Facebook
Subscribe to our feed
Sign-up for our daily email digest
Back on the campaign trail
1963: London's summer of the Hoverbus
Have resignations led to a rethink?
Steve J Smith
nigel hunter
Chloe
Abrial Jerram
8 Comments
There is a lot of information to digest in this very informative article, Mark.
Thanks for letting us see all this.
My only worry is the fact that there is a ‘Works of Art Committee’.
What does it do? And what is the Liberal Democrat policy on ‘Works of Art’?
Is this an area where our right wing zealots would like to roll back the state and sell off all the ‘Works of Art’ on the free market?
Or is there a traditional Liberal approach where the artists will operate a sort of workers cooperative — something like a John Lewis Partnership approach but the artists are overseen by a Committee of Good Intentions just in case they get a bit too radical?
@ John,
My apologies – the Works of Art Committee is responsible for all of the art works in the House of Lords, many of which are quite valuable and need a lot of care and attention.
I’m pleased that Patrick Glasgow is involved, because he really appreciates this – and isn’t a cultural conservative either.
Has LibDem Voice finally lost the plot, The Lib Dems having been savaged by the electorate in the H of C, they are reduced to boasting about the vast Lib Dem t over representation in the House of Lords:
@ Mike,
The article is meant to be informative. If you have a problem with that, then perhaps you need to find something else to read? But then, given that you’ve chosen to read between the lines rather than consider the content, that might not help.
Members of the Liberal Democrats have a right to know what their Parliamentary Parties are doing, and who is representing their views and where. And, given that this hadn’t otherwise been covered, I felt it right to ensure that it was. Perhaps you would rather have a lack of transparency or information, I don’t know. But, as I said to someone the other day, if all you want to do is criticise, perhaps you might be better off finding something positive to do elsewhere?
@ Mike Innes, if you add up the 2 Houses of Parliament, Libdems have 8% which is exactly the same as our vote. Our massive under-representation in The Commons is balanced by our slight over-representation in The Lords. We have been trying to reform The Lords for a century now, consistently blocked by The Tories & Labour so any lack of Democracy isnt our fault. In any case The Lords are, for now, a legitimate part of our system. backed by Parties that got nearly 70% of the vote in May.
It seems that the Lib Dem Lords are going to be a more powerful group than those in the Commons so as well as increasing communication between our MPs and the membership are there plans to set up measures to help our Lords /Baronesses to consult and inform?
Mark Valladares 14th Jun ’15 – 12:06pm
Mark, Thanks for the explanation. I have just watched the Daily Politics where once again discussing the subject of the desperate need for £ Bilions to be spent on the Palace of Westminster to stop the place falling down, remove dangerous asbestos, fit safe wiring, remove potential causes of serious fires etc .
I do wonder about the priorities of members of both Houses of Parliament that they seem to have a structure to keep an eye on their Works of Art but not on the basic fabric of the building. That is probably a very unfair remark but you will appreciate the point I am making. There are a lot of people who have to work in those buildings, not just the peers and MPs, and it is a national disgrace that some of the buildings are in a state of repair which if they were another workplace may have been shut down by the HSE by now.
John Maynard Keynes wanted to preserve opera at Covent Garden, which still exists.
Beautifully sung as they are, many of the operas are about excessive authoritanariasm without effective redress.