Speeches by Thomas-Symonds.

“Charlotte, if I may say so, I think that was a very pertinent declaration of interest, as that is the first topic we are going to discuss. Before I come to the details, I should say at the outset that the service, or lack thereof, that is being provided to people who have worked for many years and given their lives to …”

“Just to be absolutely clear, the Government’s position on this Bill is neutral.”

“It will be on the Bill. As is ordinarily the case, Parliament will have a vote on the Bill and what the Bill contains. Hopefully you won’t have too long to wait for that.”

“I will tread carefully. There is obviously a very specific process going on regarding the case that I think you are referring to, so I will tread carefully in that regard, for reasons that I am sure you will understand, Chair. We keep all these things under review, but as I say, what I do not intend to do is embark on …”

“I guess the direct answer is that you could also raise it with your Chair.”

“On this, under the House of Lords Reform Act 2014—if I recollect correctly—you are disqualified if you receive a prison sentence of a year or more. That is the automatic disqualification bit. Then there is the House of Lords Conduct Committee, which is a matter for the Lords in terms of its own regulation, but it is cl…”

“There are different aspects going on here regarding the appointments system. There are obviously the Cross Benchers, who are in their own category. It is a matter for party leaders who they seek to nominate through the usual channels in the usual way. I would not for a moment seek to look into the minds of the differen…”

“I am sure you could raise it at business questions. That would be one way to do it. The Select Committee Chairs may well have something to say about it collectively as well.”

“Listen, I am all for convenience. After Sam’s question, quite rightly holding me to account on the design of the dashboard, I will also take away and review how exactly we are presenting that on gov.uk as well.”

“Certainly.”

“I am interested to hear about that, and I will quite happily go back and have a look at that now that you have identified it to me, and as a historian I am always very interested in these things. I shall take it away and consider it.”

“First of all, the two aspects involving alignment that we are looking to conclude by the next summit are the sanitary and phytosanitary agreement and the emission trading systems linkage. As I have said, the electricity trading negotiation began back in December, but that is not timed to finish by the next summit. With…”

“Obviously, the broader appointments process is about much more than that and the assessment, so it is not a comment on the very detailed procedure that people have to go through to be appointed to the upper House. In terms of what is public—and a member of the public glancing down on it—it is not an unreasonable amount…”

“Yes, there are.”

“The first thing—and we have already done this—is to introduce citations for when people are appointed to the House of Lords. I always thought it was an anomaly that, in our honours system, if you were lucky enough to receive, say, an OBE, CBE or MBE—whatever it might be—there was a reason given, broadly speaking, for w…”

“These are all matters now for that Committee to decide. I think the Lords plays a really important role in our constitutional arrangements; it brings expertise and a considered approach to debate that is greatly appreciated, so I certainly do not want to take away what is best about the House of Lords. But your points …”

“I would certainly have thought that the Leader of the House of Commons would play a facilitating role in it, as he always does.”

“The other mechanism is around participation. There are people who are appointed peers and then do jobs of great public service. I am not talking about people like that, but that is one of the issues that the Committee that is now looking at the second stage of reform will consider. I have identified the issue around re…”

“It is a matter for Parliament. Markus asked about the EFRA Committee. I find myself before lots of different Select Committees, which is fine, but I am sure whatever agreement we reach will be an important aspect of the debate. It is a matter for Parliament how it wishes to hold either the alignment point or me persona…”

“Certainly, we are keen to look at it in the round, but it is also the case that we have a democratic mandate to deliver our programme. It is interesting that you used 1999 as the previous example. Obviously, what was happening then was that it was after the 1979 to 1997, 18-year period of Conservative Government, and w…”