House of Lords Journal

Prayers were read by the Lord Bishop of Bristol.

Select Committee Reports

1 Merits of Statutory Instruments
The following Report from the Select Committee was made and ordered to be printed:

41st Report, on the following negative instrument:
Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules. (HL Paper 216)

2 European Union
The following Report from the Select Committee was made and ordered to be printed:

Subsidiarity assessment: distribution of food products to deprived persons. (23rd Report, HL Paper 217)

Public Business

3 Police: self-defence homicide A question was asked by Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate and answered by Lord McNally.

4 Economy: monetary and fiscal policy A question was asked by Lord Peston, on behalf of Lord Barnett, and answered by Lord Sassoon.

5 Devolved administrations: financial flexibility A question was asked by Lord Wigley and answered by Lord Sassoon.

6 Somalia A question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead and answered by Lord Howell of Guildford.

7 Localism Bill The bill was returned from the Commons with the Lords amendments agreed to.

8 Procedure of the House The Chairman of Committees moved that the 7th Report from the Select Committee (HL Paper 206) be agreed to. The motion was agreed to.

9 Procedure of the House The Chairman of Committees moved that this House takes note of the 8th Report from the Select Committee (HL Paper 213). The motion was agreed to.

10 Procedure of the House (Proposal 1) The Chairman of Committees moved to resolve that the role currently performed by the Leader of the House or Government front bench during oral questions and oral statements be transferred for a trial period to the Lord Speaker, or in her absence the Chairman of Committees or another Deputy Speaker;

That the role thus transferred includes the responsibility to arbitrate between groups within the House, but not any responsibility to arbitrate between individual members by name;

That the trial begin at the start of the 2012–13 session of Parliament, and continue until the start of the summer recess 2012;

That following the completion of the trial, the procedure at question time and during oral statements should revert to its current form, pending a review by the Procedure Committee.

After debate, the motion was disagreed to (see division list 1).

11 Procedure of the House (Proposal 2) The Chairman of Committees moved to resolve that the procedure adopted in early 2010, whereby Secretaries of State sitting in the House should answer three oral questions, on one Thursday each month, directed to them in their ministerial capacity, should be made permanent, with a view to its revival as appropriate. Then Lord Williamson of Horton moved, as an amendment to the original motion, at end to insert ", except that the time allocated for the three oral questions should be up to 20 minutes in total instead of up to 15 minutes." After debate, the amendment was agreed to. Then the original motion, as amended, was agreed to.

12 Procedure of the House (Proposal 3) The Chairman of Committees moved to resolve that Members should read out the text of oral questions, using the formula "My Lords, I beg leave to ask Her Majesty’s Government" followed by the text of the question; and that there should be a mandatory word limit of 25 words (excluding the introductory formula) for all oral questions. After debate, the motion was disagreed to.

13 Procedure of the House (Proposal 4) The Chairman of Committees moved to resolve that the following new guidance be added to the Companion to the Standing Orders: "Members should not take up the time of the House during question time by making trivial declarations of non-financial and non-registrable interests. Questioners should not thank the Government for its answers, nor ministers thank questioners for their questions." After debate, the motion was agreed to.

14 Procedure of the House (Proposal 5) The Chairman of Committees moved to resolve that where a statement of exceptional length has been made in full to the House of Commons and made available in the Printed Paper Office before it is due to be repeated in this House, the Minister in this House may (with the agreement of the usual channels) draw the attention of the House to the statement made earlier without repeating it; and proceed immediately to the period for exchanges with the Opposition front benches;

That the text of the statement should be reproduced in the Official Report;

That the guidance in the Companion to the Standing Orders on backbench contributions on oral statements should be amended, to indicate that “ministerial statements are made for the information of the House, and although brief questions from all quarters of the House are allowed, statements should not be made the occasion for an immediate debate.”

After debate, the motion was agreed to.

15 Procedure of the House (Proposal 6) The Chairman of Committees moved to resolve that, with effect from the start of the 2012–13 session of Parliament:

· Members be limited to one Question for Short Debate in House of Lords Business at any one time;

· Each Question for Short Debate should indicate the date on which it was tabled;

· After six months it should be removed from the list;

· The guidance in the Companion to the Standing Orders on the wording of Questions for Short Debate should be as follows: “Questions for short debate last for a maximum of 1½ hours and should therefore be limited in scope.”

The motion was agreed to.

16 Procedure of the House (Proposal 7) The Chairman of Committees moved to resolve that the following text be inserted prior to paragraph 4.42 of the Companion to the Standing Orders: "The House of Commons may be referred to by name, rather than as ’the other place’ or ’another place’." The motion was agreed to.

17 Procedure of the House (Proposal 8) The Chairman of Committees moved to resolve that the practice of debating "motions for papers" be discontinued, and that in future all general debates not inviting the House to reach a positive decision should take place on "take note" motions, which should be short, neutrally phrased and not subject to amendment. The motion was agreed to.

18 Procedure of the House (Proposal 9) The Chairman of Committees moved to resolve that the House adopt the following practice in respect of appellations:

Members should address the House as a whole, and they should never use the second person when addressing other Members in debate. A Member may refer to any other Member, without specifying his or her title, as “the noble Lord”, “the noble Lady”, “the noble Duke”, “the right reverend Bishop” or “the most reverend Archbishop”. Members may also, if they so wish, use the appropriate rank—for example “the noble Earl” or “the noble Baroness"—but there is no obligation to do so. When referring to another Member by name, the correct form is “Lord W”, “Lady X”, “the Duke of Y”, “the Bishop/Archbishop of Z”. Members may also use the term “my noble friend” to refer to fellow members of a political party. When referring to a Minister of the Crown, Members may refer to “the Leader of the House”, “the Minister” or “the Secretary of State”, as appropriate.

After debate, the House divided. The numbers were equal (see division list 2), so the motion was disagreed to in accordance with Standing Order 56.

19 Protection of Freedoms Bill Lord Henley moved that the bill be now read a second time. After debate, the motion was agreed to.

20 Protection of Freedoms Bill Lord Henley moved that

(a) the following provisions of the Protection of Freedoms Bill be committed to a Committee of the Whole House—
(i) Clauses 1 to 25 (destruction, retention and use of fingerprints etc.);
(ii) Clauses 54 to 56 (vehicles left on land);
(iii) Clauses 64 to 78 (safeguarding of vulnerable groups);
(iv) Clauses 79 to 84 (criminal records);
(v) Schedule 1 (destruction, retention and use of fingerprints etc.);
(vi) Schedule 4 (recovery of unpaid parking charges);
(vii) Schedule 7 (safeguarding of vulnerable groups: Northern Ireland); and

(b) the remainder of the bill be committed to a Grand Committee.

The motion was agreed to.

21 Protection of Freedoms Bill Lord Henley moved that it be an instruction to the Committee of the Whole House to which provisions of the Protection of Freedoms Bill have been committed that they consider those provisions in the following order:

Clauses 1 to 19
Schedule 1
Clauses 20 to 25
Clauses 54 to 56

Schedule 4
Clauses 64 to 78
Schedule 7
Clauses 79 to 84.

The motion was agreed to.

22 Protection of Freedoms Bill Lord Henley moved that it be an instruction to the Grand Committee to which provisions of the Protection of Freedoms Bill have been committed that they consider those provisions in the following order:

Clauses 26 to 39
Schedule 2
Clauses 40 to 53
Schedule 3
Clauses 57 to 61
Schedule 5
Clauses 62 and 63

Schedule 6
Clause 85
Schedule 8
Clauses 86 to 109
Schedules 9 and 10
Clauses 110 to 115.

The motion was agreed to.

The House adjourned at 9.33pm until Wednesday 9 November at 3.00pm.

Grand Committee Business

The Grand Committee met in Committee Room 4A at 3.30pm.

Welfare Reform Bill The Grand Committee further considered the bill, beginning with amendment 71M. Amendments were agreed to. The Committee adjourned after clause 52 was agreed to.

The Committee adjourned at 7.36pm.