House of Lords

Roles

Processing and revision of legislation
Bills have to pass through three readings and committee and report stages in both houses before they can receive royal assent and become acts of law. They can be initiated in either house. Thus the Lords spends two-thirds of its time either initiating legislation or scrutinising that which has passed through all necessary stages in the Commons.

Questioning of governmental members regarding policy issues
Oral questions to government, included in the Chamber’s daily rota of events, each dealt with for a period of 30 minutes.
Debates on a range of subjects relevant to current government policy, as well as short debates lasting up to one and a half hours.
Scrutiny of bills at second or third reading stage.
Response to ministerial statements.

Source of expert independent committees
Select Committees are put together using Lords members with specialist expertise, often to scrutinise draft bills before their presentation to either house, e.g. The Science and Technology Committee.

Final Court of Appeal
The House of Lords serves as the highest court in the country, having the final verdict on civil cases in the United Kingdom and criminal cases in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The judicial work of the House is undertaken by highly qualified judges appointed to be Law Lords. As a result of the Constitutional Reform Act of 2005, by October 2009 the House of Lords will be replaced in this capacity by a separate supreme court.

Members
There is no upper limit on the potential number of Lords in the House, who are unelected and unpaid. The House contains a fluctuating number of peers representing the main political parties, 92 hereditary peers, and 26 Archbishops and Bishops. It also contains a number of peers with no party affiliation known as cross-benchers. A Lord speaker initiates the business of the Chamber, but unlike their equivalent in the House of Commons, has no regulatory power. Maintaining order is thus the collective responsibility of the House.

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