Chairman of Committees
Encyclopedia
The Chairman of Committees is an officer of the House of Lords
who presides over the House when it is in committee (i.e., considering a bill at committee stage
) both in the Lords Chamber and in Grand Committee, which is when committee stage is taken away from the floor to free up debating time in the main Chamber. The Chairman also chairs various select committees of the House, and has a role in the Administration of the House. Like the Lord Speaker
, the Chairman of Committees withdraws from political party membership. The current holder, Lord Brabazon of Tara
, resigned the Conservative
whip upon taking up his office. The Chairman is assisted by the Principal Deputy Chairman of Committees and several other Deputy Chairman of Committees. The Principal Deputy Chairman is Lord Roper
. A panel of other Deputy Chairmen is appointed to assist them. In addition to taking the chair in Committee of the Whole and Grand Committee, members of the panel are appointed from time-to-time to serve with the Chairman of Committees on unopposed bill committees, which scrutinise private bill
s against which no petitions have been lodged. As of 29 November 2010, the panel of Deputy Chairmen are as follows:
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
who presides over the House when it is in committee (i.e., considering a bill at committee stage
Reading (legislature)
A reading of a bill is a debate on the bill held before the general body of a legislature, as opposed to before a committee or other group. In the Westminster system, there are usually several readings of a bill among the stages it passes through before becoming law as an Act of Parliament...
) both in the Lords Chamber and in Grand Committee, which is when committee stage is taken away from the floor to free up debating time in the main Chamber. The Chairman also chairs various select committees of the House, and has a role in the Administration of the House. Like the Lord Speaker
Lord Speaker
The Lord Speaker is the speaker of the House of Lords in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The office is analogous to the Speaker of the House of Commons: the Lord Speaker is elected by the members of the House of Lords and is expected to be politically impartial.Until July 2006, the role of...
, the Chairman of Committees withdraws from political party membership. The current holder, Lord Brabazon of Tara
Ivon Moore-Brabazon, 3rd Baron Brabazon of Tara
Ivon Anthony Moore-Brabazon, 3rd Baron Brabazon of Tara, DL is a British Conservative politician.Lord Brabazon attended Harrow School and married Harriet Frances de Courcy Hamilton in 1979, with whom he had a son and a daughter...
, resigned the Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
whip upon taking up his office. The Chairman is assisted by the Principal Deputy Chairman of Committees and several other Deputy Chairman of Committees. The Principal Deputy Chairman is Lord Roper
John Roper, Baron Roper
John Francis Hodgess Roper, Baron Roper is a British politician.John Roper was educated at William Hulme's Grammar School , Reading School, Magdalen College, Oxford and the University of Chicago....
. A panel of other Deputy Chairmen is appointed to assist them. In addition to taking the chair in Committee of the Whole and Grand Committee, members of the panel are appointed from time-to-time to serve with the Chairman of Committees on unopposed bill committees, which scrutinise private bill
Private bill
A private bill is a proposal for a law that would apply to a particular individual or group of individuals, or corporate entity. If enacted, it becomes a private Act . This is unlike public bills which apply to everyone within their jurisdiction...
s against which no petitions have been lodged. As of 29 November 2010, the panel of Deputy Chairmen are as follows:
- Baroness Anelay of St JohnsJoyce Anelay, Baroness Anelay of St JohnsJoyce Anne Anelay, Baroness Anelay of St. Johns, DBE, PC is a Conservative member of the House of Lords and has been the Government Chief Whip in the House of Lords since 12 May 2010, having previously been Opposition Chief Whip before the May 2010 General Election.-Early life:She was born Joyce...
(Conservative) - Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour)
- Lord Brougham and VauxMichael Brougham, 5th Baron Brougham and VauxMichael John Brougham, 5th Baron Brougham and Vaux, CBE is a British peer and a Member of the House of Lords.Born the eldest son of the 4th Baron Brougham and Vaux, Brougham was educated at Millfield, Lycée Jaccard, Switzerland and the Northampton Institute of Agriculture. On 20 July 1963, he...
(Conservative) - Lord ColwynAnthony Hamilton-Smith, 3rd Baron ColwynIan Anthony Hamilton-Smith, 3rd Baron Colwyn commonly known as Anthony Hamilton-Smith CBE is a British peer, doctor and politician...
(Conservative) - Lord Faulkner of Worcester (Labour)
- Baroness FookesJanet Fookes, Baroness FookesJanet Evelyn Fookes, Baroness Fookes, DBE, DL , is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, she is a Life Peer in the House of Lords. She was previously a member of the House of Commons from 1970 from 1997, representing the constituencies of Merton and Morden and Plymouth Drake...
(Conservative) - Lord GeddesEuan Geddes, 3rd Baron GeddesEuan Michael Ross Geddes, 3rd Baron Geddes is a British peer and politician and current deputy speaker of the House of Lords....
(Conservative) - Baroness Gibson of Market RasenAnne Gibson, Baroness Gibson of Market RasenAnne Gibson, Baroness Gibson of Market Rasen is a British trade unionist and author of several pamphlets about industrial laws....
(Labour) - Baroness Gould of PotternewtonJoyce Gould, Baroness Gould of PotternewtonJoyce Brenda Gould, Baroness Gould of Potternewton is a British pharmacist, trade unionist and politician.The daughter of Sydney and Fanny Manson, she was educated at the Roundhay High School for Girls and the Bradford Technical College in pharmacy. Gould worked then as pharmaceutical dispenser...
(Labour) - Baroness Harris of RichmondAngela Harris, Baroness Harris of RichmondAngela Felicity Harris, Baroness Harris of Richmond DL is a Deputy Speaker in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom. She is the Chair and a Trustee of the Industry and Parliament Trust....
(Liberal Democrat) - Lord HaskelSimon Haskel, Baron HaskelSimon Haskel, Baron Haskel is a British politician from the Labour Party.-References:...
(Labour) - Baroness HooperGloria Hooper, Baroness HooperGloria Dorothy Hooper, Baroness Hooper, is a British lawyer and a life peer in the House of Lords.The daughter of Frederick Hooper and Frances Maloney, she was educated at La Sainte Union Convent High School, Southampton and at the Royal Ballet School...
(Conservative) - Baroness McIntosh of HudnallGenista McIntosh, Baroness McIntosh of HudnallGenista Mary "Jenny" McIntosh, Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall is a British arts consultant, theatre executive and Labour politician....
(Labour) - Countess of Mar (Crossbench)
- Baroness Morris of BoltonPatricia Morris, Baroness Morris of BoltonPatricia Morris, Baroness Morris of Bolton OBE DL is a British peer and former Shadow Minister for Women and an Opposition Whip for the Conservative Party....
(Conservative) - Baroness PitkeathleyJill Pitkeathley, Baroness PitkeathleyJill Elizabeth Pitkeathley, Baroness Pitkeathley OBE is a British Labour Party member of the House of Lords.She worked in the voluntary sector, as chief executive of Carers National Association before being made a life peer as Baroness Pitkeathley, of Caversham in the Royal County of Berkshire...
(Labour) - Viscount SimonDavid Simon, 3rd Viscount SimonJan David Simon, 3rd Viscount Simon is a British peer.The son of the 2nd Viscount Simon, he was educated at Westminster School and at the School of Navigation, Southampton University. He was further educated at Sydney Technical College. In 1993, he succeeded to his father's viscountcy...
(Labour) - Lord SkelmersdaleRoger Bootle-Wilbraham, 7th Baron SkelmersdaleRoger Bootle-Wilbraham, 7th Baron Skelmersdale is a British politician and Conservative member of the House of Lords.Lord Skelmersdale succeeded to the peerage in 1973 on the death of Lionel Bootle-Wilbraham, 6th Baron Skelsmerdale. He was made a House of Lords whip in Margaret Thatcher's...
(Conservative) - Viscount UllswaterNicholas Lowther, 2nd Viscount UllswaterNicholas James Christopher Lowther, 2nd Viscount Ullswater, LVO, PC , succeeded his great-grandfather in the Viscountcy of Ullswater in 1949...
(Conservative)