House of Lords Appointments Commission

The House of Lords Appointments Commission is a non-partisan, non-statutory, independent body in the United Kingdom. It has three roles:

• to recommend people for appointment as non-party-political life peers;
• to vet all nominations for membership of the House of Lords, including those nominated by the UK political parties, to ensure the highest standards of propriety;
• to scrutinise certain candidates added to the Honours Lists, such as those nominated for political services as well as anyone added at a late stage.

The Commission was established in May 2000 to assist the transitional arrangements for reform of the House of Lords. The role of the Prime Minister in making non-partisan recommendations to the Queen for creation of life peerages was partially transferred to the Commission, in order to ensure greater transparency in the process. It was also given oversight of all other appointments to the Lords, including partisan nominations.

Members

The Commission has non-partisan members as well as representatives from the House of Lords of the three largest political parties. The members of the Commission are—

• The Lord Jay of Ewelme GCMG, Chairman
• The Baroness Campbell of Surbiton DBE, Non-party political member
• Dr John Low CBE, Non-party political member
• Professor Dame Joan Higgins DBE, Non-party political member
• The Rt Hon The Lord Howard of Lympne CH QC, member nominated by the Conservatives
• The Lord Hart of Chilton, member nominated by Labour
• The Baroness Scott of Needham Market, member nominated by the Liberal Democrats.

"People's peers"

The Commission makes recommendations for the appointment of non-partisan life peers. It has established for itself seven criteria upon which to base its decisions, seeking to recommend people with—

• a record of significant achievement within their chosen way of life;
• the ability to make an effective and significant contribution to the work of the House of Lords;
• the time available to ensure they can make a contribution;
• some understanding of the constitutional framework, including the place of the House of Lords;
• integrity and independence;
• a commitment to the highest standards of public life; and
• independence from any political party.

The Commission has made recommendations for appointment on 12 occasions since its establishment in 2000, with a total of 57 people being recommended for peerages. All of these individuals went on to be nominated as and created life peers. Upon taking their seats, every one of them joined the Crossbenches.

The fact that the type of people considered by the Commission for peers were to be neither aristocratic nor members of the "political class" led some in the British media to describe those it was to appoint as "people's peers". This term has never been a formal classification.

The purpose of the reform was to make the process more open and those making appointments more accountable. Upon the establishment of the Commission the Prime Minister Tony Blair said it would ensure a House of Lords that was "more representative of our diverse society"; suitable candidates would be sought "in a wider field than up to now".

Following the first set of appointments in April 2001, it was however pointed out that those chosen included several knights as well as leading academics and scientists, having much the same establishment background as would have been made peers anyway. Labour MP Diane Abbott described them as "the metropolitan elite".

Appointments

The people recommended for appointment as life peers by the Commission since its establishment are listed below, by date of recommendation.

26 April 2001

• Victor Adebowale CBE
• Richard Best OBE
• Amir Bhatia OBE
• Sir John Browne
• Professor Michael Chan MBE
• Sir Paul Condon QPM
• Professor Ilora Finlay
• Professor Susan Greenfield CBE
• Sir David Hannay GCMG CH
• Valerie Howarth
• Lady Howe of Aberavon CBE
• Sir Robert May OM AC
• Sir Claus Moser KCB CBE
• Sir Herman Ouseley
• Sir Stewart Sutherland KT

1 May 2004

• Professor Sir Alec Broers
• Nicola Chapman
• Sir Ewen Cameron
• Dr Frances D'Souza CMG PC
• Professor Elaine Murphy
• Professor Lola Young OBE
• Dr Diljit Rana MBE

22 March 2005

• Dame Rennie Fritchie DBE
• General Sir David Ramsbotham GCB CBE

22 July 2005

• Dame Ruth Deech DBE
• Michael Hastings CBE
• Professor Sir Martin Rees OM
• Adair Turner
• Jo Valentine

3 May 2006

• Professor Colin Low CBE
• Sir David Rowe-Beddoe
• Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss GBE
• Sir Geoffrey Dear QPM
• Professor Kamlesh Patel OBE
• Karan Bilimoria CBE
• Molly Meacher

15 February 2007

• Professor Paul Bew
• Dame Jane Campbell DBE
• Jean Coussins
• Khalid Hameed CBE
• Professor Sir John Krebs
• Andrew Mawson OBE

18 October 2007

• Professor Haleh Afshar OBE
• Professor Sir Nicholas Stern

18 April 2008

• The Hon. Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller DCB
• Sir John Mogg KCMG
• Sir Robert Smith

September 2008

• Susan Campbell
• David Pannick

13 July 2009

• Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks
• Dame Nuala O'Loan DBE

5 February 2010

• Sir Michael Bichard KCB
• Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson DBE
• Tony Hall CBE
• Professor Ajay Kakkar

5 October 2010

• Professor Peter Hennessy
• Professor Sheila Hollins

5 September 2011

• Dr Indarjit Singh CBE
• Sir Donald Curry CBE

"Cash for Peerages"

In March 2006 the Commission's objections to some of those proposed by Prime Minister Tony Blair for working peerages led to the "Cash for Peerages" scandal.

See also

• Lords Reform

External links

• House of Lords Appointments Commission