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 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:

*Lord Stevenson of Coddenham CBE, Chairman
*Angela Sarkis CBE, a non-partisan member
*Felicity Huston, a non-partisan member
*Lord Hurd of Westwell CH CBE, for the Conservative Party
*Baroness Dean of Thornton-le-Flyde, for the Labour Party
*Lord Dholakia OBE, for 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. [cite web | year=2001 | title=Criteria Guiding the Assessment of Nominations for Non-Party Political Life Peers|work=HOLAC|url=http://www.lordsappointments.gov.uk/criteria_guiding.aspx
accessdate=2006-11-20]

The Commission has made recommendations for appointment on six occasions since its establishment in 2000, with a total of 42 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".cite web | year=2002 | title='People's peers' under scrutiny| work=BBC|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/1950254.stm
accessdate=2006-11-19] 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 pointed out that those chosen included several knights as well as leading academics and scientists; Labour MP Diane Abbott described them as "the metropolitan elite".

Appointments

The 42 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
*Richard Best
*Amir Bhatia
*Sir John Browne
*Professor Michael Chan
*Sir Paul Condon
*Professor Ilora Finlay
*Professor Susan Greenfield
*Sir David Hannay
*Valerie Howarth
*Lady Howe of Aberavon
*Sir Robert May
*Sir Claus Moser
*Sir Herman Ouseley
*Sir Stewart Sutherland

1 May 2004

*Professor Sir Alec Broers
*Nicola Chapman
*Sir Ewen Cameron
*Dr Frances D'Souza
*Professor Elaine Murphy
*Professor Lola Young
*Dr Diljit Rana

22 March 2005

*Dame Rennie Fritchie
*General Sir David Ramsbotham

22 July 2005

*Dame Ruth Deech
*Michael Hastings
*Professor Sir Martin Rees
*Adair Turner
*Jo Valentine

3 May 2006

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

15 February 2007

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

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

"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.

ee also

* Lords Reform

References

External links

* [http://www.lordsappointments.gov.uk/ House of Lords Appointments Commission]