§ Lord Desaiasked Her Majesty's Government:
What progress has been made on the establishment of an independent Appointments Commission to nominate Cross Bench Peers to the interim House, as set out in the White Paper on House of Lords Reform. [HL729]
§ The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Jay of Paddington)PricewaterhouseCoopers have been appointed to assist in the recruitment of the Chairman and independent members of the House of Lords Appointments Commission.
The firm of recruitment consultants successfully tendered for the job of trawling and sifting applications and identifying suitable candidates, who must be politically impartial, for the Chair and the three independent members of the Commission. The appointments will be done under the principles of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
As well as using their expertise to identify potential candidates, they will be running a national press advertising campaign to attract as many suitably qualified people as possible from the widest possible field.
The Appointments Commission will take over from the Prime Minister the function of nominating all Cross-Bench Peers to the House of Lords. It is expected to be in place by late spring.