§ 3.27 p.m.
§ THE LORD PRIVY SEAL (EARL JELLICOE) rose to move, That during the remainder of this Session the Clerk of the Parliaments be authorised, at his discretion, to call upon any Clerk in the Parliament Office of the rank of Chief Clerk or above to sit at the Table in addition to the Clerks already appointed for that purpose. The noble Earl said: My Lords, in moving the Motion standing in my name on the Order Paper, I think it would be appropriate for me to offer a word or two in explanation.
§ The purpose of the Motion is simply to relieve the heavy pressure on the 1298 Clerks at the Table in the coming months by authorising the Clerk of the Parliaments, at his discretion, to call upon other senior Clerks in the Parliament Office, to sit at the Table and to share duties with the Clerks appointed for that purpose. In the first instance, the Clerk of the Parliaments will, I understand, make use of this authority to call upon Mr. E. D. Graham, Principal Clerk of Private Bills and Secretary to the Chairman of Committees, who will sit from Monday next as an additional Clerk at the Table until the House rises for the Summer Recess. Other Clerks may be called upon if the need arises. In view of the burden of work which we seem only too likely to impose on the Clerks during the coming months, I am confident that the House will welcome this as a sensible and workmanlike arrangement. I must confess that I am not certain whether a Motion is strictly necessary to give effect to this arrangement, but I am certain that the House should be made formally aware of a domestic arrangement of this kind and a Motion seemed to be a most appropriate way in which to inform the House and obtain your Lordships' approval—and, as it were, to kill two birds with one stone.
§ LORD SHACKLETONMy Lords, for my part, I welcome the noble Earl's proposal. The Clerks are clearly going to have to work longer hours. Normally one recalls that they have been well compensated by the length of their holidays; but if we sit through August or September they, too, will not get a holiday. I should also like to say that I think we ought to examine this experiment at the end of this period but that my own view is that this ought to be a permanent arrangement—it introduces a flexibility and I believe it is the practice in another place—provided that the Clerk of Parliaments is satisfied as to the competence of the Chief Clerks on whom he will call. I have a high regard for their competence. I think that this may be a matter that the noble Earl may wish to bring to the House again, possibly for permanent adoption. I also agree with him that it is doubtful whether this authority is necessary formally; but I have no doubt that he was right to bring this Motion before the House.
EARL JELLICOEMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord the Leader of the Opposition for what he has said. I think that it would be wrong for me to be drawn too far into what arrangements should be made for the holidays of the Clerks and ourselves if we are drawn into sitting in July or August; but in response to the last remarks of the noble Lord I think that this is perhaps an arrangement which, in one form or another, we may wish to perpetuate in the future. But perhaps the sensible thing is to see how we get on and then take another look at it.