§ 1. Pursuant to Standing Order 11 and as Agent of the Administration Sub-Committee of the Offices Committee, the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod is responsible for security in, and control of access to, the precincts of the House (as defined in Rule 2 below) in respect both of persons and of vehicles, whether or not the House is sitting.
§ 2. For the purposes of the interpretation of Standing Order 11 and these Rules the "precincts of the House" shall be understood to 611 comprise all that area of the Palace of Westminster which was vested by the Queen in the Lord Chancellor, as Speaker of the House of Lords, with effect from 26th April, 1965, as well as the adjacent areas under the control of the House in Old Palace Yard and Black Rod's Garden.
§ 3. Before admission to the Galleries of the House strangers may be required—
- (i) to sign an undertaking to abstain from making interruption or disturbance and and to obey the rules for the maintenance of good order in the Galleries;
- (ii) to deposit in the appropriate cloak-room all cameras, tape recorders, electronic devices, binoculars, umbrellas and walking sticks, parcels, packages, cases and bags (other than ladies' handbags); and
- (iii) to open for inspection at the request of Black Rod, or of the staff under his control, any parcel, package, case or bag including ladies' handbags, which a stranger may bring into the precincts.
§ 4. In the Galleries strangers are not permitted to smoke, read books or papers (other than the papers of the House), draw or write, stand in or behind the Galleries, or to make use of cameras, tape recorders, electronic devices, or binoculars. Any offence against this rule may result in the confiscation by Black Rod of the electronic device, or the film from the camera, or the tape from the tape recorder used in the offence.
§ 5. Where Committees of the House are sitting in public, the rules governing the admission of strangers to Committee Rooms are, so far as practicable, the same as those for admission to the Galleries of the House.
§ 6. Any stranger who is suspected by Black Rod of having committed a criminal offence within the precincts of the House shall be taken into custody and handed over by him to the police for such further action as may be appropriate under the law. Any such action shall be reported by Black Rod to the Lord Chancellor or, in his absence, to the Chairman of Committees.
§ 7. Any stranger who is suspected by Black Rod of having committed contempt of the House, including the contravention of an order or rule of the House, may, at the discretion of Black Rod, either be ejected from the precincts forthwith, or be detained by him until three hours have elapsed after the rising of the House, or, if the House is not sitting, for a period not exceeding three hours, in order to enable enquiries to be made into the circumstances of the contempt. If the contempt is of such a nature that, in the opinion of Black Rod, the House may wish to take it into consideration, he shall report it to the Lord Chancellor or, in his absence, to the Chairman of Committees.
§ 8. The Lord Chancellor or, in his absence, the Chairman of Committees, shall communicate to the House any report by the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod made in pursuance of these rules.
§ 9. A vehicle which is causing obstruction, or appears to Black Rod to be endangering security, within the precincts of the House 612 may be removed by him, or by the servants of the House or by the police on his instructions.
§ The noble Earl said: My Lords, I beg to move that this Report be agreed to.
§ Moved, That the Report be agreed to.—(The Earl of Listowel.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.