HL Deb 30 April 1974 vol 351 cc13-7

3.5 p.m.

THE CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES (THE EARL OF LISTOWEL) rose to move that the First Report from the Select Committee be agreed to.

The Committee's Report was as follows:

1. APPOINTMENT OF SUB-COMMITTEES

The following members of the Committee were appointed to the Sub-Committees:

(a) Administration Committee

With the Clerk of the Parliaments.

With power to co-opt further Lords.

(b) Library Sub-Committee

With the Clerk of the Parliaments.

With power to co-opt further Lords and to appoint their own Chairman.

(c) Refreshment Sub-Committee

With the Clerk of the Parliaments.

With power to co-opt further Lords and to appoint their own Chairman.

(d) Sub-Committee on the Parliament Office

With the Clerk of the Parliaments.

With power to co-opt further Lords and to appoint their own Chairman.

(e) Finance Committee

With the Clerk of the Parliaments.

With power to co-opt further Lords.

(f) Works of Art Sub-Committee

With the Clerk of the Parliaments.

With power to co-opt further Lords and to appoint their own Chairman.

2. DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES

The Committee authorised a salaried post of Deputy Chairman of Committees.

3. YEOMAN USHER OF THE BLACK ROD

The Committee were informed of the retirement of Colonel Charles Lorne Sayers, C.B.E., and of the appointment on a permanent basis of Group Captain R. M. B. Duke-Woolley, D.S.O., D.F.C., as Yeoman Usher of the Black Rod and Deputy Serjeant at Arms.

The Committee authorised the salary scale for the post which would now become Established and the cost of providing Court Dress.

4. PARLIAMENT OFFICE

The Committee were informed of a rearrangement of certain duties within the Parliament Office.

The Committee authorised the appointment of additional posts of Assistant Clerk in the Judicial Office and of Personal Secretary for the Head of Establishments, and a revised salary on a personal basis for the Registry Clerk.

5. REVISED SCALES OF PAY

The Committee confirmed the application authorised by the Chairman of Committees and the Clerk of the Parliaments, of the following Estacode circulars:—

  1. (a) EC/153: dated 5th December 1973—Pay of Administration Group (Middle and Higher grades)
  2. (b) EC/176: dated 11th January 1974—Pay of Administration Group (Clerical grades) and related departmental grades
  3. (c) EC/180: dated 14th January 1974—Pay of Personal Secretary and Senior Personal Secretary grades.
  4. (d) EC/186: dated 31st January 1974—Pay of General Service grades linked to Administration Group (Middle and Higher grades)
  5. (e) EC/188: dated 6th February—Non-Industrial Cleaners
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  6. (f) EC/193: dated 11th February 1974—Messenger Paper Keeper and Office Keeper Classes: Revised scales of pay
  7. (g) EC/195: dated 13th February 1974—Pay of Security Officer class
  8. (h) EC/209: dated 6th February 1974—General Pay Increase
giving revised rates of pay to applicable officers and staff of the House of Lords.

6. DEPARTMENT OF GENTLEMAN USHER OF THE BLACK ROD AND SERJEANT AT ARMS

The Committee sanctioned the re-grading of two secretarial posts in the Serjeant at Arms Office and authorised the rates of pay for these posts.

7. HANSARD REPORTING STAFF

The Clerk of the Parliaments informed the Committee of the following arrangement of the Editorial staff on the retirement of Mr. W. M. Stuart, the Editor of Debates, on 1st May 1974:—

Mr. C. W. H. Blogg to be Editor in the place of Mr. W. M. Stuart.

Mr. C. R. Stanton to be Assistant Editor in the place of Mr. C. W. H. Blogg.

Mr. P. M Eglinton to be Sub-Editor in the place of Mr. C. R. Stanton.

The Committee instructed the Clerk of the Parliaments to convey to Mr. Stuart their warm appreciation of his long and valuable service.

8. ATTENDANTS

  1. (i) The Clerk of the Parliaments informed the Committee of an application by the Civil Service Union to be granted representative capacity for the House of Lords Attendant staff.
  2. (ii) The Committee authorised the appointment of an additional attendant.

9. ESTIMATES

The Committee were informed of the presentation of a Supplementary Estimate for 1973–74 and of a revised Estimate for 1974–75.

10. EXPENSES OF SELECT COMMITTEES

The Committee approved a revised scale of subsistence allowances payable to specialist advisers, research assistants and witnesses.

11. SUPERANNUATION

The Committee confirmed the payment, authorised by the Chairman of Committees and the Clerk of the Parliaments, of the following superannuation awards:

  1. (a) Short Service payment to Colonel Charles Lorne Sayers, C.B.E., Yeoman Usher of the Black Rod and Deputy Serjeant at Arms, who retired with effect from 16th November 1973.
  2. (b) Revised pension and lump sum to Mr. Sidney Charles Ireland, O.B.E., who retired after re-employed service as Sub-Editor of Debates on 1st January 1974.
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  3. (c) Pension and lump sum to Mr. Frederick Paice, B.E.M., Reporter, who retired on 14th January 1974.
  4. (d) Pension and lump sum to Mr. Arthur Haynes, Reporter, who retired on 1st March 1974.
  5. (e) Pension and lump sum to Mr. James Hope Ledger, Doorkeeper, who retired on 21st March 1974.
  6. (f) Pension and lump sum to Mrs. Alice Maud Carroll, Housemaid, who retired on 10th March 1974.

The Committee also sanctioned the payment of:

(g) A Preserved Pension and lump sum to Mr. Richard Edward Peters, Reporter, who resigned on 30th November 1973.

(h) A pension and lump sum to Mr. Wilfred Morley Stuart, Editor of Debates, who retires on 1st May 1974.

THE EARL OF LISTOWEL

My Lords, I beg to move that this Report be agreed to.

Moved, That the First Report from the Select Committee be agreed to.—(The Earl of Listowel.)

LORD SHEPHERD

My Lords, I am sure that your Lordships would not like this Motion to be passed without taking particular note of one item, which records the retirement of one of our longest serving and most loyal servants, Mr. Stuart. Mr. Stuart first joined the reporting staff in 1946 and became Assistant Editor of Debates in 1947 under the editorship of his old friend and colleague, Mr. Ireland, who retired as Editor at the beginning of 1967. Mr. Stuart succeeded him and Mr. Ireland then became one of his Sub-Editors. I think it is fair to say that Mr. Stuart has been Editor of Hansard during some of the most difficult years of all. I am sure your Lordships can recall the marathon sittings on the Industrial Relations Bill and the European Communities Bill, to mention but two. In recent Sessions the House has sat longer and on more days than it ever used to and, in addition to all this, it was during Mr. Stuart's editorship that we first started experiments with the mechanical recording of your Lordships' debates. I think that we owe Mr. Stuart and his staff all our thanks for the most efficient manner in which they have continued to produce Hansard. We wish Mr. Stuart well in his retirement and I hope that he will return to visit us from time to time. We also wish his successor, Mr. Blogg, every success in his new appointment.

LORD WINDLESHAM

My Lords, on behalf of noble Lords on this side of the House I should like warmly to endorse what the noble Lord the Leader of the House has just said in that very well deserved tribute to Mr. Stuart. As we have heard, Mr. Stuart has served this House over a very long period with dedication and with a distinguished display of those exceptional skills that are needed to produce an accurate and verbatim record in such a very short space of time. We all wish him well in his retirement and we should like him to know that he carries with him the good wishes and gratitude of the House.

LORD BYERS

My Lords, from these Benches we should like to endorse what has been said by the two noble Lords. We wish Mr. Stuart a very happy retirement and we appreciate not only what he has done but what the staff under him have done. We realise how dependent we in politics are, in this House and in another place, on the reporting staff and on the editors.

On Question, Motion agreed to.