§ THE CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES (THE EARL OF L1STOWEL)My Lords, I beg to move that this Report be now agreed to.
§ Moved, That the Report be now agreed to.—(The Earl of Listowel.)
§ The Committee's Report was as follows:
§ 1. Security
§ The Committee received with approval an oral report from Black Rod on current security measures. The Committee recommended that all Peers who attend the House should be in possession of a photographic Pass.
§ 2. Car Parking
§ The Chairman reported on behalf of the Administration Committee that he had asked the House of Commons to return the area North of the statue of Richard, Coeur de Lion in Old Palace Yard which they now used for car parking, as soon as the new underground car park in New Palace Yard came into use. The Committee attach importance for security reasons to recovering the whole of the parking space immediately below the windows of the West Front. House of Lords (and within the existing railings) for the exclusive use of Peers.
§ 3. Library
§ A report from the Sub-Committee on the Library for the year 1973 was considered by the Committee. The Committee learnt that the Viscount Eccles has succeeded Lord Champion as Chairman of the Sub-Committee and expressed their gratitude to Lord Champion for his service to the Sub-Committee.
§ 4. Furniture in the House of Lords
§ The Committee have received a report by the Victoria and Albert Museum on the furniture of the House of Lords and have referred it to the works of Art Sub-Committee. Copies of the Report have been placed in the Library.
§ 5. Air Conditioning
§ The Committee approved a scheme put forward by the Department of the Environment to air condition all the rooms on the Principal
2043§ Floor. West Front of the House of Lords; they invited the Administration Committee to consider the details of the scheme.
§ 6. Inter-Parliamentary Union: Accommodation
§ In view of the mounting pressure on accommodation for the direct purposes of the House of Lords, the Committee authorised the Chairman to approach the Inter-Parliamentary Union with a request to vacate the accommodation that they now occupy in the House of Lords by October 1 next.
§ 7. Retirement of the Clerk of the Parliaments
§ The Committee wished to record, on the occasion of his retirement, their deep gratitude for the assistance that they have received from Sir David Stephens during the eleven years he has served as Clerk of the Parliaments and Accounting Officer for the House of Lords Vote.
§ 8. Parliament Office
§ European Communities Committee
§
The Committee were informed of the increased staff requirements following the setting up of the Select Committee on European Communities and its Sub-Committees. The Committee agreed, subject to a review of the staffing arrangements in July 1975. to the creation of the following additional posts:
2 Personal Secretaries;
2 Office Assistants;
1 Clerical Officer (for shared duties with Hansard);
1 Attendant (on secondment from Black Rod's Office).
Information Services
§ The Committee were also informed of a proposed co-ordination of the work of those departments of the Parliament Office which are responsible for the information services of the House and of the appointment of Mr. M. F. Bond, OBE, to a new post of Principal Clerk, Information Services (absorbing the Chief Clerk post of Clerk of the Records).
§ The Committee authorised the salary for the new post of Principal Clerk and the re-grading of the post of Deputy Clerk of the Records, with effect from 1st August 1974.
§ Accountants' Office
§ The Committee authorised an additional post of typist.
§ 9. Hansard Reporting Staff
§ The Committee authorised:
- (a) The application to Temporary Reporters of Revised Attendance Fees, as set out in EC/222, dated 9th April 1974;
- (b) Payment of increased fees to Palantype Organisation Limited, for the supply of transcribers;
- (c) Revised Attendance Fees to permanent Editors and Reporters and Temporary Reporters, when the House sits after 10.30 p.m.;
- (d) A variation in the agreement with Haynes Secretarial Services, for the supply of typists for the reporting of debates;
- (e) The employment when required of additional typists.
§ 10. Official Shorthand Writer
§ The Committee approved an increase in the scale of fees and the annual retaining fee for the Official Shorthand Writer.
§ 11. 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:
- (a) EC/240, dated 6th May 1974—London Weighting;
- (b) EC/ 249, dated 30th May 1974, and EC/269, dated 26th June 1974—Cost of Living Safeguard;
- (c) EC/267. dated 24th June 1974—Pay of Higher Civil Service,
§ 12. Doorkeepers
§ The Committee authorised an increase in the allowances payable for the purchase and maintenance of Dress Clothes.
§ 13. Superannuation
§ The Committee authorised the payment of the following Superannuation Awards:
- (a) Pension and Lump Sum to Mrs. Florence Kathleen Ward, Head Housemaid, who retired on 5th May 1974;
- (b) Revised Pension and Lump Sum to R. W. Perceval, Esq., Clerk Assistant, who retired on 1st July 1974;
- (c) Revised Pension and Lump Sum to W. M. Stuart Esq., OBE, Editor of Debates, who retired on 1st May 1974;
- (d) Revised Pension and Lump Sum to S. C. Ireland Esq., OBE, Sub-Editor of Debates, who retired on 1st January 1974;
- (e) Revised Pension and Lump Sum to F. Paice Esq., BEM, Reporter, who retired on 14th January 1974;
- (f) Revised Pension and Lump Sum to A. Haynes Esq., Reporter, who retired on 1st March 1974;
- (g) Revised Preserved Pension and Lump Sum to R. E. Peters Esq., Reporter, who resigned on 30th November 1973;
- (h) Revised Pension and Lump Sum to J. H. Ledger Esq., Doorkeeper, who retired on 21st March 1974;
- (i) Revised Pension and Lump Sum to Mrs. A. M. Carroll, Housemaid, who retired on 10th March 1974;
- (j) Preserved Pension and Lump Sum to Miss Jane Marianne Franks, Personal Secretary, who resigned on 7th January 1974;
- (k) Short Service Payment to Mrs. Lorna Katherine Green. Personal Secretary, who resigned on 14th June 1974.