§ 2.58 p.m.
§ Lord Aberdare rose to move, That the Fourth Report from the Select Committee be agreed to.
§ The report was as follows:
§ 1. TELEVISION DOCUMENTARY FILMS ON THE HOUSE OF LORDS
§ A report from the Administration Sub-committee was made. The Committee agreed to allow limited filming of Select Committee proceedings in public as background to television interviews, subject to the consent of the Committees.
§ 2. PICTURE OF THE HOUSE IN SESSION
§ A report from the Sub-committee on Works of Art was laid before the Committee.
§ The Committee agreed:
- (a) that certain named artists should be allowed to sketch within the House of Lords and,
- (b) that the House should be photographed in session, the arrangements for which should be made by the Administration Sub-committee.
§ 3. REFRESHMENT DEPARTMENT
§ The Committee were informed that the Civil Service Catering Organisation had completed its review and had reported on the working of the Refreshment Department. The Committee agreed the steps taken to implement the Report's recommendations.
§ The Committee agreed to the cost of two cleaner posts being transferred to Black Rod's Department and authorised the regrading of one cashier to Clerical Officer.
761§ 4. SECURITY FOR COSTS
§ The Committee authorised an increase to £4,000 in the amount given by the Appellants as Security for Costs in Appeals to the House, presented after 1st October 1981.
§ 5. PARLIAMENT OFFICE AND LIBRARY
§ The Committee were informed of the impending retirement of the Principal Clerk, Information Services, and instructed the Clerk of the Parliaments to convey to Mr. Maurice Bond their warm appreciation of his long and valuable service to the House.
§ The Committee were also informed of the consequential staff changes that will follow Mr. Bond's retirement, noting that the post of Principal Clerk of Information Services would be absorbed by the Reading Clerk and that the post of Higher Executive Officer in the Record Office would not be filled following Mr. S. K. Ellison's promotion to Assistant Clerk of the Records.
§ The Committee authorised:
- (a) the grading of the post of Clerk of the Records;
- (b) the regrading of the Personal Assistant to the Lords of Appeal to Higher Executive Officer on a personal basis;
- (c) that the Executive Officer appointed for duties connected with the House of Lords' Bulletin should be retained for duties elsewhere, in place of a Clerical Officer;
- (d) the establishment of an existing temporary Cataloguer post in the Library.
§ 6. REVISED SCALES OF PAY
§ The Committee approved a revision in the pay of the Chairman and Principal Deputy Chairman of Committees and confirmed the application of Civil Service Memorandum No. CM/495—Pay of the Higher Civil Service—giving revised rates of pay to Senior Officers of the House of Lords.
§ 7. DOORKEEPERS
§ The Committee authorised the payment of a responsibility allowance to a Judicial Doorkeeper.
§ 8. HOUSE OF LORDS FEES
§ The Committee approved a revision with effect from 1st August 1981 in the scale of fees charged for copying documents as follows:—
| General Fees | |
| For a copy of any Document dated 1760 or later per folio of 72 words:— | £ |
| If 5 folios or under | 1.00 |
| If above 5 folios, per folio | 20p |
| (The inspection fee to be charged in addition when the Document is 2 years old and upwards). | |
| Production or Inspection of an Act, Plan or other Document if 2 years old or upwards | 1.00 |
| Copy of any Document dated earlier than 1760—per folio | 40p |
| Copy certified by the Clerk of the Parliaments | 2.00 |
| Examining a print or photographic copy of an Act or other Document for Certification:— | |
| Per 100 folios | 1.00 |
| Per plan or drawing | 20p |
| Certification | 2.00 |
§ 9. UNIFORM ALLOWANCES
§ The Committee approved revised allowances payable to Clerks at the Table, the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod and the Yeoman Usher for the provision of items of court dress.
§ 10. LATE NIGHT TRANSPORT
§ The Committee agreed to a modification in the administrative arrangements for transporting staff who work late.
§ 11. SUPERANNUATION
§ The Committee were notified of the following awards:—
- (a) Pension and lump sum to Mr. T. J. Rooney, Porter, who retired on the 2nd May 1981;
- (b) Pension and lump sum to Mrs. M. T. White, Cook, who retired on the 6th June 1981;
- (c) Pension and lump sum to Mrs. C. Frost, Cleaner, who retired on the 5th July 1981;
- (d) Short service payment to Mrs. B. H. O'Halloran, Cleaner, who resigned on the 19th June 1981.
§ The noble Lord said: My Lords, I beg to move that the Fourth Report from the Select Committee be 762 agreed to. Perhaps I might draw your Lordships' attention to two items in particular of this report. The first is concerned with the television documentary films—and I apologise for the mistake in the spelling of "documentary". Your Lordships will recall that originally the House gave its permission for filming to take place for four 15-minute films for the BBC programme "Nationwide", and indeed filming has been taking place over the last two weeks, I think without inconvenience to your Lordships. In fact, I have had one or two compliments paid to those who were responsible for carrying it out.
§ Originally, the decision of the House was that the BBC should be precluded from filming in the House or in any Committee. It was felt by the Administration Sub-Committee, and agreed by the Offices Committee, that at least they should be allowed to film in some of the committees of the House—these being particularly the EEC committees and the Select Committee on Science and Technology—in order that the resulting film should show as much as possible of the House at work as well as its activities outside its work. I hope your Lordships will agree to the report of the Offices Committee allowing for limited filming of Select Committee proceedings in public.
§ The other point to which I would draw attention is the second item in the report. Originally, there was a proposal for a new oil painting to be clone of the House in session, but there are certain difficulties in in connection with that and we have not yet come to any decision in the Offices Committee to which I could draw your Lordships' attention. But it was agreed, as is in the report, first of all that certain named artists should be allowed to sketch within the House and, secondly, that it should be arranged that there should be a colour photograph of the House in session, which perhaps is a more modern way of recording our activities than the oil painting.
§ Finally, I would draw attention to Item No. 5 and inform your Lordships of the retirement of Maurice Bond, who has been our Senior Principal Clerk, Information Services, and has run our archives for the last 35 years. He is an archivist of international repute and has made our Record Office one of the finest anywhere. I am sure your Lordships would like to put on record a tribute to his long and valuable service. I beg to move.
§ Moved, That the Fourth Report from the Select Committee be agreed to.—(Lord Aberdare.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.