§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Lord Privy Seal how many individuals are currently working in the Palace of Westminster and immediately associated buildings; and how many of these are Members of the House of Commons, Peers, secretaries, research assistants, officers of either House and employees of either House.
§ Mr. BiffenThe information requested is as follows.
Number House of Lords Peers* *937 Officers and Staff 272 Research Assistants 8 Lord Chancellor's Department 68 House of Commons Members 650 Officers and Staff 945 Private Secretaries 586 Research Assistants 186 Temporary Secretaries and research assistants 438 [*Note: Excluding peers without writs and those on leave of absence. The daily average attendance of peers is 321. It is not possible to indicate which individual peers' secretaries work regularly in the building.] In addition some 700 staff are employed by associated organisations (such as the Property Services Agency, the Metropolitan police and the Post Office) performing functions for or on behalf of the two Houses; and the number of journalists accredited to the Parliamentary Press Gallery is 318.
These figures do not include Civil Servants who spend a proportion of their time working in the Palace.