§ Lord Evans of Parksideasked the Chairman of Committees:
How many Peers have been allocated a room within or without the Palace of Westminster for their sole use.
§ The Chairman of Committees (Lord Boston of Faversham)Thirty-three.
§ Lord Evans of Parksideasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many rooms within or without the Palace are occupied by two or three Peers.
§ Lord Boston of FavershamSixteen.
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§ Lord Evans of Parksideasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many rooms within or without the Palace are occupied by four to eight Peers, and how many rooms are occupied by more than eight Peers.
§ Lord Boston of FavershamThirty-seven rooms are occupied by four to eight Peers, and seven rooms are occupied by more than eight Peers.
§ Lord Evans of Parksideasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many Peers have not yet been allocated (a) a room; (b) a desk; (c) a telephone; (d) a locker.
§ Lord Boston of FavershamOn 2 December there were 1,151 members of the House of Lords (excluding Lords on Leave of Absence and Lords not in receipt of Writs). As (i) not all of these Lords have requested their own rooms, desks, telephones and lockers, (ii) waiting lists for rooms and desks are kept by party whips and (iii) there is a substantial degree of semi-formal and informal sharing of facilities, it is easier instead to state the number of such facilities that have been allocated.
Thirty-three Lords have their own rooms. In addition, there are 60 rooms occupied by two or more Lords.
There are 322 desks allocated to Lords. Some of these desks are shared on a semi-formal or informal basis. Three hundred and twenty Lords have been allocated telephone numbers. Lockers have been allocated to 178 Lords, with a further 18 on the waiting list.
§ Lord Evans of Parksideasked the Chairman of Committees:
How many officers and staff of the House of Lords have office accommodation within the House of Lords section of the Palace of Westminster; and what is the total number of rooms involved.
§ Lord Boston of FavershamSeventy-nine rooms are occupied by 167 staff.
§ Lord Evans of Parksideasked the Chairman of Committees:
Which government departments have office accommodation in the House of Lords section of the Palace of Westminster; how many staff are involved; and how many rooms they occupy.
§ Lord Boston of FavershamThe only government department with offices in the House of Lords is the Lord Chancellor's Department, with 18 staff occupying six offices.
§ Lord Evans of Parksideasked the Chairman of Committees:
How many rooms in that part of the Palace of Westminster occupied by the House of Lords are used principally for storage purposes.
§ Lord Boston of FavershamThe information is not available in the form requested. There is 5490.5 square metres of storage space in the House of Lords, in 214 locations ranging from 0.4 square metres to 234.2 square6WA metres. The breakdown by area is as follows (all figures in square metres).
Basement 1,931.6 Ground Floor 437.3 Ground Mezzanine 20.5 Principal Floor 40.2 First Floor 2.2 Second Floor 69.6 Third Floor 185.2 Victoria Tower 2,757.9 6/7 Old Palace Yard 46.0
§ Lord Evans of Parksideasked the Chairman of Committees:
How many individuals have housing accommodation in that part of the Palace of Westminster occupied by the House of Lords; on what grounds they occupy such accommodation; and what is the total number of rooms involved.
§ Lord Boston of FavershamThe only housing accommodation in the House of Lords is that occupied by the Lord Chancellor, which consists of nine rooms. This accommodation is provided to the Lord Chancellor in respect of his duties as Speaker of the House.
§ Lord Evans of Parksideasked the Chairman of Committees:
Whether he will enter into negotiations with the appropriate House of Commons authorities to release surplus office accommodation currently in their possession for use by members of the House of Lords.
§ Lord Boston of FavershamSuch negotiations are taking place.