§ Lord Beaumont of Whitleyasked the Leader of the House:
How many Life Peerages have been created and how many Life Peers have died in each of the last five years; if the former figure is larger than the latter, when on present trends the numbers of "the working House" will stabilise; and what the size of the "working House" will then be compared with its size today.
§ The Lord President of the Council (Viscount Whitelaw)The statistical information requested is as follows:
Life Peerages Created Deaths of Life Peers 1978 26 10 1979 31 6 1980 14 15 1981 22 7 1982 10 11 Total 103 49 The above table includes Life Peerages created under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 (as amended) as well as those created under the Life Peerages Act 1958. It shows that the total number of Peerage creations in the years concerned exceeded the total number of deaths of Life Peers in the same period. It also shows that there is no discernible trend, and it is therefore impossible to make any prediction of the future size of the "working House", however that term may be defined.