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Lord Forsyth of Drumlean: My Lords, on new costs, is the answer to the question that the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours, asked not crucial? What is the position on building societies accepting the survey reports?
Baroness Andrews: My Lords, the Council of Mortgage Lenders has worked very closely with us at each stage. It is very important that we are on-side with them. We have never denied that there will be a need for a valuation, because valuations, particularly for higher loans, are important. We have said that the home condition report, with its solid information in an electronic format, with new ratings and an energy certificate, will make it easier for mortgage lenders to do the sorts of surveys that do not always require a site visit but can be done from the desktop or drive-by, which they are increasingly doing. That will make the business of evaluation swifter and, hopefully, less costly.
Lord Alton of Liverpool: My Lords, has the Minister seen the suggestion in today's newspapers that the cost of housing is likely to double again in the next decade? What hope does she hold out for first-time buyers, especially young people, who are desperately trying to get onto the home ownership ladder?
Baroness Andrews: My Lords, the first-time buyer is obviously in the most vulnerable position in the market. With 30 per cent of transactions falling through, we are wasting £1 million a day. First-time buyers are right in the line for that. Having a system that enables them to discover the condition of the house that they are buying—not down the line, but right up front—will help them a lot. In our plans for expanding home building, we have in mind the first-time buyer—the 30-year-old who will not be able to afford to buy a house in five years' time unless we address those market inequalities.
Baroness Hanham: My Lords, in the Minister's experience so far, who is drawing the packs together? Is it the estate agents who are trying to sell the house, or the legal advisors or solicitors involved in the sale or purchase? If it is independent bodies, who are they? Do they all charge fees?
Baroness Andrews: My Lords, the home information pack providers—essentially the estate agents—will be responsible for bringing the packs together, and there is currently an association set up to provide that. Of course, it is an objective and legal
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document, so it will be done to the highest standards. That is why we have built in a robust certification process, which will be coming into effect in October.
Animal Welfare Bill
3.06 pm
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton: My Lords, I beg to move the Motion standing in the name of my noble friend Lord Bach on the Order Paper.
Moved, That the Bill be committed to a Grand Committee.—(Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton.).
On Question, Motion agreed to.
Procedure of the House: Select Committee Report
The Chairman of Committees (Lord Brabazon of Tara): My Lords, I beg to move the Motion standing in my name on the Order Paper. This report is mainly concerned with the Speakership of the House, and I will say a few words about that important matter. The report implements the House's decision, on 31 January this year, to approve the report of the second Select Committee on the Speakership, chaired by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Lloyd of Berwick. It covers two main issues.
First, on the process of election, your Lordships will see that what we propose follows very closely the now-familiar process for by-elections involving the whole House. The main difference is that candidates will require a proposer and a seconder. I should draw attention to the proposed timetable: polling day on Wednesday 28 June, with the result announced on Tuesday 4 July.
Secondly, on the central issue of the Speaker's role in the Chamber, the Committee has done no more than to set out in the language of the Companion what the Select Committee recommended. In the proposed text on page 6 of the report, I draw attention to paragraph 2:
This is based on Standing Order 19, which the Select Committee recommended should be repealed. It makes it as clear as possible that the change in our Speakership will have no effect on self-regulation.
The report also deals with the Speaker's role in Private Notice Questions. As it says, the House has already decided, on the basis of the Lloyd report, that the preliminary decision whether to allow a PNQ will be taken by the Speaker rather than the Leader. I beg to move.
Moved, That the 3rd Report from the Select Committee be agreed to.—(The Chairman of Committees.)
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Lord Cope of Berkeley: My Lords, I repeat that we regret that the Lord Chancellor of the day will no longer preside—indeed, not even this afternoon—over your Lordships' House. It is entirely at his own request, however, and not our wish that that should happen. In this country we have never yet believed in the absolute separation of powers, otherwise Ministers would not sit in this House at all. We believe in accountability instead.
However, the noble and learned Lord is not going to sit on the Woolsack and we are told that his successor may not be a Member of this House. So we must make alternative arrangements. We will have to have a number of debates over the next few weeks on various aspects of the change. Today's report deals with the least controversial matters and we support the Procedure Committee's recommendations.
The electoral arrangements are similar to those that have operated satisfactorily for recent elections of hereditary Peers, as the Chairman of Committees has set out.
The changes proposed to the Standing Orders and the Companion reflect decisions your Lordships' House has already made about the future role of the Lord Speaker and follow the recommendations of the Selection Committee.
As the noble Lord has just said, the position remains that, in future, the Lord Speaker on the Woolsack will do nothing without the consent of the House. Up until now this has been laid down both in Standing Order 19—to which the noble Lord referred—and is spelt out more fully in the Companion in paragraph 4.01.
The Procedure Committee report does not refer specifically to Standing Order 19 but we regret its disappearance. It would be best to retain the Standing Order, suitably altered. But in any case the crucial paragraph 4.01 will remain in the Companion, as well as the new passage from the Procedure Committee report. So it will be very clear that the House remains self-regulating.
The other proposal in the report is about introductions. The current arrangements do not allow introductions on Thursdays and that reflects our former practice of meeting at 3 pm on Thursdays. Now that we meet at 3 pm on Wednesdays and 11 am on Thursdays, it looks right to swap those two days over. Introductions will now take place normally on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays and not normally on Wednesdays. Now that we are—at last—to have some more introductions, this change is timely.
I commend the Procedure Committee report to the House.
Lord Trefgarne: My Lords, I do not intend to make a long speech.
I had the privilege of being a member of the two committees chaired by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Lloyd of Berwick. Like many noble Lords, I am
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reluctant to find us making the change that is proposed but that is what the House has decided and that is that.
Like my noble friend Lord Cope, I welcome the fact that the House is to remain self-regulating. That has been agreed and it is a very good thing.
I welcome the change to Private Notice Questions—a small matter at the end of the Procedure Committee report. There was much discussion on that matter in the Select Committee and it is a useful change.
I would like to see many more Private Notice Questions in your Lordships' House. They are very rare and generally occur only when a similar Question is being taken in the other place. I cannot remember the last time that a Private Notice Question unique to this House was accepted by the Leader of the day and duly asked and answered. I plan to table one or two once the new arrangements are in place. Let us hope that they become more frequent.
Like my noble friend, I broadly accept what is proposed and hope that the House will do likewise.
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