PREFACE
This Annual Report of the House of
Lords covers the financial year 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2002.
It is the 10th to be published in this format. A Review of the
Year is followed by a detailed report on the administration which
supports the work of the House as the second chamber of the United
Kingdom Parliament.
The Parliamentary session rarely
coincides with the financial year. This reporting year, 2001-02,
began in the final weeks of the last session of the 1997-2001
Parliament. Parliament was dissolved in May 2001 and, after the
General Election, the new Parliament was opened on 20 June. By
the autumn of 2001, the House was again busy in its main role
of scrutinising Government legislation. Proposals for change in
the working practices of the House and in its internal management
were also pursued during the year and are described in this Review.
The Accounts of the House are not
published with this Report. Instead, a single Resource Account
- incorporating all the financial transactions of the House -
will be published separately later in this financial year, once
completed and audited by the National Audit Office. This Report
does, however, include (on page 26 and in Appendix E, page 58)
a breakdown of expenditure by the House in 2001-02.
The "domestic" committees of the
House of Lords, which are responsible for overseeing matters such
as expenditure, accommodation, staffing, salaries and conditions
of service, as well as the upkeep of the Palace of Westminster,
are listed in Appendix A. Lord Tordoff continued as Chairman of
Committees.
The Annual Report was approved
by the Finance and Staff Sub-Committee.
MICHAEL
DAVIES
Clerk of the Parliaments and Accounting Officer July 2002
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