The Senior Deputy Speaker (Lord Gardiner of Kimble)

My Lords, noble Lords know well that extensive and complex work is required to restore and preserve the Palace for future generations. I suspect, too, that noble Lords share my frustration that we are not further forward than we are. What I intend to highlight as I open this debate is the work undertaken, which is set out in the most recent annual report, and the path towards decision-making. Most notably, the R&R client board, composed of the two House commissions, agreed and published the strategic case report, which sets out the future direction of the programme. Published in March 2024, the R&R strategic case sets out the three delivery options for how to restore this historic Palace, which the client board agreed should be developed in further detail. The recommendations of the client board were informed by the extensive work of the R&R programme board in 2023. The programme board considered carefully 36 combinations of scope and delivery approaches to provide a shortlist for how R&R might be delivered. This was judged against a range of criteria, including value for money, health and safety implications, likely disruption to the work of Parliament and lasting benefits, including to accessibility and sustainability. This shortlisting process and the recommendations of the programme board informed the client board’s final decision regarding which delivery options should be developed into fully costed proposals. It is expected that this work will be presented by the end of this year to the Houses to make a decision on the preferred way forward. The client board agreed to the development of a “full decant” option and a “continued presence” option, as recommended by the programme board, and requested that a further delivery option of a rolling sequenced programme of works to deliver “enhanced maintenance and improvement” also be developed. Under the “full decant” option, both Houses would leave the Palace and relocate nearby on a temporary basis while the majority of the works are completed. The House of Commons Chamber would be prioritised for return to the Palace. The preferred location for temporary decant of the House of Lords would be the nearby QEII conference centre building for approximately 11 years, with continuing use of the existing southern estate—namely, Millbank House, Fielden House and Old Palace Yard. The “continued presence” option involves the House of Commons Chamber and essential support functions remaining in the Palace throughout the works. The House of Lords would move out of the Palace for approximately 17 years until the works are complete, again with the QEII conference centre being the preferred venue. Other House of Commons functions currently based in the Palace would be relocated elsewhere on the existing House of Commons estate. Finally, the “enhanced maintenance and improvement” option would be delivered as part of a rolling, sequenced programme of works. As far as possible, this option would be delivered in a business-as-usual environment, although up to 30% of the Palace may be decanted at any one time. As the client board commissioned detailed work on this option at a later stage in the shortlisting process last year, the timeline for EMI is still being worked through and will be disclosed in the costed proposals, alongside other comparative information. Noble Lords will wish to know what improvements we can expect to see in the Palace following the R&R works. The client board agreed that a “reasonably ambitious” scope be adopted for the R&R works. This would see improvements to areas such as health and safety, including to fire safety and addressing asbestos; renewal of mechanical, electrical and other services—perhaps this week I should say heating; building fabric conservation; security protection measures; and accessibility. This includes improving audibility and increasing step-free access from 12% within the Palace at present to approximately 70%, with the highest step-free access provided in the most visited and used areas of the building. This scope was agreed by the R&R client board because it would deliver significant improvements to the Palace for those who work in and visit it, while representing best value for money for taxpayers. These three options are being developed in detail over the coming months by the R&R delivery authority and Strategic Estates. Once this work is complete, all three options will be assessed by the programme and client board. These options will be costed and presented by the end of this year to enable, as I said, informed decisions by the Houses and a genuine choice on the preferred way forward. Turning to the contents of the 2024 annual progress report, I will first note the expenditure. The annual report sets out the financial performance and expenditure of the R&R programme. In the 2023-24 financial year, the delivery authority expenditure amounted to £75 million, with a further £5 million of expenditure by Parliament’s R&R client team. In addition to supporting the development and assessment of options considered by the programme board, which I have outlined, activities last year included continued work on complex surveys to the Palace, which are helping to shape the detailed plans for design and construction work. This is enabling the Houses to develop the most accurate building information record of the Palace’s condition that has ever existed and will support maintenance of the Palace. In 2023-24, 24,500 hours of intrusive survey work was completed, which included eight bore-holes, bringing the total to more than 63,000 hours of intrusive surveys being completed. The deepest of the bore-holes completed last year was 84 metres—275 feet in old money. To put that in another context, the Elizabeth Tower is 96 metres tall. That bore-hole was the deepest to date conducted by the R&R programme and will allow surveyors for the delivery authority to understand further the ground conditions, archaeology and other useful design parameters ahead of the future works. Archaeological discoveries have included sections of the ancient river walls and piles from the Charles Barry construction. The delivery authority, working with Parliament’s heritage and collections team, also completed its audit of the approximately 13,000 collections objects—paintings, sculptures, furniture, decorative arts and other unique and important objects—to consider how these can best be managed during the R&R programme. The concept designs for the recommended outcome level for the Palace restoration works and the outline design for House of Lords temporary accommodation also progressed in the last year. Engagement and communications activity supported the development of the strategic case and informed decision-making by the R&R political boards with the parliamentary community and external experts, and engagement with industry and professional sectors across the UK. Tours of the Palace basements and the historic Cloister Court continue to be made available to Members and staff. More than 80 Peers have taken this tour since April 2022. I suspect all noble Lords present have undertaken the tour, but I recommend it wholeheartedly. It captures and makes one understand the challenges, and indeed the opportunities, of restoration. Noble Lords can sign up by contacting the R&R client team. One-to-one briefings can also be arranged with R&R officials to discuss the programme in more detail. Engagement about the programme has not been confined to Westminster. As set out in the annual report, more than 250 representatives of supply chains and small businesses, and local officials in all four nations of the UK, have been met with to highlight future opportunities that the R&R programme may provide to businesses across the UK. It is perhaps a good reminder that this programme can have benefits all across the United Kingdom. Over 50% of the value of contracts awarded by the delivery authority has been to companies based outside London and the south-east. I hope that what I have sought to outline demonstrates that there has been tangible progress—politically, with the agreement of the strategic case and the three options taken forward for development, and at the technical level to assess in much greater detail the condition of the Palace and develop approaches for how the building could be restored and renewed. Noble Lords will want assurances that the expenditure spent on the programme has been necessary. Expenditure for the client team and delivery authority is scrutinised in various ways. The client team, as a joint parliamentary department funded by both Houses, is subject to the scrutiny processes faced by the budgets of both Houses’ administrations, such as the Finance Committees of each House. The annual estimate for the independent delivery authority is scrutinised by the client team, the programme board—including its sub-board, chaired by the noble Lord, Lord Vaux of Harrowden, and previously the noble Lord, Lord Morse, both of whom I am pleased to see participating in today’s debate—and the client board, of which the noble Lord, Lord Morse, and the noble Earl, Lord Kinnoull, are also members. Finally, there is the Parliamentary Works Estimates Commission, of which I am a member, receiving advice from the Treasury before it is laid in the House of Commons. The programme also continues to draw on outside, independent expertise to provide assurance on plans. This will help to ensure that costed proposals brought forward are robust, providing confidence to both Houses in the information presented. While we prepare to take a decision on R&R, work on the Palace is not standing still. Parliamentary teams continue to move forward with projects to ensure the safety of the Palace, and all who work within it, before the R&R works commence. This includes plans to repair the Lords Chamber roof; the Victoria Tower programme, which will commence this year alongside wider stonework conservation repairs; and mechanical, electrical, public health and fire safety replacement of life-expired services to ensure the continued operation of the Palace until the start of R&R. This explains the direction of the programme and the work undertaken over the last year. I continue to emphasise the responsibility that we all have, as custodians of this historic Palace, for the decisions we will need to make on the way forward. The ongoing work that I have outlined will enable the Houses to make the significant decision on the way forward for the programme based on evidence, and—I emphasise this—to make progress. I look forward to hearing the contributions of all noble Lords today. It is a subject on which all of us in this Room and well beyond have our concerns, we are putting in place now what will, I hope, provide us with some lasting solutions. I beg to move.