Baroness Parminter (LD)

My Lords, I strongly support the report, and I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Taylor of Bolton, not only on her introduction to it but on her excellent chairing of our Select Committee, which it was a great privilege to sit on. Like her, I thank the committee staff, whose professionalism and good humour aided us on that path. As the noble Lord, Lord True, said, the backdrop to this report and the debate today is the Government’s manifesto commitment to introduce a requirement for participation and a retirement age. We are a self-governing House, and the report is a workable and fair way for us to take charge of our own future. On proposing a retirement age of 80, we would allow Members to make a significant and meaningful contribution to the work of this House over a good number of years, but the report recognises that all organisations benefit from the refreshment and new perspectives of new members. That is important. Equally, the report sets out a tapered exit for a significant number of existing Members, which will avoid a cliff edge and the problems that would cause for the workings of the House and the good work that we know we do. On participation, I do not think that there is anyone in this House this afternoon who thinks that the conferral of a peerage is merely a gilded bauble; it is a commitment to contribute. That is what our requirements in this report on participation seek. However, that is balanced against the very real fact that the reason why we want to listen to many noble Lords’ contributions is the expertise that they bring from their outside professions. The fact that they have those outside professions, perspectives and experiences means they cannot always be with us. Therefore, we have to be very careful, particularly with the Cross Benches, to set a participation requirement that would not exclude the people whom we most want to hear from on particular debates and issues where they have expertise that the House needs to hear. To my mind, that is extremely important and valuable. We want people who can participate, but we also want people who recognise that there is a time when their voices are the most important ones that we need to be hearing. This is an important report from the House. It was drawn up with cross-party membership and we came, as the noble Baroness, Lady Taylor, said, to a unanimous position of agreement. That is important. It is workable and fair, and I support it. My fear is that if this House is not seen to support these proposals, for whatever reason, that will be seen by those outside this House as self-interest. That will do nothing for the reputation of this House, which I know we all think of and worry about very deeply. If we do not accept these proposals, those who know less and care less about this House will shape our future.