Publication Scheme
Status and Role
The Commission is an independent, advisory non-departmental public body. It
has two responsibilities:
-
to make recommendations on the appointment of non-party political
independent members of the House of Lords.
-
to scrutinise nominations to the House of Lords to ensure their
propriety, including those put forward by the political parties.
It was established in May 2000 by the Prime Minister following the
publication in January 1999 of the Government’s White Paper, Modernising
Parliament: Reforming the House of Lords. This had proposed an independent
Appointments Commission to assist with the transitional phase in reforming
the House of Lords.
Purpose
This publication scheme responds to the requirements of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 which requires all public bodies to adopt and maintain
a scheme for the proactive publication of information. The schemes are
intended to ensure that information is made available without the need for
a specific request. It has been approved by the Information Commissioner.
Information which would be exempt under Part II of the Act, for example
because it is sensitive or confidential, is not included in our scheme.
Such information may be edited out of documents published under the scheme.
In practice the Commission has throughout its existence been committed to
an open and transparent nomination and assessment process, whilst treating
information provided by nominees in confidence except where consent has
been given for this to be released.
The scheme sets out the classes under which information will be made
available, how to obtain it and at what cost.
Responsibility for administering the scheme rests with the Secretary to the
Commission (Tel: 020 7276 2604). For more detailed enquiries about the
Commission’s publication scheme contact Ekpe Attah at the Commission
secretariat (Tel: 020 7276 2621)
Address:
House of Lords Appointments Commission
35 Great Smith Street
London SW1P 3BQ
Fax: 020 7276 2109
Email: lordsappointments@gtnet.gov.uk
Classes of Information and Description
-
Information relating to nomination for appointment as a non-party
political peer – information relating to the nomination and assessment
process for those wishing to be considered for non-party political
peerages; and information on the vetting process of all nominations, for
both non-party political and party political peerages. This excludes
information which might breach the confidentiality of nominees.
-
Role and membership of the Commission – information about the appointment
of the Commission and its remit, and biographical information on the
Commissioners. Includes the Code of Practice for members of the
Commission and a Register of Interests, which lists the interests which
may, or may be perceived to be, relevant to the exercise of the
Commission’s public duties.
-
Information about appointments – details about peers appointed on the
Commission’s recommendation and statistics on nominations received.
-
Press notices – press notices released by the Commission relating to its
work
-
Annual Reports – text of the Commission’s Annual Reports
-
Documents placed in the libraries of the House – documents placed by the
Commission in the libraries of either House of Parliament
-
Evidence to committees –
oral evidence [External website] and
written evidence [External website] given in
public examination by the Commission to Parliamentary committees and the
Committee on Standards in Public Life
-
Keynote speeches – Speeches given by the Chair or Commission members on
the work of the Commission.
-
Details of HOLAC staff – Contact
details of officials working in the secretariat to the Commission
Charges
The information contained in our scheme is available free of charge on our
website. For those without Internet access, a single printout (or bound
copy, in the case of some types of document) can be obtained – also free of
charge - by post, by contacting the Commission, as set out above.
Reproduction for sale or other commercial purposes is not permitted. For
any other use, or if in doubt, further information and guidance notes on
publishing and copyright are available from HMSO's Licensing Division
(Tel: 01603 621000).
