House of Lords Appointments Commission
Please read these notes carefully before submitting a nomination. [114KB DOC]
1. The House of Lords Appointments Commission has two functions:
2. Paragraphs 3 to 30 provide information on the nomination and assessment process for those wishing to be being considered for non–party–political peerages. Paragraphs 31 to 35 provide information on the vetting of nominees recommended for both party and non–party–political peerages.
3. You are eligible for consideration as a non–party–political member of the House of Lords if you are over 21 years of age and are a British, Irish or Commonwealth citizen. To be able to devote the time necessary to make an active and effective contribution to the work of the House, the Commission considers it is likely that your main home will be in the United Kingdom. You must also be resident in the United Kingdom for tax purposes.
4. Members of the House of Lords do not receive payment for their parliamentary duties, but they may claim expenses related to daily attendance at the House. Currently, these are £61 per day or £122 if this includes an overnight stay. Peers may also claim travel expenses. When the House is sitting, peers may claim £51 per day for office and secretarial assistance. These allowances are based on recommendations of the Senior Salaries Review Body.
5 The Code of Conduct provides guidance for members of the House of Lords on the standards of conduct expected of them in the discharge of their parliamentary and public duties, and provides the openness and accountability necessary to reinforce public confidence in the way in which members of the House of Lords perform their parliamentary and public duties. In particular it reinforces the requirement on members to register relevant interests. A copy can be found at www.parliament.uk, or paper copies are available from the House of Lords Information Office (Phone: 020 7219 3107)
6. The Commission is committed to independent and fair assessment of nominations against its stated criteria. Its recommendations will be made on merit and not on the basis of age, disability, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, background, religion, race, colour or ethnic origin. The Commission recognises the role it can play, through an open, meritocratic process, in ensuring that the composition and balance of the House better reflects the different experience and backgrounds of those living in the United Kingdom.
7. Building on the remit placed on it by the Government, the Commission seeks to recommend people with:
Full explanation of the criteria.
8. The Commission will apply these criteria consistently to all nominees. It continues to welcome views on the criteria and the assessment process, and how these might be developed further in the future. Any changes to the criteria will be published.
9. You should be able to bring a perspective and contribution to the work of the House of Lords that is independent of party–political considerations. Party–political activity or membership of a political party is not a bar to nomination. However, nominees will need to satisfy themselves and the Commission that they are comfortable operating outside a party–political framework whatever their past involvement. The nomination form includes questions on current and past political activities that are similar to those used for most public appointments.
10. You must declare any donation – both of money or in kind - loan or credit arrangement made with a political party whether or not the donation, loan or credit arrangement was declarable to the Electoral Commission. This requirement covers all donations, loans or credit arrangements - regardless of when they were made - whether given directly by yourself or indirectly, for example, by a business or trust over which you exercise significant direction, or by a trade union of which you are or were an holder or major supporter. You must also declare any personal financial relationship between you and a senior member of a political party.
11. Donations, loans and credit agreements made to or with a political party by close family members, such as your spouse or partner, should also be declared, as should any close personal financial relationship between them and a senior member of a political party.
12. The Commission will consider self-nomination and nomination by another person or organisation. Self–nomination was used exclusively for the first round of appointments as the Commission wanted to establish that the nominations process was like making an application for any public appointment and to emphasis that nominees must have a strong personal commitment to working in the House. However, the Commission recognises that some potential nominees with the skills and experience to make a contribution may be reluctant to put themselves forward and for this reason it is now introducing nomination by other people.
13. All nominations will be considered against the same criteria regardless of whether they are self-nominations or nominations made by another person or organisation.
14. All nominees should complete the same nomination form, addressing the Commission’s criteria. This can be done in hard copy and sent to the Commission’s offices at 35 Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3BQ or sent electronically to enquiry@lordsappointments.x.gsi.gov.uk. A copy of the eform can be found at Nomination Form.
15. If you are nominating another person you should pass a copy of the nomination form, the Commission’s criteria and the supporting information to your nominee. Alternatively, you can contact us with details of your nominee and we can send an information pack direct to him or her. Your nominee should then complete the nomination form and either return it direct to the Commission or ask you to do so on their behalf. You may wish to write to the Commission outlining the reasons for your nomination, paying particular attention to the Commission’s criteria. While it would be helpful if such letters are attached to a completed nomination form, this is not essential and the Commission will ensure that all letters it receives are linked to the appropriate nomination.
16. The Commission will find it helpful if a CV is provided to support the nomination form. It will help the Commission if this is set out in a way that relates to the Commission’s criteria for assessing nominations.
17. The Commission believes that references play an essential part in assessing the quality and propriety of nominees. All references will be treated in confidence.
18. As a minimum, you are asked to provide details of two referees including a work-related referee (where relevant) and a personal referee. You may provide details of more referees if you think it will help the Commission with its assessment. Please include details of these with the nomination form.
19. Referees should be able to demonstrate their knowledge of a nominee and show how he or she could contribute to the work of the House of Lords.
20. Please note that, at this stage, the Commission only requires contact details for each referee. It is not necessary for written references to be included with nominations. The Commission may contact referees to request written references as part of the assessment process, and may also discuss a written reference with them.
21. There is no closing date for nominations. When the Commission began its task it set a closing date for its first round of recommendations. However, the nomination and assessment process is now a continuous one, with small numbers of recommendations being made at regular intervals.
22. The Commission treats all nominations and supporting information in confidence.
23. All nominations are acknowledged.
24. Please inform the Commission immediately if a nomination is being withdrawn.
25.The Commission’s recommendations for appointment are made on the basis of individual merit and the ability to make an effective contribution to the work of the House of Lords.
26. The detailed assessment process is subject to review. However, in line with best practice, it broadly consists of five main stages:
Stage 1
Before the assessment begins, a number of objective checks on eligibility are made. For example, it is a statutory requirement that appointees to the Lords be UK, Commonwealth or Irish nationals, aged over 21. The Commission has also decided that nominees should be resident in the UK for tax purposes.
Stage 2
The Commission’s Secretariat carries out the first sift. Each team member makes an initial assessment of the nomination against the published criteria. The team then discuss their separate assessments and agree a final recommendation which is put to the Commission. Where the team is unable to agree, the nomination is referred to a committee of no fewer than two Commission members to make the judgement.
Stage 3
A sub-committee of the Commission meets to agree the Secretariat’s recommendations. The sub-committee considers a random sample of the nominations and ensures that the assessments are consistent with the selection criteria.
Stage 4
The Commission interviews the nominees it judges best meets the published criteria. Two of the Commission members, including the Chairman, meet each interviewee. The same format is used for every interview. At this stage references are taken up.
Stage 5
Following the interviews, the Commission reviews all the information about the shortlisted nominees before drawing up its final list of recommendations.
27. The Commission will call you for interview if you are being considered for recommendation. The Commission is likely to interview many more people than it is able to recommend. Its aim is to build a list of outstanding people that it can recommend over time, and it considers an interview to be an important part of this process.
28. Please be patient in following up your nomination. Do not expect a response within the same time as you would from a “normal” job application. The Commission may wish to consider nominations over a long period of time. If we have concluded, however, that someone is unlikely to be recommended we will write to them as soon as possible. The Commission does not undertake to provide reasons as to why a nominee has been unsuccessful.
29. Please note that your nomination form will be destroyed three months after you are informed of the Commission’s decision. Nomination forms and supporting material will not be returned. All nominees are welcome to submit a further nomination in the future, particularly if they have developed skills and experience relevant to the published criteria.
30. The Commission is charged with vetting recommendations for life peerages to ensure nominees have upheld the highest standards of propriety.
31. The Commission will wish to be satisfied, amongst other things, that nominees are not and never have been a threat to the national security of the United Kingdom or any other country; that they have complied, in a straightforward way, with their obligations in relation to taxation and the receipt of benefits; and that there are no serious doubts about their integrity in relation to their working life. The Commission expects nominees to be resident in the United Kingdom for tax purposes.
32. Past criminal convictions will not automatically disqualify candidates. The Commission will take into account convictions for serious criminal offences but believes strongly in the rehabilitation of offenders. In that spirit, nominees are encouraged to provide details of convictions or any other matters that they believe should be brought to the Commission’s attention.
33. The Commission’s scrutiny of nominations includes significant political donations made by nominees, using thresholds set by the Electoral Commission.
34. The nomination form includes a section requesting the nominee’s consent to releasing information in the nomination form to enable further inquiries to be made. The Commission will need to check with former employers, Government departments and agencies, other organisations and individuals to provide an assurance as to the propriety of nominees. This will be done in confidence.
35. If you have any queries about the nomination and assessment process, please contact the Commission’s office.