Lord Naseby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House of Lords

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Naseby on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Leader of the House whether she will set up a working party to consider the combining of the contents of the Companion to the Standing Orders with those parts of Erskine May that refer to the House of Lords in order to produce a single reference volume reflecting the law, privilege, proceedings and usage of Parliament as applicable to the House.

Baroness Stowell of Beeston

The Companion to the Standing Orders is the single authoritative statement of practice and procedure of the House, issued with the authority of the Procedure Committee.

Erskine May is edited by the Clerk of the House of Commons. It contains some additional information about the history and privileges of Parliament, including the House of Lords, and Lords Clerks contribute to its production, but for the House of Lords the resulting text does not have the authoritative status that it does in the House of Commons. For this reason, and in order to keep the Companion a manageable length, I do not propose to pursue amalgamation of the texts into a single volume.