Lord Speaker news: January - February 2008

Women at work in the Lords

The third lecture in the series on the Life Peerages Act 1958 and women in the House of Lords was on 28 February with Baroness Young of Hornsey's lecture on 'Women at work in the House of Lords: culture, language and identity'.

Celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Life Peerages Act began on 6 December 2007 with the first of a series of five lectures hosted by the House of Lords, in conjunction with the Mile End Group of Queen Mary, University of London.

BBC Parliament is televising the series of lectures.

President of the European Parliament

I hosted a dinner on 26 February for a delegation from the European Parliament, including the President, Dr Hans-Gert Poettering.

It was Dr Poettering's first visit to the UK since being elected and I took the opportunity to bring together a number of Members from the European Union Select Committee and other EU specialists. The enjoyable evening also provided a useful forum to discuss the Select Committee's recent report on the impact assessment of the Lisbon Treaty.

I chaired the Education Service's Student Parliament debate on 22 February.

A total of four schools took part in a lively discussion on the introduction of identity cards. A clerk was on hand before the debate to ensure House of Lords procedure was followed as closely as possible.

King's High Table

On 20 February I had the honour of opening the exhibition on the King's High Table in Westminster Hall, together with the Lord Great Chamberlain and Mr Speaker of the Commons.

The exhibition displays fragments of the medieval High Table, as well as charting the history of Westminster Hall. Archaeologists accidentally discovered the fragments, which had remained hidden for almost 300 years, during a renovation project in 2006.

As part of this week-long festival, I had the pleasure of welcoming Mme Gu Xiulian, Vice Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China and President of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF) on 20 February.

We were joined by other members of the Federation as well as the Chinese Ambassador, Mr Fu Ying, and were able to discuss women's participation in politics both in the UK and China.

All-Saints Primary School

On 5 February pupils from class 5 of All-Saints Primary School, Fulham, London, stopped by during their visit to Parliament.

I spoke to the students about the work and role of the House of Lords and they also had the opportunity to ask any questions. The visit was organised through the Parliament's Education Service.

The second lecture in the series on the Life Peerages Act and women in the House of Lords took place on 24 January with Baroness Williams of Crosby discussing 'Women in the Lords: Britain's global role in the next decade'.

Members of the South African Parliament

On 24 January I was pleased to welcome the Deputy Presiding Officer of the National Council of Provinces - the upper House in the South African legislature - the Hon. Mrs Mildred Oliphant MP and two of her colleagues, the Hon. N Ntwanambi MP and the Hon. R J Tau MP.

We were joined for lunch by Members of the Lords with an interest in South Africa and discussed some of the differences in our parliamentary procedures, as well as the issues affecting sub-Saharan Africa.

Thank you to staff

On 23 January I hosted a reception in the River Room to thank all those members of staff who cut short their Christmas holiday in order to assist at the Commonwealth Speakers and Presiding Officers Conference.

Many of the visiting Speakers commented on the excellent support which the conference was given.  Much of this was down to those members of staff from both Houses who worked so hard and so well together in so many different ways.

To mark the Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January, the Holocaust Educational Trust presented a Book of Commitment, signed by parliamentarians, to the House of Commons. I added my signature on 22 January.

Egyptian Speaker visit

I welcomed the Speaker of the Egyptian People's Assembly, Dr Sorour, to the House of Lords on 22 January. He was visiting Parliament as part of a programme organised by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy. A number of Members of the Lords with an interest in Egypt joined us for lunch and a lively discussion in the River Room.

Commonwealth Speakers' Conference

On 2 to 6 January Mr Speaker of the Commons and I jointly hosted the 19th Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth in the Houses of Parliament.

Speakers from upper and lower houses across the Commonwealth, and from the devolved bodies in the UK gathered to discuss topics of mutual interest. There were interesting discussions on freedom of speech in parliament and parliamentary privilege, the powers of the chair in keeping order, ethics and parliaments' relations with the public.