Overview

The Lord Speaker presides over the Lords chamber and is an ambassador for the work of the House

• Election and Duties

Originated as secretary to medieval Kings, accumulated executive, legislative and judicial powers until its reform in the 21st century

• Recent Reforms

The most senior official in the House of Lords and its Chief Executive

• 'We succeed when nobody notices us'

An official with an ancient pedigree, Black Rod is in charge of security and ceremonies in the House of Lords

The Speaker chairs debates in the House of Commons and is its official representative at home and abroad

• Impartiality and Procedural Reform
• Roles and Deputies
• Elections

Given the antiquity of the Speakership and the Speaker’s important functions, it is no surprise that a group of close assistants to the Speaker with long histories of their own emerged.

• Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons
• The Speaker’s Secretary
• The Speaker’s Trainbearer

The principal Deputy Speaker with distinctive, traditional responsibilities for presiding over budget debates

• Formalising the Deputy Speakership

The most senior official in the House of Commons and its Chief Executive

• Foundations of the modern Clerk's Department
• Clerk Assistant

The Serjeant at Arms is responsible for security, access and ceremonies in the House of Commons

• Tradition meets modernity

A magnificent occasion that brings the three parts of Parliament together and marks the start of a new session

• Public Sequence of Events
• Elements unseen by the public

The formal ceremony in the House of Lords that marks the end of a parliamentary session

• Modern Practice

Formal processions by officials to the chambers before the start of parliamentary business.

Held in Westminster Hall upon the death of a Sovereign, Royal Consorts and sometimes Prime Ministers

• Lyings-in-State in Westminster Hall