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Q. How many Peers do we have in the House of Lords?
(A) There are approximately 782 peers in the House of Lords at the present time.
Q. How much are Peers paid?
(A) Peers do not receive a salary, but are able to claim £300 per day expenses.
Q. Some Peers claim expenses but do not vote, why?
(A) There are, many Peers who hold non-voting positions, for example: Lord Speaker, Deputy speaker and Chairman of committees’.
Q. The majority of the House of Lords, at the present time are male, why?
(A) Politics was very male dominated until the twentieth century. The House of Lords Act 1999 saw the expulsion of hereditary peers; who were overwhelmingly male, and resulted in an improvement in the gender balance. We have also seen a substantial rise in women being appointed, which will over time change the gender balance.
- From 1970-79 there were 7 women appointed.
- From 1980-89 there were 10 women appointed.
- From 1990-99 there were 66 women appointed.
- From 2000-10 there were 79 women appointed.
Q. The house of Lords is predominantly old people, why?
(A) It takes time to accumulate expert knowledge and so you would rarely see very young people appointed. There are 54% at the present time, over 70yrs of age, and only 2 under 39yrs of age. The age balance is slowly changing and there will be a noticeable difference over time.
Q. Why are there so many former MPs?
(A) At the present time there is approximately ¼ of the House of Lords that are former MPs.
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