House of Lords (Proper Video)
Channel: trickshotcharity
Date: 27/12/2013

The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster.[2] Bills can be introduced into either the House of Lords or the House of Commons and members of the Lords may also take on roles as Government Ministers. The House of Lords has its own support services, separate from the Commons, including the House of Lords Library.
Unlike the elected House of Commons, most new members of the House of Lords are appointed.[3] Membership of the House of Lords is made up of Lords Spiritual and Lords Temporal. There are currently 26 Lords Spiritual who sit in the Lords by virtue of their ecclesiastical role in the established Church of England.[4] The Lords Temporal make up the rest of the membership; of these, the majority are life peers who are appointed by the Monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister, or on the advice of the House of Lords Appointments Commission.[5]
Membership was once a birthright of hereditary peers. Following a series of reforms, 92 members (as of 1 July 2011) still sit by virtue of a hereditary peerage.[6] Since the vast majority of hereditary peerages can only be inherited by males,[7] only one of these 92 is currently a woman. The number of members is not fixed; as of 11 June 2012 the House of Lords has 763 members (not including 49 who are on leave of absence or are otherwise disqualified from sitting),[1] unlike the House of Commons, which has a 650-seat fixed membership.[1][8]
The House of Lords scrutinises Bills that have been approved by the House of Commons.[9] It regularly reviews and amends Bills from the Commons.[10] While it is unable to prevent Bills passing into law, except in certain limited circumstances,[11] it can delay Bills and force the Commons to reconsider its decisions.[12] In this capacity, the Lords acts as a constitutional safeguard that is independent from the electoral process.[13][14][15] In addition to its role as the upper house, until the establishment of the Supreme Court in 2009, the House of Lords, through the Law Lords, acted as the final court of appeal in the UK judicial system.[16]
The Queen's Speech is delivered from the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament. The House also has a Church of England role, in that Church Measures must be tabled within the House through the Lords Spiritual.

The House of Lords does not control the term of the Prime Minister or of the Government.[30] Only the Lower House may force the Prime Minister to resign or call elections by passing a motion of no-confidence or by withdrawing supply. Thus, the House of Lords' oversight of the government is limited.
Most Cabinet ministers are from the House of Commons rather than the House of Lords. In particular, all Prime Ministers since 1902 have been members of the Lower House.[31] (Alec Douglas-Home, who became Prime Minister in 1963 whilst still an Earl, disclaimed his peerage and was elected to the Commons soon after his term began.) In recent history, it has been very rare for major cabinet positions (except Lord Chancellor and Leader of the House of Lords) to have been filled by peers.
Exceptions include Lord Carrington, who was the Foreign Secretary between 1979 and 1982, Lord Young of Graffham (Minister without Portfolio, then Secretary of State for Employment and then Secretary of State for Trade and Industry from 1984 to 1989), and Lord Mandelson, who served as First Secretary of State, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and President of the Board of Trade. George Robertson was briefly a peer whilst serving as Secretary of State for Defence before resigning to take up the post of Secretary General of NATO. From 1999 to 2010 the Attorney General for England and Wales was a Member of the House of Lords; the most recent was Baroness Scotland of Asthal.
The House of Lords remains a source for junior ministers and members of government. Like the House of Commons, the Lords also has a Government Chief Whip as well as several Junior Whips. Where a government department is not represented by a minister in the Lords or one is not available, government whips will act as spokesmen for them