Ministers in the House of Lords: Role and accountability to Parliament

Approximate read time: 20 minutes

There is no requirement for a minister to be a member of either House of Parliament. However, in practice and by strong convention, ministers are also members of either the House of Commons or the House of Lords—not least so that they are directly accountable to Parliament. Ministers in the House of Lords can be either selected from the existing membership of the House or specifically appointed by the prime minister to the House of Lords to serve as members of the government.

1. Ministerial roles in the House of Lords

The leader of the House of Lords is appointed by the prime minister and is a member of the cabinet. There has been one brief exception to this. On 15 July 2014 Baroness Stowell of Beeston (Conservative) was appointed as leader of the House of Lords and lord privy seal. However, due to other changes in the cabinet and the limit on the number of paid positions available, it was revealed that Baroness Stowell would not be a member of the cabinet and would therefore receive a lower salary than her predecessor as leader of the House of Lords, Lord Hill of Oareford.^[1] The House of Lords Constitution Committee criticised this decision, and suggested this was the first time there were no members of the House of Lords in the cabinet.^[2] In May 2015, Baroness Stowell was promoted to the cabinet as leader of the House.^[3]

The current leader of the House of Lords and lord privy seal is Baroness Smith of Basildon. Prior to the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, the lord chancellor acted as speaker of the House of Lords and was also a member of the cabinet.^[4] Lord Norton of Louth, the Conservative peer and professor of politics at the University of Hull, explained how this affected the number of peers in the cabinet in his 2013 book ‘Parliament in British Politics’:

Two members of the cabinet were, up to 2005, necessarily drawn from the Lords—the lord chancellor and the leader of the House of Lords—with the minimum number also usually, though not always, constituting the maximum. The separation of the office of lord chancellor from the speakership of the House of Lords—with the result that the lord chancellor need not necessarily sit in the Lords—reduced the number from two to one.^[5]

Other cabinet members are usually MPs. However, as Lord Norton observed, the prime minister may also appoint members of the House of Lords as secretaries of state. For example, Margaret Thatcher’s cabinets occasionally included secretaries of state who were members of the Lords. Lord Norton notes the most senior of these appointments was Lord Carrington as foreign secretary from 1979 to 1982.

Subsequent governments have also included secretaries of state who sat in the House of Lords.

• During the period when Tony Blair was prime minister, he briefly had one secretary of state in the House of Lords. Baroness Amos was international development secretary from 12 May to 6 October 2003 before becoming leader of the House of Lords.^[6]
• Gordon Brown had two members of the House of Lords as secretaries of state. Lord Adonis was appointed as secretary of state for transport on 6 June 2009, having previously been minister of state at the Department for Transport. Lord Mandelson was appointed as secretary of state at the then Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (subsequently renamed as the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills) on 13 October 2008, joining the House of Lords at the same time. Both secretaries of state remained in their role until the formation of the coalition government after the 2010 general election.
• On 13 November 2023, then prime minister Rishi Sunak appointed former prime minister David Cameron as foreign secretary. Following this announcement, he joined the House of Lords as Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton.^[7] This was the first time the office of foreign secretary was held by a member of the House of Lords since 1982.^[8]

Other recent examples of members of the House of Lords sitting in cabinet include Baroness Morgan of Cotes. She continued as secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport from the Lords following the 2019 general election. Baroness Morgan stepped down from the role in February 2020.^[9] Other ministers in the House of Lords who were not secretaries of state have also attended cabinet. For example, on 5 July 2024, the government announced Richard Hermer would be appointed attorney general and would become a member of the House of Lords.^[10] He currently sits in the House of Lords as Lord Hermer. During the Conservative government under Boris Johnson, Lord Frost was a full member of the cabinet whilst he was minister of state at the Cabinet Office.^[11]

2. Role of leader of the House of Lords

The position of leader of the House of Lords performs a dual role. The leader has overall responsibility for government business in the House of Lords including the passage of government legislation through the House, exercised jointly with the Lords chief whip. In addition to leading the government benches, the leader repeats statements made by the prime minister and advises the House of Lords on procedure. The ‘Companion to the standing orders’ explains that because “the lord speaker has no powers to rule on matters of procedure, the leader also advises the House on procedure and order, and is responsible for drawing attention to violations or abuse”.^[12] For example, at question time it is the leader, rather than the lord speaker, who advises the House when to move on to the next question or assists when two (or more) members rise at the same time. The leader of the House also takes part in formal ceremonies in the House, such as the state opening of Parliament. A deputy leader of the House is also usually appointed to take responsibility for advising the House on matters of procedure and order in the leader’s absence. The current deputy leader of the House is Lord Collins of Highbury.

The term ‘leader of the House’ as applied to the House of Lords only acquired general usage in the mid-19th century, although the position evolved towards the beginning of the 18th century. Charles Spencer, the third Earl of Sunderland, was the first peer responsible for the management of the House of Lords from around 1717.^[13] The Office of the Leader of the House of Lords is now a ministerial department of the Cabinet Office.^[14]

3. Role of other government ministers

Other government ministers in the House of Lords play an often wide and varied role. Below cabinet level—as ministers of state or parliamentary under secretaries of state, or government whips/‘lords or baronesses in waiting’—they are variously responsible for guiding government legislation through the House and for speaking on behalf of the government at the despatch box. Unlike their House of Commons counterparts, however, who will predominantly answer questions on their own portfolio area during set question sessions, ministers in the House of Lords who field questions do so upon all matters which fall within the remit of their department (in response to questions addressed to “His Majesty’s Government”). Lords whips have the same constitutional position as departmental ministers.^[15] They differ from whips in the Commons because they have a role at the despatch box in promoting and defending departmental policy. If a given government department does not have a departmental minister in the House of Lords, then all of its business will be conducted by a whip.

Most ministers in the House of Lords have been, and continue to be, selected from existing members of the House. However, there have been examples of individuals given peerages to serve in government. Recent instances include 10 appointments announced by the Labour government following the 2024 general election at the time of writing.

Between 5 and 9 July 2024, the government announced the following five appointments. In addition to the new attorney general, Lord Hermer, the government announced on 5 July 2024 Sir Patrick Vallance would be appointed minister for science and James Timpson would be appointed as a minister at the Ministry of Justice.^[16] On 6 July 2024 the government announced Jacqui Smith would be appointed as minister for skills and on 9 July 2024 it announced Sir David Hanson would be appointed as minister of state at the Home Office.^[17] They now sit in the House of Lords as Lord Vallance of Balham, Lord Timpson, Baroness Smith of Malvern and Lord Hanson of Flint.

Since the beginning of August 2024, the government has announced the following further appointments:

• On 29 August 2024, the government announced Catherine Smith would be appointed as advocate general for Scotland.^[18] She now sits in the House of Lords as Baroness Smith of Cluny.
• On 10 October 2024, the government announced Poppy Gustafsson would be appointed as minister for investment, sitting jointly in the Department for Business and Trade and HM Treasury.^[19] She now sits in the House of Lords as Baroness Gustafsson.
• Baroness Gustafsson resigned from her ministerial role on 5 September 2025.^[20] The government announced on the following day Jason Stockwood would be appointed as her replacement as minister for investment.^[21] He now sits in the House of Lords as Lord Stockwood.
• On 11 September 2025, the government announced Liz Lloyd would be appointed as parliamentary under secretary of state in both the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Department for Business and Trade, and as a government whip.^[22] She now sits in the House of Lords as Baroness Lloyd of Effra.
• On 11 November 2025, the government announced Alan Whitehead would be appointed as minister of state in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.^[23] He now sits in the House of Lords as Lord Whitehead.

Since 2015, 39 members have become ministers at either the same time or soon after their appointment to the House was announced. This includes two members, Baroness Morgan of Cotes and Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park, who were both appointed to the Lords so that they could continue in ministerial positions.

Table 1. List of direct ministerial appointments to the House of Lords, 2015 to present day

Once a member of the House of Lords, there is no obligation or expectation on an individual to leave, unless subject to expulsion provisions in the House of Lords (Expulsion and Suspension) Act 2015. For example, there is no mechanism in law that subjects those appointed to the House to serve as ministers to any term limits because they are subject to the Life Peerages Act 1958. Members of the House can resign under the terms of the House of Lords Reform Act 2014. However, this would be a personal decision and one open to any outgoing minister should they so wish to resign from the House as well. For example, Lord Jones of Birmingham joined the House of Lords on 10 July 2007 following his appointment as minister of state at the then Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the then Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.^[24] He was a minister until 2008 and then remained a member until his retirement from the House on 31 August 2020.

4. Scrutiny of ministers in the Lords

The government is subject to scrutiny in the House of Lords in various ways, for example through its ministers answering oral questions. Until 2009, there were no regular dedicated times for oral questions for secretaries of state in the House of Lords. In the House of Commons, departmental secretaries of state are required to attend regularly scheduled sessions to answer questions on the work of their department. However, this changed in the House of Lords in 2009. A process was devised following the appointments of Lord Mandelson and Lord Adonis as secretaries of state.^[25] This system made Lords secretaries of state subject to monthly oral questions sessions in the House answering questions in their ministerial capacity. The House of Lords Procedure Committee has explained “this process was for three dedicated oral questions to be taken on one Thursday each month, taking place immediately after oral questions and lasting for up to 20 minutes”. It was made permanent in November 2011 and is revived when there are secretaries of state in the House of Lords. This was extended to full cabinet members following the appointment in March 2021 of Lord Frost as minister of state for the Cabinet Office, which made him a full member of the cabinet.^[26]

On 20 November 2023, following the appointment of Lord Cameron as foreign secretary, the then leader of the House of Lords and lord privy seal, Lord True, wrote to the House of Lords Procedure and Privileges Committee to propose questions to Lord Cameron take place on the first Tuesday of each month and that they should last for 40 minutes.^[27] Lord True also proposed extending the length of time for backbench questions following oral statements by the foreign secretary from 20 minutes to 30 minutes. On 22 November 2023, the committee published a report endorsing these proposals.^[28] This change was approved by the House of Lords on 28 November 2023 and the first secretary of state questions to the foreign secretary took place on 5 December 2023.^[29]

5. Scrutiny of Lords ministers in the Commons

MPs do not possess the same opportunity to question secretaries of state sitting in the House of Lords as Lords members do. The standing orders play a role in what the House permits or prohibits a member from doing. For example, members of the House of Lords, including ministers and secretaries of state, cannot be formally summoned to appear in front of House of Commons select committees.^[30] However, members of the House of Lords can choose to appear before committees if they wish to do so.^[31] In practice ministers in the Lords have regularly given evidence in front of such committees. This is true the other way around: Lords select committees cannot summon Commons ministers but can invite them.

There was debate during the tenures of Lords Mandelson and Adonis about whether a mechanism of accountability should be introduced to allow the House of Commons to question Lords secretaries of state outside of select committees, and if so, how best to do so. This was also raised with the appointment of Lord Frost to a cabinet-level ministerial role and the appointment of Lord Cameron as foreign secretary.^[32]

Members of the House of Lords are disqualified from sitting in the House of Commons. However, members of the House of Lords can be invited to appear before the lower House and historically this was reasonably common.^[33] For example, during his impeachment in 1805, Lord Melville is described as being seated “within the bar” in the House of Commons.^[34]

During their time in office neither Lord Adonis nor Lord Mandelson received such a request, or attended a Commons debate, in their capacity as departmental secretaries. Instead, proposed mechanisms of improving accountability focused on enabling secretaries of state from the House of Lords to answer questions either in the Commons chamber (in the same way as their Commons counterparts), or in specially convened sessions in Westminster Hall. A number of parliamentary committees considered the issue at the time. For example, the House of Commons Procedure Committee published a report on the accountability to the House of Commons of secretaries of state in the House of Lords in March 2010.^[35] The committee recommended a trial of Lords-based secretaries of state answering questions in Westminster Hall taking place twice each parliamentary session, subject to the length of the session. The committee also recommended these sessions should last for 45 minutes, with the last 15 minutes being reserved for topical questions. However, this trial never happened. The 2010 general election took place on 6 May 2010, and the resulting coalition government under David Cameron as prime minister did not appoint any members of the House of Lords as secretaries of state.^[36]

The establishment of a new procedure requiring secretaries of state in the House of Lords to appear regularly before MPs was raised again following Lord Cameron’s appointment as foreign secretary.^[37] On the day of Lord Cameron’s appointment, the speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, made a statement in the House of Commons.^[38] He told the House he had commissioned advice from the clerks of the House of Commons on options for “enhanced scrutiny” of the foreign secretary while the office was held by a member of the House of Lords. On 22 November 2023, the Commons speaker wrote to the then chair of the House of Commons Procedure Committee, Karen Bradley, describing the appointment of a member of the House of Lords as foreign secretary as having “stymied” the ability of the House of Commons to scrutinise the government’s foreign policy.^[39] He asked the committee to undertake a short inquiry to consider options for increasing scrutiny of the foreign secretary by MPs. In his letter, the speaker referred to the proposal put forward by the Procedure Committee in 2010 but recommended the committee should consider more frequent questioning of the foreign secretary by MPs. The committee subsequently launched an inquiry into House of Commons scrutiny of secretaries of state in the House of Lords.^[40]

The House of Commons Procedure Committee published its report on 24 January 2024.^[41] The committee concluded that all MPs should have the opportunity to put questions to secretaries of state who are members of the House of Lords. However, it recommended the two Houses should avoid establishing any procedure that risked undermining the “democratic primacy” of the House of Commons.^[42] For this reason, the committee argued members of the Lords should not be allowed to appear at the dispatch box in the Commons, saying this would risk “blurring the boundaries between the two Houses”.^[43] The committee also rejected the proposal to allow secretaries of state to answer questions from MPs in Westminster Hall or one of the committee rooms on the grounds that not all MPs would be able to participate, given the size of these rooms. It recommended instead secretaries of state in the House of Lords should be able to appear at the bar of the House of Commons for departmental question time, for statements and for urgent questions. The committee said this should be a temporary measure lasting for the remainder of the current parliament and should not set a precedent. It recommended MPs should be given the opportunity to approve a motion to allow this to occur. The committee also concluded these changes would need the approval of the House of Lords before they could be introduced.

The then government published its response to the committee on 17 April 2024.^[44] It rejected the recommendation that Lords ministers should be able to appear before the bar, arguing the procedure for appearing in the way suggested was untested. It also said it risked undermining the separation of the two Houses and, because it would lead to accountability to both Houses, potentially lead to a minister in the Lords facing increased scrutiny compared to secretaries of state in the Commons. The then government did not table a motion in the Commons as recommended by the committee.

6. Read more

• House of Lords Library, ‘Leader of the House of Lords: Holders of the post’, 1 August 2024
• House of Commons Library, ‘Ministers in the House of Lords’, 2 September 2025
• House of Lords Library, ‘Principal office holders in the House of Lords’, 19 March 2015

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Image credit: Copyright House of Lords 2019 / Photography by Roger Harris

This briefing was originally published on 14 October 2022. It was updated on 24 November 2025.