Members of the House of Lords are not required to provide information about their ethnicity, religious beliefs or any disabilities they may have. However, there is continued interest in the representativeness of the House, as currently composed. This Library Note provides background information on this subject: it summarises existing research on the representation in the House of Lords of minority ethnic groups, religions and disability, and sets out some of the challenges in collecting and interpreting this information.
Membership of the House of Lords: Ethnicity, Religion and Disability (310KB PDF)
Members of the House of Lords are not required to provide information about their ethnicity, religious beliefs or any disabilities they may have. However, there is continued interest in the representativeness of the House, as currently composed. This Library Note provides background information on this subject: it summarises existing research on the representation in the House of Lords of minority ethnic groups, religions and disability, and sets out some of the challenges in collecting and interpreting this information. To provide further context, the Note charts some of key developments in appointments to the House. The Note concludes with consideration of the meaning of representation and how this applies to the House of Lords.
Membership of the House of Lords: Ethnicity, Religion and Disability (310KB PDF)
In January 2026, the government announced a new scheme to support urgent repairs and essential improvements to listed places of worship. Called the ‘Places of worship renewal fund for England’, it replaced the ‘Listed places of worship grant scheme’ which had run since 2001. This briefing provides an overview of both schemes, the government’s reasoning for the change and the reaction of stakeholders.
There have been big differences in expenditure across different forms of healthcare for a number of years. In 2024/25, spending on acute care was £74.7bn, compared to £14.5bn on primary care and £13.8bn on community services. Both the 2024 Labour Party manifesto and the subsequent 10 year health plan for England contained an emphasis on shifting towards more care being delivered in local communities rather than in acute settings, dubbed a ‘neighbourhood health service’.
This page provides interactive data on the current membership of the House of Lords.
