Lords reform: Membership, attendance, voting and participation data (2019–2024 parliament)

Ministers have brought forward legislative proposals to remove hereditary peers from the House of Lords. The government has also indicated that an age limit may be introduced in the future by which members of the House will required to retire.

The activity data in this dashboard can be filtered by peerage type and age. This is to allow comparison between differing groups within the upper chamber, to enable members to scrutinise the government’s reform proposals when they come before the House. The averages presented are mean averages. When using averages in this dashboard please be aware of the specific ranges in the data.

Likewise, the attendance and voting data needs to be understood in the context of the House and its membership. Parliamentary clerks Nick Besly and Tom Goldsmith explain in their book, ‘How Parliament Works’ (2024), that:

Various factors influence a day’s attendance: an important vote or big debate may increase turnout; rates are lower on Thursdays, when government legislation is not considered for much of the year, and Fridays. Thus members interpret their obligations to attend Parliament in response to the King’s writ of summons—and, indeed, the promises they may have made to their political sponsors or the Appointments Commission before their appointment—in a variety of ways.^[1]

Similar statistical publications will follow exploring different aspects of House of Lords data in the context of this reform.

If you would like to access a printable version of the dashboard or the Excel spreadsheet, these can be downloaded using the buttons below.

If you require an alternative format, please email hlresearchservices@parliament.uk and we will review your request.

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Source: These statistics are based on House of Lords Library analysis of data from the following sources:

• House of Lords membership data, including committee memberships and official roles, which is available from the UK Parliament members API
• House of Lords data on votes/divisions, which is available from the Lords votes API
• House of Lords members’ oral contributions from Parliamentary Search (parliamentary login required)
• Members’ attendance data provided by the House of Lords Journal Office.