House of Lords data dashboard: Current membership of the House
This page provides interactive data on the current membership of the House of Lords.

This House of Lords Library briefing provides lists of the female life Peers and the female hereditary Peers who have been Members of the House of Lords.
Lords Membership: How Many Women Have Sat in the Lords? (343 KB , PDF)
As at 17 February 2021, there were 231 women in the House of Lords out of a gross membership of 829 (these figures include those members currently on leave of absence or disqualified for holding certain offices). The number of female members were made up of:
In total, including Ruth Davidson, who has yet to be made a baroness and join the House, and Baroness Hale of Richmond, 327 female life peers will have been created. These are listed in the table in appendix 1.
The 326 female life peers created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 represents 21% of the total number of life peers created under the act (1,517). The largest number of female life peers was created in the 2010s. The lowest numbers (excluding the short period in the 1950s) were created in the 1960s and the 1980s. Theresa May was the prime minister who appointed the largest proportion of women during her time in office (39.5% of her appointments), and James Callaghan appointed the lowest proportion (8.6%).
In addition, there have been 25 female members who have sat in the House of Lords by virtue of a hereditary peerage; these are listed in the table in appendix 2.
Further information on women in the House of Lords, including historical background to their participation, can be found in the following Library briefings:
Lords Membership: How Many Women Have Sat in the Lords? (343 KB , PDF)
This page provides interactive data on the current membership of the House of Lords.
The government’s House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill would remove the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords and abolish its jurisdiction in hereditary peerage claims. The bill completed its Commons stages unamended and was introduced in the House of Lords in November 2024. The bill’s second reading in the Lords took place on 11 December 2024. This briefing provides an overview of that debate and lists the areas which future amendments could focus on.
The House of Lords Appointments Commission (HOLAC) vets nominations to the House and recommends non-party political members. While its advice is usually followed, it is not a statutory body and the prime minister can choose to disregard its advice. This briefing provides an overview of the role and powers of the commission and summarises recent debates concerning its reform.