Background and Summary
3.The two Houses of Parliament are not corporate bodies. The Parliamentary Corporate Bodies Act 1992 (c.27) established a corporate body for each House (‘the Corporate Officer of the House of Lords’ and ‘the Corporate Officer of the House of Commons’) to hold property, make contracts and perform other functions for the purposes of the respective Houses.
4.The arrangements for the administration of each House are entirely separate, although there are instances where common services are provided (for example, works and estate services are provided for both Houses by the House of Commons; and the Parliamentary Archives service for both Houses is provided by the House of Lords). In each case, the House that benefits from, but does not provide, the service makes an appropriate financial contribution.
5.As the need for shared services has grown, both Houses now wish to be able to make new arrangements for the provision of particular joint services to both of them, through a unified management structure under the direction of an official who is accountable to both Houses. In 2006 the House of Commons Commission and the House Committee of the House of Lords established, on a provisional basis within the House of Commons and with staff loaned to it from the House of Lords, a joint department for information and communications technology.
6.In order to facilitate new arrangements of this kind on a permanent basis, the Act enables the two Corporate Officers to act together, subject to the approval of the House of Commons Commission and of the House of Lords on the recommendation of its House Committee, in establishing joint departments of both Houses and conferring functions on them, and makes provision for related matters such as the employment of staff, and the transfer of staff from each House, to work in a joint department.