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Hospitality events at the House of Lords

Events at the House of Lords can be held with or without the involvement of a Member of the Lords.

Members can hold personal events at the House of Lords or sponsor an event on behalf of an organisation.

Members of the House of Lords are subject to rules agreed by the House on using the House of Lords Catering services for events.

These rules include the following:

  • For events sponsored by a Member, the presence at the event of a Member of the Lords is required for the event to take place.
  • Events are not to be used for the purposes of “direct or indirect financial or material gain by a sponsor, political party, or any other person or outside organisation”. In practice, this means that (a) Members should not receive payment or any other kind of benefit, such as an offer of employment based on the ability to provide access to House of Lords facilities, in return for hosting an event; and (b) organisations (other than UK registered charities) or individuals holding events should not profit from them.
  • The costs of holding a personal event are charged directly to the Member involved.

A log of Members' private events held at the House of Lords is published quarterly.

In March 2018 the rules on holding events were changed so that events with external organisations could be held (subject to approval and availability) without the need for a Member to act as a sponsor. Information published in the events log from May 2018 reflects this change.

2024

 

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

Events in the River Room

The Lord Speaker, Lord McFall of Alcluith, oversees use of the River Room, the principal state room of the House of Lords, for parliamentary and charitable events sponsored by Members.