COUP#3: Who's in the House?

Baroness D’Souza, the Lord Speaker visited Portsmouth on Friday 14 February. Her visit was part of the House of Lords outreach programme designed to build greater awareness of, and engagement with, the House of Lords and to find out which issues people in communities are engaging with.

The Lord Speaker started by visiting the British Red Cross (BRC) Office in Commercial Road, in an event organised by Portsmouth Council. She had the opportunity to speak to Red Cross Staff working in Portsmouth on international projects and local refugee projects as well as some of BRC's service users in the city. The session touched on refugee orientation & destitution support, restoring family links & outreach work, and education & engagement initiatives with young people.

Following that session, Baroness D’Souza addressed a networking lunch hosted at HMS Nelson to welcome continued progress through the city's community covenant, consider the role of the House of Lords in defence and the military expertise of its members. Invited guests included veterans & armed forces families, armed forces welfare organisations, as well as charities and community groups interested in defence and overseas issues.

Finally, the Lord Speaker gave a short speech to a COUP (Community Ownership Unit Portsmouth) networking session which included a Q&A session to discuss issues facing local government, social enterprises and the voluntary sector. A key focus was how local groups could engage with House of Lords members in specific issue areas.

Speaking ahead of her visit to Portsmouth, the Lord Speaker said:

 “Although a large part of my role is presiding over business in the Chamber, another equally important aspect of my job is to try to explain the work and membership of the House to people who are largely unaware of it, or still think of it as an institution filled with aristocrats". 

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Notes:

1. Baroness D’Souza is the second elected Lord Speaker. Her role involves presiding over business in the House of Lords chamber and acting as an ambassador for the House of Lords. See the Lord Speaker website for more information.
2. The House of Lords Peers in Schools programme is a continuing outreach programme which sends members of the House into schools and colleges across the UK to give talks in support of the citizenship curriculum.  For further information, see the House of Lords outreach webpage.
3. The armed forces community covenant is a voluntary statement of mutual support between a civilian community and its local armed forces community (including veterans) - it encourages local communities to support the service community in their area. Portsmouth signed its armed forces community covenant in March 2012.