Not only have social policy and welfare been key elements of the Labour governments’ modernisation and reform programmes since 1997, but reform of the structures and practices of policy making and the constitution have also been central to the modernisation agenda. This has included reform of parliamentary procedure in attempts to ‘modernise’ the House of Commons, particularly during Robin Cook's period as Leader of the House (see Chapter Two), and substantive reform of the House of Lords, in an effort to make the upper chamber more representative and legitimate. This was widely recognised with the removal of the bulk of hereditary peers from the House in 1999, but following this there was no consensus on the direction of the future composition of the chamber, and after a free vote in the House of Commons all seven options, ranging from a fully appointed to a fully elected chamber, were rejected. As a result the ‘interim’ House of Lords has continued to develop in its own way. However, reform of the House of Lords was again included in The Labour Party's 2005 General Election manifesto, with a commitment to introducing further reforms but without allowing the upper chamber to challenge the primacy of the House of Commons. Also in May 2005, with the creation of 27 new life peers, of whom 12 were Labour, The Labour Party became, for the first time, the largest Party in the Lords.

The House of Lords has generally been ignored in considerations of social policy (indeed in relation to many policy areas, the term ‘parliament’ has frequently been used synonymously with ‘House of Commons’); this chapter therefore considers the role of the House of Lords in relation to welfare issues, arguing that a combination of factors, including the policies put forward by the government, the government's reforms of the chamber, and a growth in external inputs, mean that the House is now playing a more significant part in influencing and scrutinising social policies than it has done for many years.

Experience and expertise: the role and functions of the House of Lords

It is widely recognised that the House of Lords is less powerful than the House of Commons, but nevertheless it remains an important component of the legislative and scrutiny processes of British government.