House of Lords

===Disciplinary powers===
By contrast with the House of Commons, the House of Lords has not until recently had an established procedure for imposing sanctions on its members. When a [[2009 cash for influence scandal|cash for influence scandal]] was referred to the Committee of Privileges in January 2009, the Leader of the House of Lords also asked the Privileges Committee to report on what sanctions the House had against its members.<ref name="Reference to committee">{{cite web|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200809/ldselect/ldprivi/87/8703.htm|title=The Powers of the House of Lords in respect of its Members|publisher=House of Lords, Committee for Privileges|at=paragraph 2}}</ref> After seeking advice from the Attorney General for England and Wales and the former Lord Chancellor [[James Mackay, Baron Mackay of Clashfern|James Mackay, Lord Mackay of Clashfern]], the committee decided that the House "possessed an inherent power" to suspend errant members, although not to withhold a [[Hereditary peer#Writs of summons|writ of summons]] nor to expel a member permanently.<ref name="Powers of suspension">{{cite web|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200809/ldselect/ldprivi/87/8703.htm|title=The Powers of the House of Lords in respect of its Members|publisher=House of Lords, Committee for Privileges|at=paragraph 8}}</ref> When the House subsequently suspended [[Peter Truscott, Baron Truscott|Peter Truscott, Lord Truscott]] and [[Tom Taylor, Baron Taylor of Blackburn|Tom Taylor, Lord Taylor of Blackburn]] for their role in the scandal, they were the first to meet this fate since 1642.<ref name="Taylor and Truscott suspended">{{cite news|first=Andrew|last=Sparrow|title='Sullied' members suspend two peers in first case since 1642|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=21 May 2009|page=6}}</ref>

Recent changes have expanded the disciplinary powers of the House. Section 3 of the [[House of Lords Reform Act 2014]] now provides that any member of the House of Lords convicted of a crime and sentenced to imprisonment for more than one year loses their seat. The [[House of Lords (Expulsion and Suspension) Act 2015]] allows the House to set up procedures to suspend, and to expel, its members.

====Regulation of behaviour in the chamber====
There are two motions which have grown up through custom and practice and which govern questionable conduct within the House. They are brought into play by a member standing up, possibly intervening on another member, and moving the motion without notice. When the debate is getting excessively heated, it is open to a member to move "that the Standing Order on Asperity of Speech be read by the Clerk". The motion can be debated,<ref name="Asperity of speech">{{cite web|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld/ldcomp/ldctso06.htm#a61|title=Companion to the Standing Orders and guide to the proceedings of the House of Lords|date=October 2006|at=paragraph 4.58|publisher=Parliament of the United Kingdom}}</ref> but if agreed by the House, the Clerk of the Parliaments will read Standing Order 32 which provides "That all personal, sharp, or taxing speeches be forborn".<ref name="Standing Order 32">{{cite web|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld/ldstords/105/105.pdf|title=The Standing Orders of the House of Lords|date=23 April 2015|publisher=[[Parliament of the United Kingdom]]}}</ref> The Journals of the House of Lords record only four instances on which the House has ordered the Standing Order to be read since the procedure was invented in 1871.<ref name="Asperity instances">See Lords Journal vol. CIII p. 629, vol. CIV p. 381, vol. 182 p. 90, and vol. 231 p. 644 and 648–9.</ref>

For more serious problems with an individual Lord, the option is available to move "That the noble Lord be no longer heard". This motion also is debatable, and the debate which ensues has sometimes offered a chance for the member whose conduct has brought it about to come to order so that the motion can be withdrawn. If the motion is passed, its effect is to prevent the member from continuing their speech on the motion then under debate.<ref name="No longer heard">{{cite web|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld/ldcomp/ldctso06.htm#a62|title=Companion to the Standing Orders and guide to the proceedings of the House of Lords|date=October 2006|at=paragraphs 4.59 and 4.60}}</ref> The Journals identify eleven occasions on which this motion has been moved since 1884; four were eventually withdrawn, one was voted down, and six were passed.<ref name="No longer heard instances">See Lords Journal vol. CXVI p. 162, vol. CXXIII p. 354, vol. 192 p. 231, vol. 215 pp. 200–1, vol. 218 p. 119, vol. 221 p. 539, vol. 225 p. 194, vol. 226 p. 339, vol. 228 p. 308, vol. 229 p. 89, and vol. 233 p. 791.</ref>