 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 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.After seeking advice from the Attorney General for England and Wales and the former Lord Chancellor Lord Mackay of Clashfern, the committee decided that the House "possessed an inherent power" to suspend errant members, although not to withhold a writ of summons nor to expel a member permanently.