 Privy Counsellors technically are allowed to sit on the steps of the Sovereign 's Throne in the Chamber of the House of Lords during debates , a privilege which was shared with heirs apparent of those peerage titles who were to become members of the House of Lords before Labour 's partial Reform of the Lords in 1999 , diocesan bishops of the Church of England yet to be Lords Spiritual , retired bishops who formerly sat in the House of Lords , the Dean of Westminster , Peers of Ireland , the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery and the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod . Nowadays this privilege is rarely exercised . 
