MPs debate the Visitor Levy (England) Bill at Second Reading on Monday (16 November). The Bill would give mayors and other eligible strategic authorities in England powers to introduce a levy on commercially let overnight accommodation.

Liberal Democrat and Reform UK MPs have tabled separate reasoned amendments, setting out why the House should decline to give the Bill a Second Reading. Both amendments object to the absence of a cap on the levy and warn about pressure on the visitor economy, but their emphasis differs.

The Liberal Democrats support devolving greater economic powers, but argue that the Bill provides insufficient local control, flexibility, and safeguards. Their objections include the lack of national tax relief for hospitality, guarantees against offsetting cuts to central funding, and exemptions for particular visitors. Reform UK focuses on costs to holidaymakers and potential job losses, citing industry warnings that a 5% levy could add around £100 to a two-week holiday for a family of four.

A reasoned amendment allows MPs to reject a Bill and put their reasons on record. At Second Reading, the House decides whether to approve the Bill’s general principles; MPs cannot change its individual clauses. MPs can, however, amend the motion granting Second Reading, replacing it with a statement explaining why the House should refuse to let the Bill proceed. If agreed, the amendment would stop the Bill’s progress.

The Speaker decides which amendment, if any, to select for debate. Only one reasoned amendment can be selected at Second Reading, so neither party is guaranteed a vote on its wording. If the selected amendment is moved, the House decides on it at the end of the debate.

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On Monday evening (16 November), MPs will be asked to appoint Al Carns MP to the Public Accounts Commission. The Commission oversees the National Audit Office (NAO), helping ensure that the body examining government spending is itself accountable to Parliament while remaining independent of government. The Commission’s responsibilities include examining the NAO’s proposed budget, appointing its non-executive board members, and considering reports on its finances. The Commission does not direct individual audits or the Comptroller and Auditor General’s independent judgments.

Despite their similar names, the Commission and the Public Accounts Committee have different jobs. The Committee questions departments and public bodies about their use of taxpayers’ money, drawing on NAO investigations; the Commission oversees the NAO’s own resources and governance.

Carns, the Labour MP for Birmingham Selly Oak and a former defence minister, joined the Public Accounts Committee on 11 November, replacing Catherine McKinnell following her appointment to the Government. Monday’s motion would give him a separate role on the Commission – membership of one does not automatically confer membership of the other. The Commission comprises the Public Accounts Committee Chair, the Leader of the House of Commons, and seven other MPs appointed by the Commons, none of whom may be a serving minister.

Why does the Order Paper allow up to 90 minutes for consideration of what looks like a routine membership change? The appointment is made under the National Audit Act 1983, making it “proceedings under an Act” for the purposes of Standing Order No. 16(1). That rule sets a maximum of an hour and a half before the Speaker must put the questions needed to conclude proceedings. It is a procedural ceiling, rather than an expectation of a lengthy debate: if nobody wishes to speak or object, the appointment could be approved in moments.

· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Listen to the latest Parliament Matters podcast episodes: • Taking on Big Tech: Baroness Beeban Kidron on the art of legislating. • The EU reset: How much say will Parliament have? Plus, who weighs the national benefits of data centres against their local costs? And we look at new plans for Parliament Square. · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·

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An e-petition created by broadcaster and campaigner Chris Packham, calling for a UK-wide briefing on the risks arising from climate and nature breakdown, will be debated in Westminster Hall at 4:30pm on Monday (16 November). It has attracted more than 137,000 signatures. Petitioners want independent experts to explain the risks to the public – for example, in relation to public health and food supplies – arising from extreme weather, economic disruption, and national security threats, alongside practical advice on how to prepare for and respond to these risks. The Government’s response to the petition acknowledges the risks and points to its statements on the state of climate and nature and its work on adaptation.

The debate will be led by Dr Roz Savage, a Liberal Democrat MP and member of the Petitions Committee. Committee members do not have to support a petition to lead its debate: their role is to present the petitioners’ case and enable MPs to examine it. Savage, however, has demonstrated a strong interest in environmental matters, sponsoring the Climate and Nature Private Member’s Bill in the previous Session. There will be no vote at the end of the debate, so there will be no resolution of the House requiring action or implementation. However, a Minister will be required to take part in the debate and will therefore have to respond on the record to the issues that are raised.

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At 2:30pm on Tuesday, Louise Haigh makes her first appearance before the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee since her appointment as First Secretary of State, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and Minister for the Cabinet Office. She will be joined by Catherine Little, the Cabinet Office’s Permanent Secretary and Civil Service’s Chief Operating Officer, in what may be Little’s final appearance before the Committee in these roles. Recently appointed Permanent Secretary at the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, she will leave the Cabinet Office after just two and a half years, once her successor is appointed.

The session will focus on Haigh’s priorities, giving MPs an opportunity to examine recent changes intended to strengthen the centre of government, including the establishment of Number 10 North and the Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. How will these arrangements improve coordination and delivery and how will their success be judged?

MPs are also likely to explore the ongoing problems with the Civil Service Pension Scheme since its administration was outsourced to Capita in December 2025. The latest figures show that 150,000 cases remain unresolved, despite concerns raised at a joint evidence session with the Public Accounts Committee in July. Catherine Little appeared at that session alongside ministers, other officials, and Capita representatives.

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Representatives of Google, whose services include YouTube and Google Search; Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp; and Roblox, an online platform where users create and play games, appear before the Lords Communications and Digital Committee at 2:30pm on Tuesday (17 November). The three companies represent different ways people use the internet: Google to find information and watch videos, Meta to communicate and share content, and Roblox to play and interact in virtual worlds. Each presents distinct challenges for implementing the Online Safety Act, from preventing access to harmful content to protecting children from unsafe contact with other users.

The hearing offers an opportunity to test what compliance means in practice: how platforms assess risks, protect children, respond to harmful content, and demonstrate that their measures work. It also connects directly with our recent Parliament Matters podcast with Baroness Beeban Kidron. She discusses the challenge of turning parliamentary victories into effective protections, and how Parliament can hold regulators to the intentions behind the legislation.

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Two former Lord Advocates, Lord Mulholland and Lady Elish Angiolini, give evidence to the Scottish Affairs Committee at 9:30am on Wednesday (18 November). The inquiry is looking at whether the Lord Advocate should continue to combine the roles of chief legal adviser to the Scottish Government and head of Scotland’s prosecution service.

The Committee linked the inquiry’s launch to the handling of Operation Branchform, the investigation into SNP finances, which brought concerns about the Lord Advocate’s dual role back into focus. Can one office advise the Scottish Government and lead the prosecution service without creating actual or perceived conflicts of interest? Even where prosecutors act independently, does combining these responsibilities undermine public confidence, and would separating them help? The inquiry will examine the institutional arrangements and options for reform, rather than adjudicate on individual cases.

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Plaid Cymru MP Ben Lake will lead a debate on the emerging risks of advanced AI on Thursday afternoon (19 November), nearly nine months after he first applied for time to the Backbench Business Committee. It will be the first Commons Chamber debate on regulating advanced AI systems. Originally scheduled for 26 October, the motion was not reached after the preceding debate on Royal Mail’s performance overran significantly.

The debate will give MPs an opportunity to consider whether the Government’s safeguards can keep pace with AI systems, how dangerous capabilities should be tested, what access independent evaluators should have, and who should be accountable for decisions to deploy systems with potentially serious consequences.

This is a general debate: MPs will be asked only to agree “That this House has considered emerging risks of advanced AI.” The motion does not require ministers to take any specific legislative or regulatory action, but the debate gives MPs an opportunity to press the Minister on the Government’s approach and make the case for stronger safeguards.

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Lord Lilley leads a Lords debate on Thursday (19 November) on international approaches to removing sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) checks at EU borders – the controls intended to protect human, animal, and plant health. The timing is significant: the second UK-EU summit takes place in Brussels on Friday (20 November), with cutting costs and paperwork for farmers and food businesses and reducing friction at the border among the Government’s objectives.

For Parliament, the questions extend beyond the immediate benefits for trade: which rules would the UK undertake to follow, how would future changes be handled, and what opportunities would MPs and peers have to influence decisions?

The debate follows publication last week of the Lords European Affairs Committee’s report, “Dynamic alignment: a fundamental change”. Together, the debate, report, and summit raise a fundamental question: what meaningful influence, if any, will Parliament have over commitments to follow EU rules at the time any deal is struck and as those rules change in the future?

The European Partnership Bill, promised in the King’s Speech, will provide an important test. Will its powers be confined to implementing specific agreements such as that for SPS checks, or could ministers use them to extend dynamic alignment into further areas without another Act of Parliament? In the Hansard Society’s evidence to the Committee’s inquiry, we argued that these powers should be narrowly defined, and that examining the implementing legislation cannot substitute for deciding whether the UK should enter into the underlying international commitments.

We also emphasised the practical limits of parliamentary influence once those commitments are in place. Even where Parliament retains a formal power to reject a rule, exercising it could put the UK in breach of its obligations or trigger EU countermeasures. A parliamentary vote would therefore take place under considerable political and economic pressure. Parliament’s best opportunity to influence future rules lies earlier, at the “decision shaping” stage, by examining the Government’s position and pressing ministers to act before decisions harden. Even then, Parliament’s influence will be very limited: stronger scrutiny can hold ministers to account, but it cannot give MPs and peers control over rules if the UK Government commits to following what the EU decides.

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Remember, parliamentary business can change at short notice so always double-check the Order Paper on the relevant day if you are interested in a particular item of business.

Library briefings for each day: Commons · Lords

2:30pm, Education Questions

3:30pm, Visitor Levy (England) Bill: Second Reading

Public Accounts Commission: To appoint Al Carns MP to the Commission

Adjournment Debate: Support for victims leaving high control religious groups (Sam Carling, Labour)

Westminster Hall: 4:30pm, e-petition 767687 relating to holding a UK-wide briefing on climate and nature risks

Delegated Legislation Committees: 6:00pm, four draft International Development Orders; 6:00pm, Persistent Organic Pollutants (Amendment) Regulations 2026; 6:00pm, Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (Amendment) Order 2026

2:30pm, Oral Questions

3:10pm, Courts and Tribunals Bill: Committee of the Whole House (day 2 of 2)

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11:30am, Energy Security and Net Zero Questions

12:30pm, Ten Minute Rule: Safety of Nurseries (CCTV) Bill to require the use of closed-circuit television in nurseries Tulip Siddiq, Labour)

Immigration and Asylum Bill: Report Stage and Third Reading

Adjournment Debate: NHS Federated Data Platform contract with Palantir (Martin Wrigley, Liberal Democrat)

Westminster Hall: 9:30am, The performance of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency; 11:00am, Infrastructure and proposed housing development in Faversham and Mid Kent constituency; 2:30pm, The impact of hostile-state activity on the economy; 4:00pm, Prisons and sentencing in Wales; 4:30pm, The role of the Department for Work and Pensions in the procurement of the Synergy contract

Public Bill Committees: 9:25am and 2:00pm, Highways (Financing) Bill; 9:25am and 2:00pm, Building Safety (Remediation of Unsafe Cladding etc) Bill

Delegated Legislation Committee: 2:30pm, two draft Tobacco and Vapes Act Regulations

11:00am, Health Bill: Committee of the Whole House (day 5 of 7)

2:30pm, Oral Questions

3:10pm, Health Bill: Committee of the Whole House (day 5 of 7, continued)

Grand Committee: 3:45pm, Draft Delegated Legislation: Magistrates’ Courts (Recording and Broadcasting) Order 2026 and Administrative Court (Recording and Broadcasting) and Court of Appeal (Recording and Broadcasting) (Amendment) Order 2026; Persistent Organic Pollutants (Amendment) Regulations 2026; North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (Immunities and Privileges) Order 2026 and North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (Immunities and Privileges) Order 2026

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11:30am, Attorney General Questions

12:00 noon, Prime Minister’s Questions

12:30pm, Ten Minute Rule: Park Homes Bill (Tom Hayes, Labour)

Opposition Day (6th allotted day): Leader of the Opposition

Adjournment Debate: Regulation of free-to-air television news (Patrick Hurley, Labour)

Westminster Hall: 9:30am, Community hospitals and step-down care; 11:00am, Telecommunications connectivity in rural areas; 2:30pm, Government support for reindustrialisation; 4:00pm, Government support for the Croydon Area Remodelling Scheme on the Brighton Main Line; 4:30pm, The impact of water companies not being statutory consultees on planning applications

3:00pm, Oral Questions

3:40pm, Sporting Events Bill: Consideration of Commons Amendments

Railways Bill: Report Stage (day 1 of 3)

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9:30am, Cabinet Office Questions

10:30am, Business Statement

Select Committee Statement: Government response to the Education Committee report “Reading for Pleasure”

Backbench Business: International Men’s Day; Emerging risks of advanced AI

Adjournment Debate: Funding for Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (Oliver Ryan, Labour)

Westminster Hall: 1:30pm, Support in the NHS for patients with learning disabilities; 3:00pm, Inequalities in access to therapy for disabled children

Public Bill Committees: 11:30am and 2:00pm, Highways (Financing) Bill; 11:30am and 2:00pm, Building Safety (Remediation of Unsafe Cladding etc) Bill

11:00am, Oral Questions

11:40am, Debate: International approaches to removing sanitary and phytosanitary checks at EU borders

Question for Short Debate: What steps the Government are taking to ensure that families and guardians can access timely legal remedies where children face imminent harm online

Debate: The role of investment in social housing, shared ownership and zero-carbon homes in addressing challenges facing the housing market

Grand Committee: 12:15pm, Questions for Short Debate (1 hour each): What plans the Government have to deliver full electrification of the TransPennine rail route, in line with the commitments set out in the Hull and East Yorkshire Devolution Deal; What steps the Government are taking to support inclusion of instruction about soils at all levels of the education system, including undergraduate and post-graduate, and what steps they are taking to increase the level of soil science research; What steps the Government are taking to increase entries for arts subjects at GCSE and A Level in state schools; What plans the Government have to enhance the provision of local community support for patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia

↖ Contents · What’s On Thursday: Commons · Lords · Committees

Not sitting

10:00am, Private Members’ Bills: European Union (Withdrawal Arrangements) Bill: Second Reading (Lord Dodds of Duncairn, Democratic Unionist Party); Corporate Waste Responsibility Bill: Second Reading (Baroness Sheehan, Liberal Democrat); Complications from Abortions (Annual Report) Bill: Second Reading (Lord Moylan, Conservative)

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Both Houses will resume at 2:30pm on Monday 23 November 2026. Our next Bulletin will therefore be published on Sunday 22 November.

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