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Parliament Matters Bulletin: What’s coming up in Parliament this week? 17-21 November 2025

16 Nov 2025
The Victoria Tower and the Henry VII Chapel of Westminster Abbey. Image: The Victoria Tower and the Henry VII Chapel of Westminster Abbey © Hansard Society / Richard Greenhill
Image: The Victoria Tower and the Henry VII Chapel of Westminster Abbey © Hansard Society / Richard Greenhill

The assisted dying bill will have its second Committee Stage sitting in the Lords. Home Office, Transport, Energy and Northern Ireland Ministers will face oral questions in the Commons. MPs will scrutinise the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill, the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, and the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Bill. Backbench MPs will lead debates on International Men’s Day and on Injury in Service Awards. In the Lords, scrutiny continues of the Crime and Policing Bill, the Employment Rights Bill, and the Tobacco and Vapes Bill. Select Committees will question the Work and Pensions Secretary and several junior ministers and will examine issues such as children’s care, digital ID, home ownership, cryptocurrency, fiscal policy, and clinical negligence.

Questions and statements: At 14:30, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and other Home Office Ministers will respond to MPs’ questions. Topics include procurement in immigration removals, asylum seekers and refugees, the China spying case, violence against women and girls, rural crime, neighbourhood policing, the payment of refunds by the Home Office, grooming gangs, public access to police officers, and proposals for an annual migration cap.

At 15:30, any Urgent Questions or Ministerial Statements will follow. Each Urgent Question lasts around 40 minutes on average, and Ministerial Statements last an average of around 50 minutes.

Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Bill (Committee, Report and Third Reading): This Bill will enable the UK to implement the Agreement on Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction, commonly known as the BBNJ Agreement or High Seas Treaty, which the UK signed in September 2023. The Agreement seeks to strengthen the conservation of areas of the ocean that lie beyond national jurisdiction. (House of Commons Library briefing)

As the UK is what is known as a “dualist state”, international agreements (treaties) do not automatically have legal effect in domestic law. Implementing legislation must therefore be enacted to give internal legal effect to the UK’s obligations. An agreement is internationally binding in principle on signing, but typically provides that it will not come into operation until signatories ratify their consent. By convention, the Government does not ratify an agreement until any necessary domestic legislation has been passed.

At Committee Stage – in this case, a Committee of the Whole House in which any MP can participate – MPs consider whether each clause should “stand part” of the Bill and whether any amendments should be made.

The only non-Government amendments on the amendment paper are from the Conservative Shadow Minister, Andrew Rosindell MP. His amendments would require the Secretary of State to review the powers granted to Ministers, to report on the Bill’s implementation, and to require changes to fees charged under the Bill to be approved by both Houses of Parliament.

Under the terms of the programme order agreed at Second Reading, the Committee Stage debate will conclude no later than three hours after it begins, though it may finish earlier. When the debate ends, the House will vote on any Government amendments, along with any other amendments selected by the Chair for separate decision, which will most likely include some of the Conservative proposals.

When a Committee of the Whole House examines a Bill and makes no amendments, there no Report Stage takes place; the House proceeds directly to Third Reading. In this case, however, the Government has tabled three drafting amendments, so a formal Report Stage may be required. MPs are able to table amendments at Committee Stage, so MPs are unlikely to table any amendments for Report Stage. Therefore, Report Stage will likely take place without debate.

In accordance with the programme order, the Third Reading debate will come to an end no later than four hours after the start of the Committee Stage debate (or one hour after the likely end time of Committee Stage). Divisions on amendments often take up most – if not all – of the remaining time, so Third Reading debates are typically very short.

Once the Bill receives a Third Reading, it will be sent to the House of Lords.

Motions for public appointments: Three motions have been tabled by the Leader of the House of Commons, Sir Alan Campbell MP, regarding the appointment of:

These appointments are to statutory roles. Because each motion is required under an Act of Parliament, it may be debated for up to 90 minutes, in line with Standing Order No.16(1).

Delegated legislation motions: Two motions have been tabled to refer Measures of the Church of England General Synod to a Delegated Legislation Committee for scrutiny. One Measure concerns Armed Forces Chaplains (Licensing) and the other Abuse Redress. These motions to refer cannot be debated after 22:00.

Statutory Instruments that require the approval of the House of Commons are automatically referred for debate to a Delegated Legislation Committee (DLC), however there is no automatic referral of Measures – a special form of legislation made by the General Synod that is subject to approval by the Commons and Lords before having the force of an Act of Parliament. So Ministers conventionally put forward motions to allow Measures to be debated in Committee.

Select Committee motions: Four motions have been tabled by the Committee of Selection to replace Labour members on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, the Environmental Audit Committee, the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee and the Welsh Affairs Committee. These may also not be debated after 22:00.

Adjournment: Labour MP Dave Robertson will give a speech on Government support for the Clive Treacey Safety Checklist. A Minister will then give a response.

Westminster Hall

16:30: MPs will debate e-petition 728715, which calls on the Government to review the penalties for offences arising from social media posts. The petition has over 190,000 signatures. (House of Commons Library briefing)

18:00: MPs will debate e-petition 713714, which calls on the Government to increase funding for people with Parkinson’s and to implement the ‘Parky Charter’. The petition has around 113,000 signatures. It was initiated by the presenters of the ‘Movers and Shakers’ podcast, including former journalists Mark Mardell, Jeremy Paxman and Rory Cellan-Jones, all of whom have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. (House of Commons Library briefing)

Oral questions: At 14:30, Peers will begin the day by questioning Ministers for 40 minutes, on support for children with dyscalculia; artificial intelligence legislation; the imposition of inheritance tax on unused pensions and death benefits; and teacher training for artistic subjects.

Statutory Instrument: A motion to approve the draft Environmental Protection (Wet Wipes Containing Plastic) (England) Regulations 2025 will be put to the House. As the Regulations have already been considered in Grand Committee, the motion will be decided without further debate.

Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill (Third Reading): At Third Reading, Peers decide whether to approve the Bill. Unlike the Commons, the Lords can still make amendments at Third Reading, but only for the purposes of clarifying uncertainties, improving the drafting, or fulfilling undertakings made by the Government at earlier stages. No such amendments have so far been tabled.

Because Peers have amended the Bill during its passage, it will return to the House of Commons for MPs to consider the Lords’ changes. ‘Ping-pong’ between the two Houses will then occur, so that both Houses can agree on the same text.

The Government suffered only one defeat during the Bill’s passage through the House of Lords. That defeat was on an amendment from the Conservative Peer Lord Jackson of Peterborough, which requires the Government to collate and publish data on the number of overseas students who have had their visas revoked or have been deported as a result of criminal offences, and for that data to be broken down by nationality. The Government is likely to reverse or otherwise alter this amendment when the Bill returns to the Commons.

Employment Rights Bill (Consideration of Commons Amendments): Another round of ping-pong will take place on the Government’s employment rights legislation, after the Commons considered the Lords’ amendments once again on Wednesday 5 November.

As outlined in the Bulletin in a previous edition, there remain only five issues of disagreement between the two Houses:

  • Right to guaranteed hours: The Lords originally amended the Bill to make the right to guaranteed hours a right for employees to request rather than a duty on employers to offer. The Commons disagreed. The Lords did not insist on their original amendment, but instead proposed an alternative – allowing workers who have been offered and have refused guaranteed hours to indicate that they do not wish to receive further offers. In response, the Commons disagreed with the Lords alternative amendment, without suggesting a further alternative.

  • Unfair dismissal: The Lords amended the Bill to replace the Government’s proposal to abolish the two-year qualifying period for unfair dismissal with a reduction from two years to six months. The Commons disagreed, and the Lords have now insisted on their original amendments. In response, the Commons proposed a series of alternative amendments to require the Government to consult “such persons as the Secretary of State considers appropriate” before making the first set of regulations relating to unfair dismissal.

  • Seasonal work: The Lords amended the Bill to introduce a definition of seasonal work and require the Secretary of State to have regard to its specific characteristics and requirements. The Commons disagreed. The Lords did not insist on their original amendment but proposed an alternative amendment that still defines seasonal work and requires it to be taken into account, while also allowing the Secretary of State to amend the definition through regulations. In response, the Commons disagreed with the Lords alternative amendment, without suggesting a further alternative.

  • Trade union political fund: The Lords amended the Bill to replace the clause allowing trade union members to opt out of political fund contributions with a requirement that members must opt in. The Commons disagreed, and the Lords have now insisted on their original amendment. In response, the Commons proposed an alternative amendment to change the way the date on which an opt-out can come into effect is calculated where a member decides to opt out of contributions.

  • Threshold for industrial action: The Lords amended the Bill to reinstate the requirement that at least 50% of eligible trade union members must vote in favour of industrial action. The Commons disagreed and the Lords insisted on their original amendment. In response, the Commons proposed an alternative amendment to require the Government to have regard to the impact of allowing non-postal voting in industrial action ballots before making regulations bringing the turnout threshold into effect.

Where the Commons has proposed an alternative amendment, or has disagreed with a Lords alternative amendment, the Lords will have to decide whether to insist on its amendment, accept the Commons’ position, or propose yet another alternative amendment. Unless the Lords accepts the Commons’ position on all five issues, ping-pong between the two Houses will continue.

Crime and Policing Bill (Committee, day 2): This is the second of 12 days currently allocated for Committee Stage on the Government’s Bill to reform the criminal justice and policing system. (House of Lords Library briefing)

At Committee Stage, the House examines the Bill clause-by-clause and decides whether each clause should “stand part” of the Bill. The next clauses and groups of amendments to be debated relate to fly-tipping and waste crime; unauthorised encampment; high hedges; graffiti; gang involvement in crime; nuisance begging; and anti-social behaviour.

Grand Committee

15:45: Tobacco and Vapes Bill (Committee, day 6): Today is the last day of Committee Stage for the Tobacco and Vapes Bill. The final clause and groups of amendments to be debated relate to smoke-free and vape-free places; guidance on implementation of the Act; and proposals for an expert panel on vaping.

Once the Committee Stage is concluded, the Bill will move on to Report Stage. There is a convention in the House of Lords that Report Stage should not begin until at least 14 calendar days after the conclusion of Committee Stage.

Highlights include:

House of Commons

15:30: Public Accounts Committee – Financial sustainability of children’s care homes: The Permanent Secretary and senior officials at the Department for Education, and representatives of the children’s care sector, will give evidence.

Joint

16:30: Joint Committee on National Security Strategy – The National Security Strategy: Former Chief Scientific Adviser for National Security Professor Sir Anthony Finkelstein and other experts from the military and aerospace sector will give evidence.

A full list of select committee hearings can be found on the What’s On section of the Parliament website.

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Questions and statements: At 11:30, Energy Security and Net Zero Ministers will respond to MPs’ questions. Topics include the use of renewable energy in public services; the Warm Homes Discount; private sector investment in clean energy; business energy costs; energy efficiency schemes; large-scale solar farms; community energy projects; health and safety; and energy bills.

At 12:30, any Urgent Questions or Ministerial Statements will follow.

Ten Minute Rule Motion: Labour MP Sonia Kumar will seek to introduce an Access to Finance for Women in Business Bill under the Ten Minute Rule which allows MPs to give a ten-minute speech in favour of a Bill before seeking the House’s permission to introduce it. The Bill would require the Government to publish a report and relevant data. See our Hansard Society guide for more information about the parliamentary procedure for Ten Minute Rule Bills.

Northern Ireland Troubles Bill (Second Reading): The House will debate, for the first time, the Government’s proposed new legislative framework for addressing the legacy of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. (House of Commons Library briefing)

The background to this Bill is the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023, often referred to as the Legacy Act. That legislation – enacted under the previous Government – set up the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (“the ICRIR”) to investigate Troubles-related deaths and serious injuries. It would also have ended criminal investigations, inquests and civil claims related to the Troubles that had not reached an advanced stage by a certain date.

Court rulings since the passage of the Act have declared several of its provisions to be incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), including the proposal to end criminal and civil proceedings in relation to the Troubles, which was found to be incompatible and was disapplied by virtue of the Windsor Framework, meaning that part of the Act ceased to be law.

The Bill has been presented to Parliament in tandem with another legislative vehicle – a Remedial Order – to implement a new regime for handling issues relating to the legacy of the Troubles. Under the 1998 Human Rights Act, where a court declares that a legislative provision is incompatible with the ECHR, the Government may make a Remedial Order, a form of Statutory Instrument, to amend the legislation and bring it into compliance with the ECHR. Remedial Orders are subject to a bespoke parliamentary procedure. First, a proposal for a Remedial Order is laid before Parliament for 60 days. After this initial scrutiny period, the final draft Remedial Order is laid. The draft Remedial Order is then subject to a further 60 days of scrutiny, during which it is considered by the Joint Committee on Human Rights. A draft Remedial Order relating to the Legacy Act was laid before the House on the same day the Bill was presented, following a 60-day scrutiny period of the earlier proposal.

The Government’s approach is to use the Remedial Order to repeal any provisions that it does not intend to replace, while using the Bill to replace or restate text from the previous Act. In particular, the Remedial Order would remove all Legacy Act provisions relating to immunity from prosecution and would enable all civil proceedings previously prohibited by the Legacy Act – including future cases – to proceed. In contrast, the Bill would:

  • reform the ICRIR and rename it the Legacy Commission;

  • enhance the Commission’s investigative functions by expanding the scope of its remit;

  • establish a separate body, the Independent Commission on Information Retrieval, which will receive and retain information about deaths within its remit, and whose information will not be admissible in legal proceedings or Commission investigations;

  • change the definition of ‘sensitive information’ that cannot be disclosed;

  • provide that Interim Custody Orders – which authorised the temporary detention (or ‘internment’) of individuals suspected of involvement in terrorism in Northern Ireland – are retrospectively lawful even when signed by junior ministers on behalf of the Secretary of State, overturning a Supreme Court judgment in 2020 that such Orders were unlawful without the Secretary of State’s personal approval;

  • introduce new protections – short of immunity – for individuals, including veterans, who cooperate with legacy processes, including protections from repeated investigations and the right to give evidence anonymously and remotely; and

  • restore Troubles-related inquests on a case-by-case basis.

At Second Reading, the House will debate the general principles underlying the Bill. No amendments to the text can be made at this stage. Once the Bill has received its Second Reading, the programme motion tabled by the Government provides that it will be committed to a Committee of the Whole House for detailed clause-by-clause scrutiny at the next stage, with the remaining stages of the Bill taking place across two days.

Presentation of Public Petition: Labour MP Lizzi Collinge will present a public petition, on the Vale View Day Centre in Lancaster.

Adjournment: Green Party MP Dr Ellie Chowns is scheduled to give a speech on the Warm Homes Plan. A Minister will then give a response.

Westminster Hall

09:30: The 80th anniversary of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) (House of Commons Library briefing)

11:00: The impact of infrastructure on development in Cramlington and Killingworth constituency

14:30: The impact of land use change on food security (Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology note)

16:00: The Reconsideration Mechanism and the Parole Board Rules 2019 (House of Commons Library briefing)

16:30: Flood risk and flood defence infrastructure in the North West (House of Commons Library briefing)

Delegated Legislation Committees

09:25: The draft Unmanned Aircraft (Offences and Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2025

14:30: The draft Online Safety Act 2023 (Priority Offences) (Amendment) Regulations 2025

Oral questions: At 14:30, Peers will begin the day by questioning Ministers for 40 minutes, on Carer’s Allowance overpayments; UK-manufactured products in its procurement decisions; the consolidation of election law; and risks to the UK’s critical national infrastructure from space debris.

Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill (Committee, day 1): This Bill gives legislative effect to the UK–Mauritius Treaty on the Chagos Archipelago. In accordance with the treaty, the Bill terminates UK sovereignty over the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) and amends legislation to reflect that the BIOT will cease to exist as an overseas territory. By convention, the Government does not ratify a treaty until the necessary implementing legislation – like this Bill – has been passed by Parliament.

This is the first of two days currently scheduled for the Bill’s Committee Stage, which will take place in the House of Lords Chamber. A second sitting is scheduled for Tuesday 25 November. At Committee Stage, the House debates whether each clause should be included in the Bill and considers potential amendments to its provisions.

The clauses and amendments are debated in the order in which they appear, or would appear, in the Bill. Therefore, the first clauses and amendments to be debated will be the earliest clauses of the Bill and the amendments that relate to them. The first two clauses relate to the commencement of the Act and the withdrawal of British sovereignty over the Chagos Islands. (House of Lords Library briefing)

Grand Committee: At 15:45, there will be two debates on three Statutory Instruments:

  • the draft Broadcasting (Regional Programme-making and Original Productions) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 and the draft Broadcasting (Independent Productions) Regulations 2025

  • the draft Infrastructure Planning (Business or Commercial Projects) (Amendment) Regulations 2025.

Highlights include:

House of Commons

10:00: Housing, Communities and Local Government – Affordability of home ownership: Representatives of the banking sector and campaigners in the housing sector will give evidence.

10:00: Treasury Committee – Cryptocurrency: Representatives of the cryptocurrency, financial services and legal sectors will give evidence.

10:30: Foreign Affairs Committee – Disinformation diplomacy: How malign actors are seeking to undermine democracy: Representatives from American research and campaign organisations and the Brazilian Embassy in London will give evidence on the situation in the USA and Latin America, including the role of social media platforms in facilitating the problem.

14:30: Home Affairs Committee – Harnessing the potential of new digital forms of identification: Tech sector representatives, campaigners and experts will give evidence.

14:30: Justice Committee – The work of the Law Commission: The Chair of the Law Commission and its Commissioner for Criminal Law will give evidence.

House of Lords

15:00: Economic Affairs Committee – The UK’s fiscal framework: Economic experts will give evidence.

A full list of select committee hearings can be found on the What’s On section of the Parliament website.

Details of Wednesday’s business can be found below.

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Questions and statements: At 11:30, Northern Ireland Ministers will respond to MPs’ questions. Topics include collaboration between community groups in Northern Ireland and Great Britain; Northern Ireland businesses with supply chains in Great Britain; film and television production in Northern Ireland; the 2023 Legacy Act and the legacy of Troubles; UK–EU agreements on trade from Northern Ireland; and the ECHR and the Good Friday Agreement.

At 12:00, Sir Keir Starmer is set to face the Leader of the Opposition, Kemi Badenoch, at PMQs.

At 12:30, any Urgent Questions or Ministerial Statements will follow.

Ten Minute Rule Motion: Labour MP Peter Swallow will seek to introduce a Driving Without Insurance (Penalties and Enforcement) Bill under the Ten Minute Rule which allows MPs to give a ten-minute speech in favour of a Bill before seeking the House’s permission to introduce it. The Bill would make provision about the penalties for driving without insurance and require the Secretary of State to prepare and publish a report containing an assessment of the effectiveness of existing methods of enforcing the law.

Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill (Consideration of Lords Amendments): This Bill first passed through the House of Commons and is expected to complete its passage through the House of Lords on Monday.

Because Peers have amended the Bill, it is scheduled to return to the House of Commons on Wednesday for MPs to consider the Lords’ changes.

As outlined above, the only defeat the Government suffered in the Lords was on an amendment to require the Government to collate and publish data on the number of overseas students who have had their visas revoked or have been deported as a result of criminal offences, and for that data to be broken down by nationality.

The House of Commons must decide whether to agree with the Lords’ amendment, disagree with it outright, or propose an alternative. If the House disagrees with it outright or proposes an alternative, the Bill will return to the House of Lords, which will then need to decide how to respond.

Property (Digital Assets etc) Bill (Committee, Report and Third Reading): This Bill, proposed by the Law Commission, would formally establish a third category of personal property in law – distinct from physical assets and rights-based assets such as debts and securities – into which crypto-tokens and similar digital assets could fall.

Law Commission bills are typically uncontroversial; for example, the Second Reading was agreed without division after a 20-minute debate.

At Committee Stage, MPs consider whether each clause should stand part of the Bill and whether any amendments should be made. Under the terms of the programme order agreed at Second Reading, the debate on Committee Stage will end no later than two hours after it begins, though it may end earlier, and the shortness of the Second Reading debate may indicate that it is likely to end earlier. At the end of the debate the House will vote on any Government amendments and any amendments selected by the Chair for separate decision.

Where the House has scrutinised a Bill in Committee of the Whole House and not made any amendments to it, no Report Stage takes place. Therefore, if no amendments are made, the House will move straight on to Third Reading. So far, no amendments – either from the Government or from non-Government MPs – have been tabled.

In accordance with the programme order, the Third Reading debate will come to an end no later than three hours after the start of the Committee Stage debate (or one hour after the likely end time of Committee Stage). Third Reading debates in the House of Commons are typically very short.

If the Bill receives a Third Reading and has not been amended, it will be sent for Royal Assent, since the Bill has already passed through the House of Lords. (House of Commons Library briefing)

Adjournment: Labour MP Andrew Cooper is scheduled to give a speech on accessibility at Northwich railway station. A Minister will then give a response.

Westminster Hall

09:30: The contribution of the specialist manufacturing sector to regional economies

11:00: The impact of local government reform in Huntingdonshire

14:30: The matter of reducing the stigma associated with suicide (House of Commons Library briefings)

16:00: Access to healthcare in Bracknell Forest

16:30: Government support for people with myalgic encephalomyelitis

Delegated Legislation Committees

14:30: The draft Health and Care Act 2022 (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2025

16:30: The draft Procurement Act 2023 (Specified International Agreements and Saving Provision) (Amendment) Regulations 2025

Oral questions: At 15:00, Peers will begin the day by questioning Ministers for 40 minutes, on discussions with the United States about Ukraine; serious injuries and deaths on the roads; and the hydrogen and fuel cell industry. The topic of a fourth question will be decided by a ballot drawn at lunchtime on Monday 17 November.

Crime and Policing Bill (Committee, day 3): The House will continue its clause-by-clause scrutiny of the Bill and consideration of amendments, resuming its work from the point the House reached at its sitting on Monday.

Grand Committee: At 16:15, there will be three consecutive debates on Statutory Instruments:

  • the draft Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure (Security Requirements for Relevant Connectable Products) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2025

  • the draft Football Governance Act 2025 (Specified Competitions) Regulations 2025

  • the draft Merchant Shipping (Marine Equipment) Regulations 2025

Highlights include:

House of Commons

09:15: Work and Pensions Committee – Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden MP and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Permanent Secretary will give evidence on the work of the department.

09:15: Transport Committee – Licensing of taxis and private hire vehicles: Representatives from Uber, Bolt and taxi companies will give evidence, followed by campaigners from Transport for All and the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, and representatives from the Local Government Association and the Institute of Licensing.

09:30: Scottish Affairs Committee – GB Energy and the net zero transition: The Chief Executive of GB Energy will give evidence.

10:00: Defence Committee – AUKUS: The Prime Minister’s Special Representative on the Australia–UK–US security pact, Sir Stephen Lovegrove, will give evidence.

14:45: Procedure Committee – Elections within the House of Commons: The Chief Executive of the Association of Electoral Administrators will give evidence.

House of Lords

10:10: Financial Services Regulation Committee – The growth of private markets in the UK following reforms introduced after 2008: Economic Secretary to the Treasury Lucy Rigby MP and senior Treasury officials will give evidence.

14:00: International Relations and Defence Committee – The UK’s future relationship with the US: Minister for North America, Stephen Doughty MP, will give evidence.

A full list of select committee hearings can be found on the What’s On section of the Parliament website.

Questions and statements: At 09:30, Transport Ministers will face questions from MPs. Topics include major transport infrastructure upgrades, improvement of local bus services, decarbonisation of the maritime sector, reopening of railway stations in underserved communities, and passenger rail performance.

Any Urgent Questions will follow.

The Leader of the House of Commons, Sir Alan Campbell MP, will present the weekly Business Statement, setting out the business in the House for the next couple of weeks and answering questions about anything that Members might want debated. Any other Ministerial Statements will follow.

General debate: International Men’s Day: This debate was scheduled by the Backbench Business Committee at the request of Labour MP Josh Newbury. This will be the tenth year in a row that this day has been marked with a debate in the Chamber (International Men’s Day falls on the 19 November). In his application to the Committee, Mr Newbury explained that it would be an opportunity for a wide-ranging debate on “the positive contribution of men and boys to their families, communities and workplaces and to society at large”, including subjects such as health conditions, suicide rates, addiction, unemployment, education and flexible working, violence against women and girls, crime and the criminal justice system. (House of Commons Library research briefing)

General debate: Injury in service award: This debate was also scheduled by the Backbench Business Committee, at the request of the Liberal Democrat MP Tom Morrison. In his application to the Committee he explained that the proposed award is inspired by the experience of his constituent, Jane Notley, whose career as a police officer ended when she had to retire after she was injured in the line of duty, and by former police officer Tom Curry, who has been campaigning publicly for recognition of officers injured on duty. Mr Morrison tabled an Early Day Motion supporting a new Injury on Duty Award scheme in February 2025 which has now been signed by 110 members.

Adjournment: Labour MP James Asser is scheduled to give a speech on Government support for children and families impacted by serious neurological conditions. A Minister will then give a response.

Westminster Hall

13:30: Debate on inequalities faced by unpaid carers. (House of Commons Library briefing)

15:00: Debate on World COPD Day.

Oral questions: At 11:00, Peers will begin the day by questioning Ministers for 40 minutes, on water and sewerage companies as consultees on nationally significant infrastructure projects; South Western Railway’s performance since nationalisation; and compensation awards to victim of child grooming scandals. The topic of a fourth question will be decided by a ballot drawn at lunchtime on Tuesday 18 November.

Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill (Second Reading): This Bill completed all its stages in the House of Commons last month and now begins its scrutiny in the Lords. The purpose of this legislation is to ensure stability in the pricing of non-petroleum aviation fuel, with price guarantees funded through a levy on aviation fuel suppliers. Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is deemed one of the most effective ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the aviation sector. However, SAF supplies are uncertain, so the Bill is designed to support investment in UK production facilities. The Bill has cross-party support and only a few amendments, of a technical nature, were made to it by the Government during its passage in the House of Commons. (House of Lords Library briefing)

At Second Reading, the House of Lords debates the principles and purposes of the Bill but cannot make amendments to the Bill’s text. If Second Reading is agreed, the Bill will be committed to Grand Committee for clause-by-clause examination.

Statutory Instrument debate: The House will debate a motion to approve the draft Radio Equipment (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2025, which implements a 2022 EU regulation in Northern Ireland. The 2022 regulation applies additional essential requirements to certain categories of radio equipment that manufacturers must meet, before placing such equipment on the EU market. Under the terms of the Windsor Framework, the EU regulation must apply in Northern Ireland.

The non-affiliated peer Baroness Hoey has tabled a regret motion – a type of motion which allows the House to express concerns about a Statutory Instrument without blocking it – which states that the Regulations will “give effect to legislation made by the European Commission, without public consultation and without taking account of the needs of small businesses in Northern Ireland.”

Grand Committee: Questions for short debate: There will be four questions for short debate (QSD), which are general debates that come in the form of a question to a Minister. QSDs are drawn from a ballot every five sitting weeks. The first four entries drawn from the ballot are debated in Grand Committee on a Thursday, with the other entries appearing on a supplementary list in the order they were drawn. Questions on the supplementary list can be taken in the Chamber as short debates between items of business, either in the lunch break, dinner break, or as the last business of the day. Today’s topics are the first four entries that were drawn in the ballot on Wednesday 5 November, and each is time-limited to one hour.

13:00: Debate on the steps being taken by the Government to enable the domestic manufacture of medical nuclear radioisotopes (House of Lords Library briefing)

14:00: Debate on the Government’s assessment of the role of private equity in the UK economy (House of Lords Library briefing)

15:00: Debate on the progress made by the Government in achieving plastic recycling targets (House of Lords Library briefing)

16:00: Debate on the Government’s assessment of the impact that litter on canal towpaths owned and maintained by the Canal and River Trust is having on urban communities (House of Lords Library briefing)

Only one Select Committee is scheduled to meet today:

House of Commons

10:00: Public Accounts Committee – Costs of clinical negligence: Samantha Jones, the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Health and Social Care, and other senior officials from NHS England and NHS Resolution will give evidence. This inquiry follows up the publication last month of a National Audit Office report on clinical negligence costs. The Committee has indicated that topics for discussion with officials will include what steps are being taken “to reduce patient harm and improve patient safety across the NHS, and the effective management of costs, including the reduction of legal fees”.

A full list of select committee hearings can be found on the What’s On section of the Parliament website.

The House will not be sitting.

Private Members’ Bills: The House will meet at 10:00 to further consider non-Government Bills.

Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill (Third Reading): This Bill, which has been passed by the Commons and had no amendments tabled in the Lords, is set to have its final stage prior to becoming law. (House of Lords Library briefing)

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill: Today is the second of four days currently scheduled for the Committee Stage of the Bill to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales.

At Committee Stage, the House must decide whether each clause and schedule should be included in the Bill, and whether any amendments should be made or new clauses and schedules added. At the time of writing, around 985 amendments have been tabled to the Bill, of which only two have actually been decided or withdrawn during the debate. Related amendments are grouped together for debate, at the suggestion of the Government Whips, to facilitate a more coherent, focused discussion and to avoid repetition. Our recent blogpost looks in more detail at the procedure for Committee Stage in the House of Lords.

The next groups of amendments to be debated relate to coercion, pressure and financial abuse; the age of eligibility for assisted dying; drafting changes; and the requirement for eligible persons to be resident in England or Wales and registered with a medical practice in England or Wales.

In advance of the first sitting last Friday, the Government Whips published the first 20 groups of amendments, covering 219 of the amendments. Lord Falconer of Thoroton – the Bill’s sponsor – set a target for the House to get through ten groups at the first sitting.

In the event, progress through amendments during that first sitting was slow: only two of the ten groups were debated, covering just seven of the hundreds of amendments tabled thus far. At this pace, the prospect of Committee Stage finishing in four days looks increasingly unlikely.

If the House continues to make slow progress then additional time for Committee Stage may be needed. There are at least three options:

create additional Friday sittings for the Bill;

debate the Bill in Government time between Monday and Thursday; and

debate the Bill in non-Government time between Monday and Thursday.

The Government Chief Whip, Lord Kennedy of Southwark, said at the end of last Friday’s debate:

“the Government remain neutral and will not be providing Government time for this Bill. Obviously, we will look at things when we get to the end of our four days in Committee. I will then work with the Usual Channels to see what other time can be made available from non-Government time, but we will have to see whether we will move on over the next few days.”

However, he later struck a more equivocal tone, saying that “the Government do not have any Government time to give it at the moment”.

Both Houses will resume at 14:30 on Monday 24 November 2025. Our next Bulletin will therefore be published on Sunday 23 November.

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