Questions and statements: At 14:30, Defence Ministers will respond to MPs’ questions. Topics include small defence businesses, support for Ukraine, defence spending, Arctic security, military independence from the US, access to the EU SAFE fund, support for veterans, the Ajax programme, armed forces housing, shipbuilding, nuclear weapons, and armed forces families.

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 (Consideration of Lords Amendments): This Government Bill to implement the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement – commonly known as the High Seas Treaty – has now completed its passage through both Houses and is returning to the House of Commons, which will consider the amendments made by the Lords. (House of Commons Library briefing)

Debate will be time-limited by a programme motion to just one hour. The only changes made by the Lords were Government amendments, on largely technical matters, so there is likely to be little opposition in the Commons. Once MPs have formally approved the Lords amendments, the Bill will be ready to receive Royal Assent.

High Speed Rail (Crewe–Manchester) Bill (Carry-over and Select Committee motions): This hybrid Bill was introduced to Parliament in 2021 and then carried over into the present Parliament. It was to provide the legal basis for the construction of Phase 2b of the High Speed 2 project between Crewe and Manchester, part of the now cancelled Northern leg of HS2. (House of Commons Library briefing)

Although no progress has been made on the Bill since the previous Government announced the cancellation of HS2 in October 2023, it has remained in limbo as the previous Government and now the present Government intend to re-purpose it to deliver Northern Powerhouse Rail, which would have shared a section of the new railway with this leg of HS2.

A motion agreed by the House on 20 June 2022 allowed the Bill to be carried over into the first Session of this Parliament. As a result, the Bill is due to fall at the end of the current Session, which is likely to be in mid-May. The first motion to be debated proposes a further carry-over, which would extend the Bill into future Sessions of the current Parliament and, if necessary, into the first Session of the new Parliament after the next general election. In theory, this means the Bill could remain before the House of Commons for up to eight years.

At the time that the Northern leg was cancelled and its parliamentary proceedings suspended, the Bill had reached its ‘Select Committee’ stage. This is a special procedure used for hybrid bills – legislation that changes the law in ways that affect the general public and which specially affects individuals or private interests (for example, those who live close to the railway). Those directly affected by a hybrid bill may ‘petition’ against it during a 25-day period following the bill’s Second Reading. Those petitions are then considered and heard by the Select Committee.

The second motion on the Order Paper is to establish a new Select Committee to carry out this role. The previous Select Committee had already begun considering petitions against the Bill before proceedings were suspended in 2023, and the new committee will therefore need to resume consideration of those petitions.

The Select Committee will not only need to consider any outstanding petitions already submitted. Because the Government intends to substantially re-shape the Bill, it will also have to bring forward an ‘Additional Provision’ – in effect, a package of proposed amendments. An Additional Provision triggers a further petitioning period, the length of which has yet to be determined, during which those affected by the proposed changes can petition against them. The Committee will then be required to hear from those petitioners as well.

Once the Bill completes its Select Committee stage, it will move on to a standard Public Bill Committee, followed by Report Stage and Third Reading, after which it will be sent to the House of Lords.

We discussed the parliamentary progress of the Bill in a the latest episode of our Parliament Matters podcast.

Amendments to Standing Orders: The Leader of the House, Sir Alan Campbell, will move two motions affecting House of Commons Standing Orders.

The first motion is to continue to permit proxy voting for the remainder of the current Parliament for MPs unable to attend the House because of serious long-term illness or injury. This temporary provision was last extended in October 2024 to cover the remainder of the current Session. The Procedure Committee recommended in July 2025 that the provision be further extended up to the next general election.

The second motion would formalise and make permanent a pilot scheme in operation since 2018 whereby the topics for debate on estimates days are chosen by the Backbench Business Committee, rather than by the Liaison Committee. (House of Commons Library briefing)

Motion to Approve Delegated Legislation: MPs will be asked to approve without debate the draft Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority Order 2026, which was considered by a Delegated Legislation Committee last Wednesday.

Adjournment: Labour MP Anna Gelderd will give a speech on tolled crossings and regional connectivity. A Minister will then give a response.

Westminster Hall

16:30: MPs will debate e-petitions 727372 and 746363, which call on the Government to maintain the five-year route to Indefinite Leave to Remain to protect legal migrants. The petitions have attracted around 107,000 and 233,000 signatures respectively. (House of Commons Library briefing)

Delegated Legislation Committee

18:00: The draft Local Government Finance Act 1988 (Prescription of Non-Domestic Rating Multipliers) (England) Regulations 2026; and the draft Local Government Finance Act 1988 (Calculation of Non-Domestic Rating High-Value Multiplier) (England) Regulations 2026.

↖ Contents · Skip to Tuesday’s Commons ↘

Introduction of new Peers: At 14:30, two new Labour Peers will be introduced to the House:

• Carol Linforth – now Baroness Linforth – a former Labour Party chief of staff; and

• David Isaac – now Lord Isaac – a solicitor, former chair of Stonewall and of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, and now Provost of Worcester College, Oxford.

Tributes to the Lord Speaker: The House will pay tribute to the outgoing Lord Speaker, Lord McFall of Alcluith, who will be retiring today. He will be succeeded by former Conservative Peer Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, who won the recent Lord Speaker election. You can listen to Lord Forsyth’s pitch to his fellow Peers at the candidate hustings chaired last month by the Hansard Society’s Director.

Oral questions: Peers will question Ministers for 40 minutes, on the detention of Jimmy Lai; the performance of nationalised passenger rail services; hunger strikes by pro-Palestine protesters; and the Equality and Human Rights Commission guidance on single-sex spaces.

Conduct motion (Earl of Shrewsbury): The House must decide whether it agrees with a report from the Conduct Committee, concerning the Earl of Shrewsbury.

An investigation by the Commissioner for Standards found that the Earl breached the Code of Conduct by making improper claims for travel expenses. This included using a House of Lords credit card to purchase a train ticket to attend a business meeting unrelated to his parliamentary duties, and submitting mileage claims for four journeys that were not made.

The Commissioner noted that the Earl was “quick to admit wrongdoing and offered to reimburse the House”, but also that his breaches had occurred just three months after a previous suspension. The Commissioner therefore recommended that the Earl be suspended from the House for two weeks. The Earl of Shrewsbury did not appeal against the findings or the recommended sanction.

If the House agrees with the Committee’s report, then a further motion will be moved to formally give effect to the suspension for two weeks.

The Standing Orders of the House of Lords require that any motion on a Conduct Committee report and any subsequent motion providing for a sanction must be taken without debate.

Delegated legislation: The House will be asked to approve without debate the draft Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Cryptoassets) Regulations 2025, which were considered in Grand Committee last week.

Crime and Policing Bill (Committee, day 14 of 15): The House has now reached Part 15 of the Government’s Bill to reform the criminal justice and policing system. Today it will focus on provisions introduced by the House of Commons which would disapply the criminal laws against abortion with respect to women who terminate their own pregnancies. (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 groups of amendments to be debated relate to: where a woman terminates her own pregnancy, restricting decriminalisation to circumstances where a woman is not of sound mind or is the victim of domestic abuse; not decriminalising abortions motivated by the baby’s sex; replacing decriminalisation with a requirement for Attorney General consent for prosecutions; requiring an in-person consultation prior to an abortion; creating a new offence of complicity in an unlawful termination of pregnancy; requiring mandatory investigation of abortions for females under 16; and requiring the production of certain abortion statistics.

Because amendments that are voted on and defeated at Committee Stage cannot be moved again at Report Stage, many amendments tabled at Committee Stage are probing amendments, designed to test the opinion of the Government or the mood of the wider House before deciding whether to put the amendment to a vote at Report Stage.

Grand Committee

15:45: English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Committee, day 4 of 7): The next clauses and groups of amendments to be debated relate to the functions of the new Strategic Authorities with respect to transport and local infrastructure, skills and employment, and housing and planning. (House of Lords Library briefing)

At Committee Stage, the House debates whether each clause should be included in the Bill and whether any amendments should be made. Committee Stage is expected to continue in Grand Committee on Thursday.

↖ Contents · Skip to Tuesday’s Lords ↘

Highlights include:

House of Commons

15:00: Welsh Affairs Committee – Promoting Wales for inward investment: Investment Minister Lord Stockwood will give evidence.

15:30: Public Accounts Committee – Environmental regulation: The Permanent Secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Chief Executives of Natural England and the Environment Agency 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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↖ Contents · Skip to Tuesday’s Select Committees ↘

Questions and statements: At 11:30, Deputy Prime Minister and Lord Chancellor David Lammy and other Justice Ministers will respond to MPs’ questions. Topics include the court backlog, magistrate recruitment, changes to jury trials, funding for victim support services, rehabilitation, electronic travel authorisations, legal aid in rural areas, the Parole Board, domestic abuse, and the safety of the prison estate.

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

Ten Minute Rule Motion: Labour MP Adam Jogee will seek to introduce British-made Bricks (Proposals) 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 proposals for measures to increase the use of British-made bricks in UK construction projects. See our Hansard Society guide for more information about the parliamentary procedure for Ten Minute Rule Bills.

Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill (Second Reading): The House of Commons will debate this Government Bill for the first time. The Bill provides for the removal of the policy that limits additional Universal Credit payments to a maximum of two children per household. As a result, families receiving Universal Credit with three or more children will become eligible for increased welfare support. (House of Commons Library briefing)

At Second Reading, the House is debating only the principles and purposes of the Bill and cannot make amendments to the Bill’s text. As it is a very short Bill, its Committee Stage is likely to be in Committee of the Whole House, which takes place in the Chamber rather than a committee room.

Adjournment: Conservative MP John Cooper will give a speech on the impact of Government policy on the fish and chip sector. A Minister will then give a response.

Westminster Hall

09:30: Town and city centre safety (House of Commons Library briefing / Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology POSTnote)

11:00: The impact of taxation on small and medium-sized enterprises

14:30: Transport in the South East (House of Commons Library briefing)

16:00: Educational outcomes for disadvantaged young boys and men (Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology POSTnote)

16:30: Animals in Science Regulation Unit annual report 2024 (House of Commons Library briefing / Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology POSTnote)

Public Bill Committees

09:25 and 14:00: Cyber Security and Resilience (Network and Information Systems) Bill (Committee, day 1): This Bill to grant the Government new powers to respond to cyber threats will have its Committee Stage today. The main provisions of the Bill were outlined in a recent edition of the Bulletin, including some commentary on the appropriateness of the new delegated powers.

At Committee Stage, the Public Bill Committee must decide whether each clause and schedule should “stand part” of the Bill, and whether any amendments should be made. However, before the Committee begins its clause-by-clause scrutiny on Thursday, it will spend today taking oral evidence from witnesses. The witness list will have been agreed in advance between the Government and Opposition Whips.

09:25 and 14:00: Finance (No. 2) Bill (Committee, day 3): The next clauses and amendments to be debated relate to the new vaping products duty, the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, and tax avoidance.

09:25 and 14:00: Railways Bill (Committee, day 5): The next clauses and amendments to be debated relate to the Government’s power to designate passenger rail services to be operated by Great British Railways (GBR), the responsibilities of GBR in relation to designated services, and the Government’s power to set the level and structure of rail fares.

Delegated Legislation Committee

09:25: The draft Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme (Amendment) (Extension to Maritime Activities) Order 2026.

↖ Contents · Skip to Wednesday’s Commons ↘

Introduction of new Peers: At 14:30, two new Peers will be introduced to the House:

• Sarah Teather – now Baroness Teather – the former Liberal Democrat MP and Minister for Children and Families; and

• Russell Hobby – now Lord Hobby – the former General Secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers and former Chief Executive of Teach First, and currently the CEO of The Kemnal Academies Trust. Though nominated by the Labour Party, Lord Hobby is currently listed as a “non-affiliated” Peer.

Oral questions: Peers will question Ministers for 40 minutes, on the application of the two-child benefit cap to foreign-born children; collaboration with faith-based and voluntary organisations on child poverty; AI superintelligence capabilities; and the decision not to allow Shamima Begum and other British-born mothers and children to return to the UK from camps in Northern Syria.

Select Committee motions: Motions to amend the membership of four select committees will be moved together en bloc without debate.

Delegated legislation: The House will be asked to approve without debate the draft Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme (Amendment) Order 2026, which were considered in Grand Committee last week.

Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Report, day 5 of 5): On the final day of the Bill’s Report Stage, the whole House will consider the remaining groups of amendments relating to the removal of certain freedoms from Academies. (House of Lords Library briefing)

Once Report Stage is concluded, the Bill will move on to its Third Reading, currently scheduled for Monday 9 February, after which it will return to the House of Commons for consideration of Lords amendments.

Grand Committee

15:45: Pension Schemes Bill (Committee, day 6 of 7): At Committee Stage, Peers consider whether each clause should “stand part” of the Bill and whether any amendments should be made. The next clauses and groups of amendments to be debated relate to proposed new obligations on pension schemes to increase the scale of their funds and have certain asset allocations, the restriction of new small pension schemes, and the power of contract-based pension providers to transfer a pension to another arrangement or to vary contractual terms without the person’s consent if it is in the person’s best interest. (House of Lords Library briefing)

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Highlights include:

House of Commons

09:30: Science, Innovation and Technology Committee – The CEO at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) will give evidence on the funding agency’s work.

10:30: Foreign Affairs Committee – What can we learn from Venezuela? Academics and experts in security, conflicts and foreign policy will give evidence.

10:30: Defence Committee – What is the future of warfare? The Committee will speak to Professor Sir Hew Strachan from the University of St Andrews, retired Air Marshal Edward Stringer and Dr Keith Dear, founder and CEO of AI strategy start-up Cassi and the former expert adviser to the Prime Minister on Science, Technology and Space.

14:00: Women and Equalities Committee – Reproductive health conditions: Women’s Health Minister Baroness Merron will give evidence.

House of Lords

10:30: Justice and Home Affairs Committee – Settlement, citizenship and integration: National Audit Office staff and the former Head of Immigration Statistics at the Home Office will give evidence.

15:00: Economic Affairs Committee – The UK’s fiscal framework: Chief Secretary to the Treasury James Murray MP will give evidence.

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

↖ Contents · Skip to Wednesday’s Select Committees ↘

Details of Wednesday’s business can be found below.

Questions and statements: At 11:30, Science, Innovation and Technology Ministers will respond to MPs’ questions. Topics include the impact of AI on trends in the level of employment, children and social media, broadband connectivity in rural areas, the new National Police Service, replacing the copper wire communications network, mobile networks, and digital ID.

At 12:00, Sir Keir Starmer is set to face the Leader of the Opposition, Kemi Badenoch, at Prime Minister’s Questions.

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

Ten Minute Rule Motion: Labour MP Bell Ribiero-Addy will seek to introduce a Human Remains (Prohibition of Sale, Purchase and Advertising) 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 end the practice of selling human remains in auction houses and on social media under the guise of being modified items or replicas.

Opposition Day (Conservatives): This is the 17th of 20 Opposition Days scheduled this Session – days when Government business does not have priority and precedence is instead given to motions tabled by opposition parties. As this is a Conservative Opposition Day, the subject will be chosen by the Leader of the Opposition, Kemi Badenoch. Specific details of the motion(s) to be debated may not be made known until Wednesday’s Order Paper is published.

Adjournment: Labour MP Steve Race will give a speech on Construction Industry Training Board funding for training groups. A Minister will then give a response.

Westminster Hall

09:30: Administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme (House of Commons Library briefing)

11:00: Potential merits of fast-track visas for skilled US citizens

14:30: Postal services in rural areas (House of Commons Library briefing)

16:00: Use of CCTV for safeguarding purposes in nurseries and early years providers

16:30: Children and armed conflict (House of Commons Library briefing)

Delegated Legislation Committee

14:30: The draft Energy-Intensive Industry Electricity Support Payments and Levy (Amendment) Regulations 2026.

↖ Contents · Skip to Thursday’s Commons ↘

Oral questions: At 15:00, Peers will begin the day by questioning Ministers for 40 minutes, on the provision of corridor care in the NHS; updating the rules relating to land covenants on supermarket chains; and the level of transparency required for the funding of think tanks, including in relation to funding from abroad. The topic of a fourth question will be decided by a ballot drawn at lunchtime on Monday 2 February.

Debate on a Statutory Instrument relating to public order: The House will debate a motion to approve the draft Public Order Act 2023 (Interference With Use or Operation of Key National Infrastructure) Regulations 2025. The Regulations designate the Life Sciences sector as key national infrastructure, extending the scope of the criminal offence of interfering with such infrastructure. This would grant the police new powers to act against disruptive protest activity targeting the life sciences sector. (House of Lords Library briefing)

The House will simultaneously debate a ‘fatal motion’ from the Green Party’s Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle. If agreed, a fatal motion prevents the Regulations from becoming law. It is exceptionally rare for either House to reject Statutory Instruments. The motion expresses concern that the Regulations amount to “legislative overreach” by extending the definition of “critical national infrastructure” beyond its appropriate limits. In particular, the motion highlights potential implications for the right to protest animal testing within the life sciences sector.

Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill (Second Reading): The Bill would introduce a system of prioritisation for the allocation of medical training places, with priority given to graduates of UK and Irish medical schools. (House of Lords Library briefing)

Last Tuesday, it was fast-tracked through all its Commons stages in a single sitting. In last week’s Bulletin, we noted that the Bill would not be fast-tracked so rapidly through the House of Lords. Indeed, Second Reading, Committee, Report and Third Reading all look set to take place on separate days in the Lords.

At Second Reading today, the House is debating only the principles behind the Bill and cannot make amendments to the text. The House of Lords very rarely holds a division on Second Readings. Once the Bill receives a Second Reading, it will be committed to a Committee of the Whole House for its Committee Stage.

National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Bill (Second Reading): The House will debate this Government Bill to implement a £2,000 annual cap on the amount of employee pension contributions made through salary sacrifice that are exempt from National Insurance Contributions (NICs), as announced in last November’s Budget. (House of Lords Library briefing)

While most of the Budget tax changes are included the Finance Bill, changes to NICs require separate legislation. The Finance Bill makes provision for public expenditure for central government as a whole, rather than for particular items or purposes. The money raised by NICs is allocated specifically to the National Insurance Fund, which is disbursed for contributory benefits and cannot be spent for wider purposes. Separate legislation is thus needed. The key procedural consequence is that the House of Lords can amend the Bill and, as a result, Committee and Report Stage in the Lords will proceed in the usual way, unlike the treatment of Money Bills.

Once the Bill receives its Second Reading, it will be committed to a Grand Committee for its Committee Stage.

Grand Committee

16:15: English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Committee, day 5 of 7): At Committee Stage, the House examines the Bill clause-by-clause and decides whether each clause should “stand part” of the Bill and whether any amendments should be made. The House will continue its scrutiny of clauses and amendments from the point reached by the House at Monday’s Grand Committee sitting. (House of Lords Library briefing)

↖ Contents · Skip to Thursday’s Lords ↘

Highlights include:

House of Commons

09:30: Work and Pensions Committee – Disability and ill-health in the workplace: The author of the Mayfield Review on disability and ill-health in the workplace, Sir Charlie Mayfield, will give evidence.

10:00: Home Affairs Committee – Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood MP will give evidence on the work of her department.

14:30: Environmental Audit Committee – Addressing the risks from perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS): Water and Flooding Minister Emma Hardy MP will give evidence.

15:00: Energy Security and Net Zero Committee – Building support for the energy transition: Climate Minister Katie White MP will give evidence.

House of Lords

10:05: Financial Services Regulation Committee: Growth and proposed regulation of stablecoins in the UK – Financial Times journalist Chris Giles will give evidence.

10:30: International Relations and Defence Committee – The UK’s future relationship with the US: Two academics will give evidence.

Joint

14:15: Joint Committee on Human Rights – Human rights and the regulation of AI: Ofcom, the Information Commissioner’s Office, and the Equality and Human Rights Commission will give evidence.

15:15: Joint Committee on Human Rights – Human rights implications of the UK–Mauritius Agreement: Legal experts will give evidence on the consequences of the Chagos Islands treaty.

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

↖ Contents · Skip to Thursday’s Select Committees ↘

Questions and statements: At 09:30, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Ministers will face questions from MPs. Topics include support for farmers, farming productivity, flood preparedness, water infrastructure inspection, water bills, water company executive remuneration, veterinary services, water company performance, feed additives in livestock farming, the dairy industry, business rates, and agricultural co-operatives.

At 10:10, the Solicitor General will face MPs’ questions, including on steps to increase prosecution rates for cases of violence against women and girls, ending the presumption of parental contact, the Public Office (Accountability) Bill or “Hillsborough Law”, and prosecutions of grooming gangs.

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 Ministerial Statements will follow.

General debate on road safety: This debate was chosen by the Backbench Business Committee, following an application from Labour MP Anna Dixon. In her application, Dixon highlighted that the debate would cover five common causes of fatal vehicle crashes: speeding, antisocial driving, mobile phone use, alcohol and drug use, and not wearing a seatbelt.

Debate on a motion relating to Palestine: The House will debate a motion that it has “considered the obligation to assess the risk of genocide under international law in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territories”. The motion was chosen by the Backbench Business Committee following an application from SNP MP Brendan O’Hara.

Adjournment: Independent MP Alex Easton will give a speech on the provision of NHS dentists. A Minister will then give a response.

Westminster Hall

13:30: Chair of the Scottish Affairs Committee Patricia Ferguson MP will make a statement on the Committee’s recent report, The work of the Committee in 2024-25, and Industrial transition in Scotland. Her statement will last ten minutes, after which MPs may ask questions for a further ten minutes.

13:50: Sustainable drainage systems

15:10: Secondary breast cancer

Public Bill Committees

11:30 and 14:00: Cyber Security and Resilience (Network and Information Systems) Bill (Committee, day 2): Having taken oral evidence on Tuesday, the Public Bill Committee will begin its formal clause-by-clause scrutiny and consideration of amendments in the order in which they appear (or would appear) in the Bill. The first clauses of the Bill relate to extending the definition of “essential services” under cyber security regulations to data centres.

11:30 and 14:00: Finance (No. 2) Bill (Committee, day 4): The Public Bill Committee will continue to scrutinise its clauses and proposed amendments, resuming from the point it reached at its sitting on Tuesday.

11:30 and 14:00: Railways Bill (Committee, day 6): The Public Bill Committee will continue to scrutinise its clauses and proposed amendments, resuming from the point it reached at its sitting on Tuesday.

↖ Contents · Skip to Friday’s Commons ↘

Introduction of new Members: At 11:00, two Church of England bishops will take their ex-officio places.

Having resigned as Bishop of London to take up her new post as Archbishop of Canterbury, Dame Sarah Mullally lost her seat in the Lords, which was held by virtue of the London bishopric. However, as Archbishop of Canterbury she is automatically entitled to sit in the Lords as one of the 26 Lords Spiritual, and will therefore be re-introduced to the House as the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, replacing Justin Welby who resigned as Archbishop and ceased to be a member of the Lords in January 2025.

Meanwhile, Justin Welby’s resignation created a further vacancy. Under the Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015, such vacancies up to 2030 must be filled by an eligible female bishop. The next most senior eligible bishop is Joanne Grenfell, the Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, who will therefore also be introduced to the House today.

Oral questions: Peers will question Ministers for 40 minutes, on youth unemployment; the use of timber as a low-carbon building material; and the jobs market. The topic of a fourth question will be decided by a ballot drawn at lunchtime on Tuesday 3 February.

Victims and Courts Bill (Order of Commitment): Baroness Levitt, the Minister responsible for the Bill, will move a motion to discharge the order of commitment made on 16 December 2025. That order had sent the Bill, following its Second Reading, for clause-by-clause scrutiny in Grand Committee. Today’s motion proposes that the Bill be considered instead in a Committee of the Whole House. This meets in the Chamber, allows all Peers to participate, and permits Divisions (formal recorded votes) where required. In contrast, a Grand Committee meets in a large committee room known as the Moses Room, an alternative forum for legislative business. While all Peers may attend and speak, formal Divisions cannot take place, meaning amendments may be agreed only by unanimous consent.

Crime and Policing Bill (Committee, day 15 of 15): At Committee Stage, the House examines the Bill clause-by-clause and decides whether each clause should “stand part” of the Bill. Today the House is expected to consider the final clauses of, and amendments to, this Bill. The Committee will scrutinise those clauses and amendments starting from the point that the House reached at its sitting on Monday. (House of Lords Library briefing)

Because amendments that are voted on and defeated at Committee Stage cannot be moved again at Report Stage, many amendments tabled at Committee Stage are probing amendments, designed to test the opinion of the Government or the mood of the wider House before deciding whether to put the amendment to a vote at Report Stage.

Grand Committee:

13:00: Pension Schemes Bill (Committee, day 7 of 7): Today is the final day for Committee Stage of this Government Bill to reform the pensions regime, with the last few clauses and amendments set to be considered. The Committee will scrutinise those clauses and amendments resuming from the point that the House reached at its sitting on Tuesday. (House of Lords Library briefing)

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There are no Select Committees scheduled to meet in public today.

↖ Contents · Skip to Looking ahead ↘

The House will not be sitting.

↖ Contents · Skip to Looking ahead ↘

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

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Committee, day 9): At Committee stage the House must decide whether each clause and schedule should remain in this Bill to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales, and whether any amendments should be made or new clauses and schedules added. (House of Lords Library briefing)

Amendments can be grouped and debated together to keep the discussion focussed and coherent and to avoid unnecessary repetition. To date, the Government Whips have organised the amendments into 89 groups, of which just 25 groups have been debated. The slow pace of progress has given rise to the suggestion that the Parliament Act might be deployed in the next Session to bring the Bill into law without the approval of the House of Lords. This week’s episode of our Parliament Matters podcast includes a detailed discussion of how the Parliament Act works and how it might be utilised for this Private Member’s Bill.

A new marshalled list (a numbered list which sets out all the amendments to reflect their position in relation to where they apply to the Bill) will be published before today’s sitting starts (under the Amendment Paper section of the Publications tab on the Bill page on the parliamentary website). An updated list of the groups of amendments may also be published and the sponsoring Peer, Lord Falconer of Thoroton, will indicate how many of these groups he hopes will be debated today.

↖ Contents · Skip to Looking ahead ↘

Both Houses will resume at 14:30 on Monday 9 February 2026. Our next Bulletin will therefore be published on Sunday 8 February.

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