Questions and statements: At 14:30, Housing, Communities and Local Government Ministers will respond to MPs’ questions. Topics include leasehold reform, English devolution, and housing supply.

Any Urgent Questions or Ministerial Statements will follow.

Select Committee statements: Two Select Committee chairs are scheduled to make statements to the House about reports published by their respective committees.

• Dame Meg Hillier, chair of the Treasury Select Committee, will make a statement on a report titled The Office for Value for Money. The Committee held an oral evidence session in December with the newly appointed chair of the Office for Value for Money (OVfM), David Goldstone, and two of its senior officials. The creation of the OVfM was announced in the Budget in October and is a “time-limited HM Treasury Unit” to contribute to work on the Spending Review.

• Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, chair of the Defence Select Committee, will make a statement on a report titled Global Combat Air Programme which is a partnership with Japan and Italy to develop a next-generation aircraft to enter service from 2035.

Main business: Two backbench business debates on:

• The impact of food and diet on obesity: This debate was originally due to take place last Monday (13 January) but was rescheduled because of the pressure on time that day following several Ministerial Statements and Urgent Questions. The background to the debate, which will be led by Dr Simon Opher MP, was set out in last week’s Bulletin.

  • House of Commons Library briefing

  • Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology Notes on childhood obesity, the health impacts of ultra-processed foods, diet-related health inequalities and child food insecurity and free school meals.

• Financial education: This topic was requested by the Conservative MP Jerome Mayhew, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Financial Education for Young People. In his application to the Backbench Business Committee requesting time for this debate, he set out the importance of improving financial literacy for young people as early as possible and noted the relevance of this debate in the context of the Government’s review of the national curriculum.

  • House of Commons Library briefing

Delegated Legislation Committee (DLC): MPs will debate the Silicon Valley Bank UK Limited Compensation Scheme Order 2024. This Order confirms in law that no compensation is due to the persons who held shares in Silicon Valley Bank UK Limited before those shares were transferred to HSBC UK Bank. In March 2023, Silicon Valley Bank became the largest bank to fail since the 2008 financial crisis. The Bank of England stepped in to rescue its UK subsidiary, by transferring its business to another bank.

Adjournment: The Labour MP Connor Naismith has the adjournment debate on the role of Crewe railway station in transport connectivity. The debate is likely to engage questions about the future of HS2.

Westminster Hall: MPs will debate e-petition 652602, which calls on the Government to not increase the income requirement for family visas. The petition has acquired just over 101,000 signatures.

• House of Commons Library briefing

Introduction of new Peers: Two new Peers will be introduced to the House:

• former Labour MEP Theresa Griffin (now the Baroness Griffin of Princethorpe);

• former Labour MP Phil Wilson (now the Lord Wilson of Sedgefield).

Oral questions: Peers will begin the day by questioning Ministers for 40 minutes, on the investor-state dispute settlement provisions in the UK/Colombia bilateral investment treaty; the impacts of first-cousin marriage; steps towards a free trade agreement with the United States; and the Government’s plans for the revival or replacement of the Erasmus programme.

Main business: The House will debate three pieces of legislation.

• Non-Consensual Sexually Explicit Images and Videos (Offences) Bill (Committee stage). This is a Private Member’s Bill sponsored by Baroness (Charlotte) Owen, former special adviser in Number 10 under Boris Johnson. The Bill would create offences relating to the creation of non-consensual sexually explicit photographs or films.

  • House of Lords Library briefing

• Public Authority Algorithmic and Automated Decision-Making Systems Bill (Committee stage). Another Private Member’s Bill, in the name of the Liberal Democrat Lord Clement-Jones, this would introduce provisions to regulate the use of automated and algorithmic tools in decision-making processes in the public sector, to require the Government to assess the impact of using those processes, and to ensure the adoption of transparency standards.

  • House of Lords Library briefing

• Mental Health Bill (Committee stage, day 2). This is a Government Bill, the provisions of which were outlined in a previous edition of the Bulletin. Among the approximately 170 amendments still to be considered, a new set of amendments has appeared on the marshalled list, tabled by the former Prime Minister Theresa May (now Baroness May of Maidenhead). Her amendments seek to introduce a new category of “authorised person” who can carry out detentions for mental health reasons, removing the need for the presence of police at mental health incidents in the absence of any risk.

  • House of Lords Library briefing

There will also be a one-hour dinner break debate on the use of hotels to house asylum seekers, led by the Conservative Shadow Home Office Minister, Lord Davies of Gower.

• House of Lords Library research note

Grand Committee: Five Statutory Instruments to be debated:

• Electricity Capacity Mechanism (Amendment) Regulations 2024

• Clean Heat Market Mechanism Regulations 2024. The Clean Heat Market Mechanism imposes an obligation on large manufacturers of oil and gas boilers to sell a specified number of heat pumps as a proportion of their boiler sales. The Conservatives have described the Clean Heat Market Mechanism, first proposed in 2021, as a “boiler tax”, and forced a division on the regulations in the House of Commons last week.

• Deposit Scheme for Drinks Containers (England and Northern Ireland) Regulations 2024. These regulations will also be discussed in the House of Commons on Tuesday; details about their provisions can be found below in that section of the Bulletin.

• Airports Slot Allocation (Alleviation of Usage Requirements etc.) Regulations 2025

• Representation of the People (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) Regulations 2025

House of Commons

• Public Accounts Committee (15:30): The Second Permanent Secretary and other senior officials at the Department for Transport (DfT) will give evidence on public charge points for electric vehicles. The hearing follows a National Audit Office report published in December which assessed whether DfT is on track to meet its targets, make effective interventions, and achieve value for money with respect to public charge points for electric vehicles.

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Questions and statements: At 11:30, Treasury Ministers will face questions from MPs. Questions on the Order Paper concern the increasing cost of servicing Government debt, economic growth, and the impact of the rise in National Insurance contributions.

Any Urgent Questions or Ministerial Statements will follow.

Ten Minute Rule Motion: The Labour MP Katie White will introduce a Ten Minute Rule Bill titled the Marine Protected Areas (Bottom Trawling) (England) Bill. The Bill would prohibit the practice of bottom trawling in Marine Protected Areas in England. See our Hansard Society guide for more information about the parliamentary procedure for Ten Minute Rule Bills.

Main business: Armed Forces Commissioner Bill (Remaining Stages). The Bill will establish an independent Armed Forces Commissioner with powers to investigate general service welfare matters in the armed forces. The existing office of the Service Complaints Ombudsman would be abolished and its functions transferred to the new Commissioner.

The amendments tabled by the Conservatives, which the Speaker is most likely to select for a division, would:

• require the Secretary of State to make clear how the Commissioner will work with the Veterans Commissioner and related bodies;

• require the Commissioner to be operationally independent from the Government;

• extend the remit of the Commissioner to pensions and other such benefits, including death-in-service benefits;

• extend its remit to matters relating to the wellbeing of the children, families and dependants of serving and former members of the armed forces; and

• require the Commissioner to specify whether an issue on which they are reporting affects the retention of armed forces personnel.

The only other amendments tabled are from the Liberal Democrat spokesperson, including one requiring that the Commissioner must first be approved by a parliamentary select committee.

• House of Commons Library briefing / Amendment paper

Once proceedings on the Bill are concluded, the House will move on to a motion to approve the draft Deposit Scheme for Drinks Containers (England and Northern Ireland) Regulations 2024. These regulations establish a Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers. The scheme allows consumers to pay a deposit when purchasing a drink in an eligible container and to redeem the deposit by returning the container to a designated return point.

• House of Commons Library briefing

The debate on these regulations was originally scheduled for last Thursday, but the Government chose not to move the motion because of constraints on time caused by a series of ministerial statements. Debates on Statutory Instruments, such as this one, may last up to 90 minutes.

Public Bill Committees: Tobacco and Vapes Bill; and Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Oral Evidence).

The Public Bill Committee for the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (often referred to as the ‘Assisted Dying Bill’) is scheduled to sit today to consider the ‘sittings motion’. This motion is likely to set out:

• the dates and times when the Committee will meet;

• at which meetings the Committee will hear oral evidence; and

• from whom the Committee will take oral evidence.

For Government bills, such a motion is normally agreed in private by a ‘programming sub-committee’, made up of a selection of members from the Public Bill Committee. The motion will usually have been agreed in advance between the Government and Opposition Whips. However, programming sub-committees only meet when a bill is subject to a ‘programme order’, which Private Members’ Bills like the ‘Assisted Dying Bill’ are not. Erskine May clarifies that “[in] the case of bills which are not subject to a programme order, where it seems likely that the consideration of a bill will not be concluded at a single sitting, it is usual for the committee, before entering on the consideration of the bill, to determine, by resolution, on what days in each week it will sit and at what hour it will meet for the purpose of considering the bill.” This may be altered at later sittings of the Committee.

The Committee might also amend the order in which the Bill is to be considered through an ‘order of consideration motion’. Such a motion can be moved at any stage.

The meeting is currently listed as public on Parliament’s What’s On page, though meetings of programming sub-committees usually take place in private.

Adjournment: The Conservative MP Mark Garnier has the adjournment debate on the potential merits of a Stourport relief road fund.

Westminster Hall: There are five debates, on the provision of Auditory Verbal Therapy; the effectiveness of Northern Ireland’s political institutions; the prevention of knife crime in the West Midlands; the welfare of doctors; and re-opening hotels for asylum seeker accommodation.

Introduction of new Peers: Two new Peers are set to be introduced to the House:

• former Deputy Prime Minister Dame Thérèse Coffey (now Baroness Coffey); and

• former General Secretary of the Labour Party, David Evans (now Lord Evans of Sealand).

Oral questions: Peers will begin the day by questioning Ministers for 40 minutes, on the National Trust Acts; reducing homelessness; swimming lessons in primary schools; and plans to change the ‘triple lock’ guarantee for state pensions.

Main business: Data (Use and Access) Bill (Report). A large number of amendments have been tabled by crossbencher Baroness Kidron, a prominent advocate for online safety and the founder of children’s rights organisation 5Rights.

Grand Committee: National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Bill. This Bill enacts the increases to employer National Insurance contributions announced in the Autumn Budget. The Bill’s committee stage is being taken in Grand Committee, rather than in a Committee of the Whole House. The difference between the two locations is that Grand Committee takes place in a committee room rather than in the Chamber; and divisions are not permitted, so amendments may only be agreed unanimously. Earlier this month, the Government’s motion to commit the Bill to a Grand Committee faced significant opposition from the Conservative benches. The Minister argued that, since 2006, all National Insurance bills not subjected to expedited procedures had been considered in Grand Committee rather than on the floor of the House. However, the Opposition Chief Whip contended that the Bill’s wide-reaching implications warranted a more prominent discussion in the Chamber and the opportunity to test amendments in a division. Ultimately, the Opposition’s position was narrowly defeated by the Government by 228 votes to 226, and the Bill was thus committed to a Grand Committee.

The House of Lords typically does not amend legislation relating to financial matters. But, for reasons outlined in a recent edition of the Bulletin, bills relating to National Insurance contributions are not classified as ‘money bills’ and are therefore not covered by the restrictions on Lords amendments contained in the Parliament Act.

• House of Lords Library briefing / Amendment paper

Highlights include:

House of Commons

• Science, Innovation and Technology Committee (9:45): Representatives of the Muslim Council of Britain, the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, the BBC, and the Center for Countering Digital Hate will give evidence on social media, misinformation and harmful algorithms.

• Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (10:00): Representatives of consumers and water companies will give evidence on reforming the water sector.

• Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (10:00): Representatives of Royal Mail and the Association of Electoral Administrators will give evidence as part of the Committee’s review of the 2024 general election. In a briefing published before last year’s election, the Hansard Society highlighted the concerns held by electoral administrators and polling station staff about the pressures they expected to face at the general election, partly as a result of a wave of new electoral regulations.

• Housing, Communities and Local Government (10:00): The Minister for Homelessness, Rushanara Ali MP, will give evidence on children in temporary accommodation and rough sleeping.

• Home Affairs Committee (10:00): The chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Professor Alexis Jay, will give evidence on the implementation of her inquiry’s recommendations. Professor Jay may also be asked about the Government’s recent announcement of five new government-backed local inquiries.

• Defence Committee (10:30): The former head of MI6, Sir Alex Younger, will give evidence on defence against ‘grey zone’ threats – threats that fall below the perceived threshold for military action.

• Business and Trade Committee (14:30): The Trade Minister, Douglas Alexander MP, and the Minister for the Constitution and European Relations, Nick Thomas-Symonds MP, will give evidence on export-led growth.

House of Lords

• Justice and Home Affairs Committee (10:30): The Chief Inspector of Prisons, Charlie Taylor, will give evidence on prison culture.

• Energy and Climate Change Committee, and Science and Technology Committee (15:30): The two committees will jointly question the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Miliband MP.

• European Affairs Committee (16:00): Leading European analysts – including Wolfgang Münchau and Mujtaba Rahman – will give evidence on the reset of UK–EU relations.

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.

Questions and statements: At 11:30, Scotland Office Ministers will face questions from MPs. Questions on the Order Paper concern the Scottish energy sector, poverty and the cost of living, and levels of taxation and the quality of public services in Scotland.

Any Urgent Questions or Ministerial Statements will follow.

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

Ten Minute Rule Motion: The Labour MP Julie Minns will introduce a Ten Minute Rule Bill titled the Elections (Accessibility for Blind Voters) Bill. The Bill would require the provision of audio and tactile measures at polling stations to enable blind voters to vote independently and in secret and require the Government to identify and implement new accessible voting solutions for blind voters.

Main business:

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Money resolution). If a Bill receives a Second Reading, a money resolution is needed to provide parliamentary approval for the financial consequences of the legislation. Such a resolution authorises public spending or charges on the public purse that have not been previously approved by an existing Act of Parliament. Without this resolution, clauses in the Bill that create financial obligations cannot proceed. Clauses in a bill which create such obligations (charges on public expenditure) are italicised, which, as Erskine May explains, marks the fact that “they do not unconditionally form part of the Bill”. A Public Bill Committee cannot consider those parts of the Bill – the italicised words, and the clauses governed by them – if they have not been authorised by a money resolution. In the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, clause 32 is italicised concerning the Secretary of State’s powers to ensure assistance is available as part of the health service in England and Wales. A money motion for the Bill (which will become a resolution when agreed by the House) is therefore needed so that the Public Bill Committee, which is scheduled to meet for the first time later this month, can consider the proposals.

Only a Government Minister – not Kim Leadbeater, the MP sponsoring the Bill – can table the money motion. This restriction arises from the ‘financial initiative of the Crown’, a constitutional principle dating back to 1713. It gives the Crown – the Government of the day – exclusive authority to request or recommend expenditure to the House of Commons. Hence the motion on the Order Paper has a note appended to it stating: “King’s Recommendation signified”. As Erskine May explains, this is needed “to sanction the proposal of a charge upon public funds and thus reserves the initiation of expenditure to the Crown, as embodied in the Government of the day”. The King’s recommendation is required for motions “which involve any public expenditure or grant of money not included in the annual estimates, or which would have the effect of releasing or compounding any sum of money owing to the Crown”.

To table a money motion, the Government must assess how much money will be required and have some idea about where the funding will come from, although it is not required to set this out in the motion itself. At Business Questions last week, the Leader of the House of Commons, Lucy Powell MP, stressed that the Government’s tabling of the motion did not mean it was agreeing to fund the measures. In practice, however, by tabling the money motion the Government is accepting that if the Bill makes it to the statute book it will make provision for all the costs that follow.

The motion can be debated by MPs for up to 45 minutes. Erskine May clarifies that the debate “must be confined to the terms of the resolution itself and must not be extended to the related bill”. However, the debate will give MPs an opportunity to ask the Minister about the expected financial impact of the Bill’s provisions on both the NHS and the justice system, whether a formal Impact Assessment has been conducted, and whether that Impact Assessment will be published and if so when.

Bank Resolution (Recapitalisation) Bill [Lords] (Second Reading): As outlined in a previous edition of the Bulletin, the Bill will enable the Bank of England to require funds to be provided from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme to meet the costs of a ‘resolution’ of a failing financial institution, with the costs recovered later on through a levy on the financial sector. The Bill has been considered by the House of Lords, where Peers inflicted a defeat on the Government by inserting an amendment so that the Bank of England may only use its power in relation to small and medium-sized banks. The Government is likely to seek to remove or replace this amendment later in the Bill’s proceedings.

Adjournment: The Labour MP David Smith has the adjournment debate on access to public services in rural areas.

Westminster Hall: There are five debates, on the Listed Places of Worship Scheme; the presumption of parental involvement in child arrangements; Government support for Education, Health and Care Plans; the New Hospital Programme; and the potential merits of Government support for a certificate of common sponsorship.

Oral questions: Peers will begin the day by questioning Ministers for 40 minutes, on limits on donations to political parties; railway electrification; and small modular nuclear reactors. The topic of a fourth question will be decided by a ballot drawn at lunchtime on Monday 20 January.

Main business: Assuming that the Committee Stage for the Mental Health Bill does not conclude on Monday, the House will continue consideration of the Bill in Committee.

Grand Committee: Great British Energy Bill (Committee, day 5). This relatively short eight clause Bill was initially allocated two days for Committee consideration. However, on Tuesday 14 January, the House altered course. A motion moved by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, the responsible minister, discharged the order for the Bill’s consideration in Committee of the Whole House. Instead, it was committed to Grand Committee, a move approved by Peers despite objections from the Opposition Chief Whip, Baroness Williams of Trafford. The decision followed a tense conclusion to the debate the previous evening (Monday 13 January). The Government Chief Whip accused Conservative Peers of filibustering while the Opposition argued the need for thorough examination. Lord Hunt highlighted that 153 amendments had been tabled to the Bill’s eight clauses – an average of 19 amendments per clause. The Opposition countered that, with over £8 billion in public funding at stake, rigorous scrutiny was vital. Ministers, however, were clearly concerned about potential legislative gridlock in the Lords. As Lord Hunt emphasised, the Bill’s Report Stage is scheduled for 11 February, following a packed period in the Chamber that includes consideration of the Mental Health Bill and Martyn’s Law. To balance these priorities with the Opposition’s call for detailed examination, moving the Bill to Grand Committee was proposed and approved. The first session in Grand Committee was held on Wednesday 15 January, with another sitting scheduled for today. Depending on the pace of progress with amendments, additional sessions may be required.

Highlights include:

House of Commons

• Transport Committee (9:15): The Minister for Rail, Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill, and the Chair at Shadow Great British Railways – a body set up to prepare for the formal establishment of Great British Railways – will give evidence on the work of Shadow Great British Railways.

• Work and Pensions Committee (9:30): Experts and campaigners will give evidence on pensioner poverty, particularly on the gender gap. Notably, the Committee will hear from the chair of the WASPI campaign against the equalisation of the state pension age, as well as the Deputy Ombudsman at the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, the body which had recommended that Parliament “identify a mechanism for providing appropriate remedy for those who have suffered injustice”.

• Northern Ireland Affairs Committee (9:30): The junior Minister in the Northern Ireland Office, Fleur Anderson MP, and the Northern Ireland Executive’s Finance Minister, Dr Caoimhe Archibald MLA, will give evidence on the funding and delivery of public services in Northern Ireland.

• Women and Equalities Committee (14:20): Medical experts will give evidence about the safety and clinical effectiveness of puberty blockers. The Government recently enacted an indefinite prohibition on the supply of puberty blockers to under-18s, having enacted a series of temporary prohibitions since May last year. A Hansard Society blogpost explored the legislative background to the ban, and highlighted the way in which the implementation of the policy demonstrated some of the anomalies and weaknesses in the delegated legislation system.

• Energy Security and Net Zero Committee (15:00): The Chief Executive and senior officials at Ofgem will give evidence.

House of Lords

• International Agreements Committee (16:00): The Minister for the Armed Forces, Luke Pollard MP, and Minister for the Middle East, Hamish Falconer MP, will give evidence on the UK’s accession to the US–Bahrain Comprehensive Security Integration and Prosperity Agreement.

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

Questions and statements: At 9:30, Cabinet Office Ministers will face questions from MPs. Topics on the Order Paper include reform of the House of Lords, relations with the European Union, the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme, public procurement and national resilience.

Any Urgent Questions will follow.

The Leader of the House of Commons, Lucy Powell, will present her weekly Business Statement, setting out the business in the House for the next couple of weeks. Any other Ministerial Statements will follow.

Main business: General debate on Holocaust Memorial Day. This day is marked internationally on 27 January each year – marking the date when the Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated in 1945 – to commemorate victims of the Holocaust.

Public Bill Committees: Tobacco and Vapes Bill; and Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

Adjournment: The Liberal Democrat MP Victoria Collins has the adjournment debate on the impact of the Autumn Budget 2024 on high street businesses.

Westminster Hall: There are two debates today, on the United Nations International Day of Education and on innovation in the field of rare retinal disease.

Introduction of new Peers: Two new Peers are set to be introduced to the House:

• former chair of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) and former general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Sir Brendan Barber; and

• founding partner of the Good Faith Partnership, the Revd Dr Russell Rook.

Oral questions: Peers will begin the day by questioning Ministers for 40 minutes, on the potential merits of insourcing all prison maintenance; legalising humanist weddings; and the availability and accessibility of legal aid for asylum seekers. The topic of a fourth question will be decided by a ballot drawn at lunchtime on Tuesday 21 January.

Main business: Three backbench debates take up the rest of the day, on:

• the conditions required for economic growth;

• what steps the Government is taking to support farmers and growers to adapt to climate change, following reports that the UK faces shortages of broccoli and cauliflower this spring (1 hour);

• the achievements of free schools and academies.

House of Commons

• Public Accounts Committee (10:00): The Permanent Secretary at the Treasury, James Bowler, and senior officials from both the Treasury and the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government will give evidence on the Whole of Government Accounts (WGA) 2022-23. The WGA consolidates the accounts of over 10,000 public organisations, including Government departments, local authorities, devolved administrations, academy schools and the NHS, to provide a picture of the UK’s public finances. The National Audit Office (NAO) recently disclaimed the 2022-23 WGA for the first time ever, citing severe backlogs in local authority audits. The NAO stated that “just over 10% (43) of England’s 426 local authorities submitted reliable data to the WGA” and that of the 383 local authorities that failed to submit reliable data, 187 failed to submit any data whatsoever.

Private Members’ Bills (PMBs): The Order Paper lists 18 Private Members’ Bills (PMBs) though none of these bills have been published at the time of writing.

Among the PMBs listed, the first two (detailed below) are Ballot Bills, while the remainder are Presentation Bills or Ten Minute Rule Bills (see the Hansard Society’s guide to Private Members’ Bills for details of the different types of bill and how the legislative process differs from that for Government bills).

Only the first bill on the list is guaranteed a debate. If discussion on this bill concludes before 14:30, MPs may have the opportunity to debate the second and subsequent bills in the remaining time. After 14:30, only unopposed bills can make progress. This means that while a bill might not be debated, it could still pass its Second Reading – provided no objection is raised by any MP present (including any Whips objecting on behalf of their party).

• Climate and Nature Bill: This bill is presented by Dr Roz Savage MP, the Liberal Democrat MP for South Cotswolds. It enjoys strong support from environmental and conservation groups, particularly those behind the long-running ‘Zero Hour’ campaign. While the campaign’s website highlights the bill, the version available for download dates back to March 2024, when it was introduced in the previous Parliament by Alex Sobel MP. It remains unclear whether today’s iteration of the bill is identical or has been revised, as the text has not yet been formally published by Parliament. The earlier Sobel bill comprised nine clauses with significant implications for Government policy and public finances, focused on meeting the UK’s climate and nature targets. It proposed that Ministers be legally required to devise a strategy to meet those targets, supported by a Climate and Nature Assembly to advise on its development. The bill also outlined new obligations for the Committee on Climate Change and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. However, the broad scope and financial impact of these measures mean that the bill is unlikely to secure Government backing to become law. The key question today is whether Dr Savage can rally 100 MPs to remain in Westminster on a Friday to support the bill. This would allow her to secure a closure motion, bringing the debate to an end before the 14:30 “moment of interruption” and preventing the bill from being talked out. If successful, a closure motion would enable a vote on whether to grant the bill a Second Reading.

• Gambling Act 2005 (Monetary Limits for Lotteries) Bill: This bill is presented by Wendy Chamberlain MP, the Liberal Democrat Chief Whip. While the text of the bill has not been published, a video on Chamberlain’s YouTube channel, recorded during the First Reading in October, provides some insight into its purpose. According to the video, the bill aims to lift the monetary limits on fundraising through charity lotteries, potentially enabling charities to raise greater sums for their causes.

The House is not sitting today.