Questions and statements: At 14:30, Housing, Communities and Local Government Ministers will respond to MPs’ questions. Topics include leasehold reform, fire safety, antisemitism, the Local Growth Fund, the Oxford–Cambridge corridor, grey belt land, the private rented sector, high streets, social housing conditions, the Building Safety Regulator, social and affordable housing development, Pride in Place, and access to infrastructure.

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. Possible topics include the re-instatement of dozens of local council elections, reversing the earlier plan to cancel them. Media reports also suggest that an education White Paper on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision may be published, which could prompt a Ministerial Statement, though it is not yet clear whether this will happen today or later in the week.

Subject to any further legal developments, MPs may also seek to raise questions about the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and the latest revelations relating to the Epstein files. However, Erskine May states that “No question can be put which brings the name of the Sovereign or the influence of the Crown directly before Parliament, or which casts reflections upon the Sovereign or the royal family.” Discussion of the individual members of the royal family may only take place on a substantive motion, so if Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is still regarded as a member of the royal family, it may be difficult to secure an Urgent Question or make a Ministerial Statement on the matter.

Industry and Exports (Financial Assistance) Bill (Committee, Report and Third Reading): MPs will debate the remaining stages of the Government’s bill to amend the regime for providing financial assistance to industry and export finance, the main provisions of which were explained in a previous edition of the Bulletin. (House of Commons Library briefing)

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

Amendments have been tabled by Sir Iain Duncan Smith (with cross-party support), to exclude assistance for modern slavery; by the Conservatives, to exclude sanctioned goods and to report on the impact on the steel industry; by the Liberal Democrats, to require annual reports on the Bill’s economic effects; and by Traditional Unionist Voice MP Jim Allister (with support from other Unionist MPs and Reform MPs), for an annual report assessing how limits on financial assistance affect each of the UK’s nations.

Under the terms of the programme order agreed after Second Reading, the Committee Stage debate will end no later than two hours after it begins. At that point, the House will vote on any amendments selected by the Chair for separate decision, most likely including some of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat amendments.

Where a Committee of the Whole House has scrutinised a Bill and not made any amendments, no Report Stage takes place. Therefore, if no amendments are made, the House will move straight on to Third Reading.

In accordance with the programme order, the Third Reading debate will come to an end no later than one hour after the conclusion of debate in Committee. Divisions on Committee Stage amendments often take up most – if not all – of that one-hour period, so the Third Reading debate will be very short. Once the Bill receives a Third Reading, it will be sent to the Lords to complete all its stages in that House.

Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill (Committee, Report and Third Reading): MPs will then debate the remaining stages of the Government’s legislation to remove the two-child limit on Universal Credit payments. (House of Commons Library briefing)

The Conservative Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Helen Whately MP, has put forward two amendments, that would simply remove the Bill’s two operative clauses. However, these amendments will not be put to a vote. At Committee Stage, MPs must agree to each clause of a Bill individually, meaning they can reject a clause by voting against its inclusion. However, it is customary for MPs who wish to oppose the inclusion of a clause to give notice of their intention to do so by tabling an amendment to leave it out.

Liberal Democrat spokesperson Steve Darling has also tabled an amendment requiring the Government to review the effects of the Bill on child poverty after it has been in force for 12 months. Other amendments include a similar proposal from Labour backbencher John McDonnell, which would require the Government to assess the Bill’s impact on child poverty following consultation with specified organisations in the sector. In addition, Green MP Siân Berry has proposed an amendment requiring a broader review of the effects of the Bill on households and children, including those who would not receive any increase in support because of the benefit cap.

As with the preceding Bill, the programme order agreed after Second Reading provides that Committee Stage must end no later than two hours after it begins. At that point, the House will vote on the Bill’s clauses, and on any amendments selected by the Chair for separate decision, likely including the Liberal Democrat amendment. If no amendments are agreed, the Bill will proceed directly to Third Reading. That debate must conclude no later than one hour after the end of Committee Stage. Once the Bill has received its Third Reading, it will be sent to the House of Lords for scrutiny by Peers.

If there are multiple Urgent Questions or Ministerial Statements, and if proceedings on the previous Bill last the full three hours (or close to it), it is possible that the conclusion of proceedings on this Bill will go beyond the standard rising time of 22:00 on Mondays.

Presentation of Public Petitions: Liberal Democrat MP Caroline Voaden will present a public petition, on coastal erosion in Start Bay.

Adjournment: Labour MP Tom Collins will give a speech on kinship carer identification. A Minister will then give a response. (House of Commons Library briefing)

Westminster Hall

16:30: MPs will debate e-petition 750236, which calls on the Government not to merge the regulation of firearms and the licensing of shotguns. The petition has over 120,000 signatures. (House of Commons Library briefing)

Delegated Legislation Committee

18:00: The draft Caribbean Development Bank (Eleventh Replenishment of the Special Development Fund (Unified)) Order 2026

↖ Contents · Skip to Tuesday’s Commons ↘

Oral questions: At 14:30, Peers will begin the day by questioning Ministers for 40 minutes, on the findings of the Nature security assessment on global biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and national security; calls for a free speech complaints scheme run by the Office for Students; implementation of the recommendations of the LGBT Veterans Independent Review; and communicating the purpose and value of the newly introduced V-Levels.

Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill (Report): The Bill is scheduled to complete its Report Stage in a single day today. It previously had its Second Reading and Committee Stage earlier this month, after being expedited through all its Commons stages in a single day in January. At Report Stage, the House will consider proposed amendments to the Bill; it is typically the stage where the Government is most likely to suffer defeats on amendments. (House of Lords Library briefing)

The House of Lords Constitution Committee – which has previously raised concerns about legislation of this kind being fast-tracked, as noted in an previous edition of the Bulletin – wrote to the Minister, Baroness Merron, to draw attention to a retrospective element in the legislation. It said that although the Bill is being expedited so that it can apply to the 2026 application cohort, the application process has already been underway for several months. As a result, applicants who do not fall within the designated “priority” groups would find themselves in a less favourable position than they might reasonably have expected when they applied.

The Committee asked the Minister to respond by 20 February, ahead of today’s debate, but no response had been published at the time of writing.

The Third Reading of the Bill has been scheduled for Wednesday (25 February).

Motions relating to local elections legislation: The House had been scheduled to debate two motions relating to the Local Authorities (Changes to Years of Ordinary Elections) (England) Order 2026. The Order would have cancelled this year’s local elections in 29 authorities and was due to come into force on 27 February 2026. However, it was revoked by a subsequent Order on 18 February, after the Government decided not to proceed with cancelling the elections.

The original Order was subject to the negative procedure. Under that process, an Order is signed into law before being laid before Parliament. It remains law unless either House passes a motion to “annul” it, commonly known as a “prayer motion”.

The first of today’s motions, tabled by Liberal Democrat Peer Lord Pack, would have been a prayer motion calling for the Order to be annulled on the grounds that “the postponement of scheduled local elections represents a fundamental breach of democratic convention and denies the electorate the necessary and periodic opportunity to renew the mandate of local government”.

The second motion, tabled by the Conservative Shadow Local Government Minister, Baroness Scott of Bybrook, would have been a regret motion. This type of motion allows the House to formally record its concerns about an Order, without seeking to annul it. Baroness Scott’s motion draws attention to the Electoral Commission’s warning that postponing elections outside exceptional circumstances “risks affecting the legitimacy of local decision-making and damaging public confidence”. The motion characterises the postponements as stemming “from a top-down and rushed restructuring of local government being imposed by central government” and argues that there is no precedent for multi-year election delays outside a national emergency or a state of war.

Procedurally, a prayer motion does not itself revoke an Order. Instead, it enables the House to present an address to the King praying that the Order be annulled, after which the Government would be expected to revoke it formally. A regret motion has no legislative consequences; it merely allows the House to register its concerns without seeking to overturn the Order. However, because the Government has already revoked the Order, debating and even agreeing to the prayer motion would now have no substantive legal effect. The debate is therefore not expected to go ahead. But withdrawing or choosing not to move the motions is a matter for the Members who tabled them, not for the Government. The Members may decide to proceed with the debate for its symbolic value and to question Ministers on how and why the decision was taken, what it means in practice for the local councils affected, and what costs have arisen from such a late change of policy.

Grand Committee

15:45: Pension Schemes Bill (Committee, day 8 of 8): At Committee Stage, Peers consider whether each clause should “stand part” of the Bill and whether any amendments should be made. Today is the final day of the Bill’s Committee Stage. The final clauses and groups of amendments to be debated relate to proposed requirements to conduct reviews into retirement incomes, pension communications and financial promotion rules; barriers to UK investment; the differential treatment of employee and employer pension contributions; employment rates; police pension schemes; establishing a right to free and impartial pension advice; restrictions on certain kinds of fossil fuel investments; reviews into pension scheme injustices; reviews of public service pension schemes; and aligning the approaches of Government departments and regulators. (House of Lords Library briefing)

↖ Contents · Skip to Tuesday’s Lords ↘

There are no select committees scheduled to meet in public today.

Love the Bulletin? Help keep it free. We believe everyone should be able to understand Parliament, without a paywall. That’s why the Bulletin is free — and why we depend on donations to keep it going. A small monthly contribution, even £3 - less than a cup of coffee, helps cover our costs and keeps this resource open to all. Donate here

↖ Contents · Skip to Tuesday’s Select Committees ↘

Questions and statements: At 11:30, Health and Social Care Ministers will respond to MPs’ questions. Topics include health and social care in rural communities, access to radiotherapy, GP training on women’s health, cancer diagnosis, menopause diagnosis, access to NHS dentistry, ambulance response times, cancer treatment, sexual violence support services, and national wellbeing indicators.

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

Ten Minute Rule Motion: Conservative MP Esther McVey will seek to introduce a Food Labelling (Halal and Kosher Meat) 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 introduce compulsory labelling of products containing halal and kosher meat. See our Hansard Society guide for more information about the parliamentary procedure for Ten Minute Rule Bills.

Opposition Day (Liberal Democrats): This is the 18th 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 Liberal Democrat Opposition Day, the subject will be chosen by the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Ed Davey. Specific details of the motion(s) to be debated may not be made known until Wednesday’s Order Paper is published. However, it has been suggested that the Liberal Democrats are considering tabling a Humble Address to compel the Government to disclose the legal advice underpinning its decision to reverse the planned cancellation of multiple local authority elections. A Humble Address is a parliamentary device used to require the production of specific documents. It is regarded as binding on the Government, and was most recently deployed to secure the disclosure of documents relating to Lord Mandelson.

Motion relating to the Charter for Budget Responsibility: No text of the proposed motion has yet been published, but it is expected to relate to the recently announced changes to the Charter for Budget Responsibility set out in a written ministerial statement in January. (House of Commons Library briefing)

The Budget Responsibility and National Audit Act 2011 requires the Government to publish a Charter for Budget Responsibility setting out its fiscal and debt management policy, including any fiscal objectives and rules. A explained in the ministerial statement, the Government is making technical changes to the Charter to implement the Government’s policy – announced at the most recent Budget and now being taken forward through the Finance (No. 2) Bill – to limit the number of major fiscal events (and accompanying Office for Budget Responsibility assessments) to one per year.

Any modification of the Charter must first be published in draft at least 28 days before it is formally laid before Parliament. It cannot come into force unless and until it has been approved by the House of Commons. Debate on the Charter falls within the category of “proceedings under an Act”, as the modified Charter is laid using a power set out in primary legislation. Under the Standing Orders, such proceedings impose a 90-minute time limit, unless the House agrees a motion to dispense with the relevant Standing Order.

Adjournment: DUP MP Gavin Robinson will give a speech on the potential implications of the judgment in the case of Advocate General for Scotland v Mr Charles Milroy. A Minister will then give a response.

Westminster Hall

09:30: Government support for the healthcare system in Gaza (House of Commons Library briefing)

11:00: Foster care recruitment and retention

14:30: The impact of planning developments on local transport

16:00: Banking hubs in rural and post-industrial communities (House of Commons Library briefing)

16:30: The impact of the 2016 EU membership referendum on the UK

Public Bill Committee

09:25 and 14:00: Cyber Security and Resilience (Network and Information Systems) Bill (Committee, day 4): Today is likely to be the final day of the Bill’s Committee Stage. Only a small number of new clauses remain to be debated. These relate to cyber security risks posed by foreign state actors; the role of information sharing and analysis centres; the Government’s progress in implementing existing cyber security recommendations and proposals; the resources and capabilities of regulators; cyber security support for small businesses; board-level oversight of security and resilience measures for certain bodies; and regular testing of network and information systems.

Delegated Legislation Committee

09:25: The draft Merchant Shipping (General Lighthouse Authorities) (Increase of Borrowing Limit) Order 2026.

↖ Contents · Skip to Wednesday’s Commons ↘

Oral questions: At 14:30, Peers will begin the day by questioning Ministers for 40 minutes, on the post-16 education and skills White Paper and lifelong learning; opportunities arising from quantum technology; the provision of education in prisons; and the student loans regime.

Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill (Third Reading): The House of Lords is expected to conclude proceedings on this Government Bill that aims to provide more stability in the pricing of non-petroleum aviation fuel, with price guarantees funded through a levy on aviation fuel suppliers. Third Reading debates in the House of Lords are typically very short. (House of Lords Library briefing)

The Government suffered no defeats during the Bill’s passage through the House of Lords, but it did insert some amendments of its own. The Bill must therefore be sent back to the House of Commons for MPs to formally agree those changes. However, they are unlikely to provoke any opposition from MPs. Once the Commons has agreed those amendments, the Bill can be sent for Royal Assent.

Tobacco and Vapes Bill (Report, day 1 of 3): Today is the first day allocated to the Report Stage of the Government’s Bill to prohibit the sale of tobacco to people born in or after 2009, to control the marketing and advertising of tobacco and nicotine products, and to create smoke-free places. (House of Lords Library briefing)

At Report Stage, the whole House decides whether any amendments should be made or new clauses added to the Bill. Similar amendments and new clauses will be grouped together for debate, to prevent repetition and create a focused debate. It is at Report Stage that the Government is most frequently defeated on amendments.

The House will decide the amendments in the order in which they would apply to the Bill, so the first amendments to be debated will relate to the Bill’s early clauses on the prohibition of the supply of tobacco to persons born in or after 2009, the prohibition on the manufacture or supply of snus, and the prohibition on the supply of vaping or nicotine products to under 18s.

Grand Committee

15:45: National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Bill (Committee, day 1 of 2): This Government Bill will 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.

Unlike the Finance Bill, this Bill has not been certified as a ‘Money Bill’ – that is, a Bill dealing exclusively with taxation and public expenditure. The reason is that National Insurance contributions are legally structured as contributions towards specified benefits paid out of the National Insurance Fund, rather than as general taxation contributing to overall government revenue. The key procedural consequence is that the House of Lords can amend the Bill. As a result, its Committee and Report Stages in the Lords will proceed in the usual way. In contrast, the Finance Bill does not undergo Committee or Report Stage in the House of Lords.

↖ Contents · Skip to Wednesday’s Lords ↘

Highlights include:

House of Commons

10:00: Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee – Propriety, ethics and the wider standards landscape in the UK: The Chair of the Electoral Commission, the head of the Office for Statistics Regulation, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, and the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman will give evidence.

10:10: Administration Committee – Health and Wellbeing: Officials within the House of Commons Administration will give evidence as part of the Committee’s inquiry into the health and wellbeing services available to those working in Parliament.

14:15: Treasury Committee – the Bank of England Governor Andew Bailey and Members of Monetary Policy Committee will give evidence on the latest Monetary Policy Report.

14:15: Select Committee on the Armed Forces Bill – Committing a Bill to a Select Committee is relatively uncommon but it has been a feature of recent Armed Forces Bills. The Select Committee may take oral and written evidence and must report to the House by 30 April 2026. The Bill will then proceed to Committee of the Whole House. Today, the Select Committee will take evidence from Help for Heroes, the Royal British Legion, other organisations representing veterans, serving personnel and armed forces families, and the Veterans Commissioners for Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

14:30: Business and Trade Committee – Pre-appointment hearing for Douglas Gurr, the Government’s preferred candidate to be Chair of the Competition and Markets Authority. He was appointed Interim Chair on 21 January.

House of Lords

10:30: Industry and Regulators Committee – Regulators and growth: Business and Trade Minister Blair McDougall 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, Scotland Office Ministers will respond to MPs’ questions. Topics include relations between the Scottish and UK governments, the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill in relation to Scottish veterans, defence manufacturing, the Energy Profits Levy, the FIFA World Cup, the hospitality sector, electric vehicle taxes, North Sea oil and gas, devolution, Pride in Place, and the Scottish First Minister’s visit to Dublin.

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: Liberal Democrat MP Pippa Heylings will seek to introduce a Chalk Streams (UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site) 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 nominate the UK’s chalk streams as a serial UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site.

General debate on Ukraine: On the day after the fourth anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Government has scheduled a general debate on Ukraine. The debate will last until 19:00 at the latest. (House of Commons Library briefing)

It has been only a short time since the last general debate on Ukraine, which took place on 14 January 2026. The Government granted that debate only after withdrawing the Report Stage of the Hillsborough Law at the last minute.

Adjournment: Labour MP Helena Dollimore will give a speech on the Bayeux Tapestry exhibition. A Minister will then give a response.

Westminster Hall

09:30: Student loan repayment plans (House of Commons Library briefing)

11:00: Defeat devices in diesel vehicles (House of Commons Library briefing)

14:30: Potential merits of appointing a Minister for Men and Boys (House of Commons Library briefing)

16:00: Potential merits of a levy on energy developers

16:30: UK–German relations

Delegated Legislation Committees

14:30: The draft Surrey (Structural Changes) Order 2026

14:30: The draft Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (Alternative Dispute Resolution) (Conferral of Functions) Regulations 2026; and the draft Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (Alternative Dispute Resolution) (Consequential Amendments) 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 AI Security Institute’s research into threats to economic stability arising from changes in the labour market; safety measures for cyclists; and the extent to which British military equipment contains components made in China or is reliant on Chinese rare earth minerals. The topic of a fourth question will be decided by a ballot drawn at lunchtime on Monday 23 February.

Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill (Third Reading): The Bill is scheduled to complete its passage through the House of Lords today, just 48 hours after its Report Stage on Monday 23 February. Whether it must return to the House of Commons for consideration of amendments, or can proceed directly for Royal Assent, will depend on whether any amendments were agreed at Report Stage earlier this week. (House of Lords Library briefing)

Crime and Policing Bill (Report, day 1 of 6): This Government Bill seeks to reform the law relating to anti-social behaviour, crime, policing, public order, and national security. (House of Lords Library briefing)

At Report Stage, the whole House decides whether any amendments should be made or new clauses added to the Bill. Similar amendments and new clauses will be grouped together for debate, to prevent repetition and create a focused debate. It is at Report Stage that the Government is most frequently defeated on amendments.

At the time of writing, 315 amendments have been tabled. The House will decide these amendments in the order in which they apply to the Bill, so the first amendments to be debated will relate to the Bill’s earliest clauses on anti-social behaviour and the regulation of offensive weapons.

Grand Committee: From 16:15, Peers will debate five draft Statutory Instruments in three groups:

• the draft Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (Alternative Dispute Resolution) (Conferral of Functions) Regulations 2026; and the draft Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (Alternative Dispute Resolution) (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2026;

• the draft Energy-Intensive Industry Electricity Support Payments and Levy (Amendment) Regulations 2026;

• the draft Child Benefit and Guardian’s Allowance Up-rating Order 2026; and the draft Social Security (Contributions) (Rates, Limits and Thresholds Amendments, National Insurance Funds Payments and Extension of Veteran’s Relief) Regulations 2026.

↖ Contents · Skip to Thursday’s Lords ↘

Highlights include:

House of Commons

09:30: Northern Ireland Affairs Committee – Policing and security in Northern Ireland: The Chief Executive, Chair and Vice-Chair of the Northern Ireland Policing Board will give evidence.

14:15: Treasury Committee – The Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR), 15 years on: Two former chairs of the OBR, Richard Hughes and Sir Robert Chote will give evidence.

15:30: Business and Trade Sub-Committee on Economic Security, Arms and Export Controls – The UK’s trade sanctions regime: Trade Minister Chris Bryant MP will give evidence alongside senior officials leading on sanctions policy at the Department for Business and Trade, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and HM Revenue and Customs.

House of Lords

10:00: Financial Services Regulation Committee – Growth and proposed regulation of stablecoins in the UK: Senior executives from Global Digital Finance and UK Finance will give evidence.

10:30: Constitution Committee – Review of the UK–Overseas Territories Joint Declaration: Representatives of the Governments of St Helena, the Falkland Islands, and Tristan da Cunha will give evidence.

Joint

14:15: Joint Committee on Human Rights – Human Rights and the Regulation of AI: Representatives from Meta and Microsoft will give evidence, followed at 15:45 by the Minister for AI, Kanishka Narayan MP.

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, Culture, Media and Sport Ministers will face questions from MPs. Topics include the registration of short-term lets, grassroots sport, youth activities and services, UK traditions, business rates and the leisure sector, and the Parthenon Marbles.

At 10:10, MPs will put questions to Marsha de Cordova MP representing the Church Commissioners, and to Nick Smith MP representing the House of Commons Commission and the Restoration and Renewal Client Board.

• Seven of the 12 questions are directed to the Church Commissioners. Topics include support for deprived communities, levels of church attendance, Christian communities in Palestine, Church involvement in historic forced adoptions, and the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme.

• Three of the 12 questions are directed to the House of Commons Commission. Topics include value for money, improving MPs’ productivity through technology, and visits for schools far from Westminster.

• Two of the 12 questions are directed to the Restoration and Renewal Client Board. Topics include the progress the Board has made, and a question from Treasury Committee chair Dame Meg Hillier about the Board’s planned timetable for works on the Palace of Westminster. It was Dame Meg who on 31 January 2018 tabled the key amendment endorsing the Joint Committee on the Palace of Westminster’s unanimous recommendation for a “full and timely decant of the Palace” as the most cost-effective option for Restoration and Renewal of the building. MPs backed her amendment on a free vote. Yet eight years on, the question of how – and when – to proceed with the programme of works remains unresolved.

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 St David’s Day and Welsh affairs: The topic of this debate was chosen by the Backbench Business Committee following an application from Labour MP Ruth Jones, Conservative MP Simon Hoare, and Plaid Cymru MP Ben Lake. In their application, they noted that the application had secured cross-party support and highlighted the special significance of Welsh affairs in the run up to this year’s Senedd elections.

General debate on Government support for bereaved children: The topic of this debate was chosen by the Backbench Business Committee following an application from Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine. In her application, she noted that the subject was personal for her and a number of other Members. She suggested that the debate would give Members a chance to discuss how to ensure young people know about the help available to them, including in later life. (House of Commons Library briefing)

Adjournment: Liberal Democrat MP Olly Glover will give a speech on the AEA Technology pension scheme. A Minister will then give a response.

Westminster Hall

13:30: Eating Disorders Awareness Week 2026 (House of Commons Library briefing)

15:00: The impact of VAT on independent faith schools (House of Commons Library briefing)

Public Bill Committee

11:30 and 14:00: Cyber Security and Resilience (Network and Information Systems) Bill (Committee, day 5): If the committee has not concluded on Tuesday, it will continue its consideration of the Bill today, resuming at the point reached at Tuesday’s sitting.

↖ Contents · Skip to Friday’s Commons ↘

Introduction of new Peer: At 11:00, Rhiannon Leaman, Chief of Staff to Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, will be introduced to the House as Baroness Leaman. She will continue to serve in her current party role.

Oral questions: Peers will question Ministers for 40 minutes, on the new tax on small parcels entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain; the EHRC’s Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations; and fire safety risks from battery storage facilities. The topic of a fourth question will be decided by a ballot drawn at lunchtime on Tuesday 24 February.

Debate on European Affairs Committee report: The House will debate the European Affairs Committee’s November 2025 report Unfinished Business: Resetting the UK–EU relationship, which assesses the Government’s progress in seeking a ‘reset’ of the UK’s relationship with the EU. The debate will be led by the Committee’s chair, Lord Ricketts. The Government responded to the report last month. (House of Lords Library briefing)

The Committee’s report contains a number of recommendations and conclusions of direct relevance to Parliament itself. It calls on the Government to “facilitate parliamentary scrutiny of the new UK–EU agreements that are expected to arise from the May 2025 summit” and to provide further information on how a UK system of dynamic alignment with EU rules will operate, with particularly emphasis on the role of Parliament will play. Lord Ricketts discussed the report’s recommendations on a recent episode of our Hansard Society Parliament Matters podcast.

Debate on Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) report: The House will then debate the recent JCHR report, Transnational repression in the UK, which looks at how foreign governments extend their reach beyond their own national borders to intimidate or persecute people in the UK and assesses the Government’s strategy to deal with it. The debate will be led by the JCHR’s chair, Lord Alton of Liverpool, who appeared on the Hansard Society’s Parliament Matters podcast to talk about the work of the JCHR, including on transnational repression. The Government has responded to the Committee’s report, and its response can be found here. (House of Lords Library briefing)

Question for short debate on why MPs and Peers are excluded from Clause 11, the “Offence of misleading the public”, in the Public Office (Accountability) Bill: The House will hold a one-hour Question for Short Debate (QSD) on a motion proposed by Green Party Peer Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb asking why MPs and Peers have been excluded from this provision in the ‘Hillsborough Law’ and whether the Government will consider removing the exclusion. A QSD provides an opportunity for a short debate on a single topic, with a Government Minister or Whip responding at the end. (House of Lords Library briefing)

Grand Committee

13:00: National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Bill (Committee, day 2 of 2): The Grand Committee will continue its scrutiny of clauses and amendments from the point reached by the Committee at Tuesday’s sitting and is expected to conclude its consideration of the Bill. (House of Lords Library briefing)

↖ Contents · Skip to Friday’s Lords ↘

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 two non-Government bills.

Rare Cancers Bill (Third Reading): This Bill, which has already been passed by the Commons, has not been amended in the Lords, so is set for its final stage prior to becoming law. (House of Lords Library briefing)

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Committee, day 10): 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 28 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 despite the opposition of the House of Lords. A recent 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 2 March 2026. Our next Bulletin will therefore be published on Sunday 1 March.

↖ Contents

Help keep this Bulletin free for everyone. The Bulletin is free and we want to keep it that way. But as a charity we rely on donations to fund the research and production costs that make it possible. A small regular donation – even £3 a month, less than a cup of coffee – helps us keep this Bulletin freely available to everyone interested in Parliament. Donate here