Questions and statements: At 14:30, Education Ministers will respond to MPs’ questions. Topics include special educational needs provision, apprenticeship funding, mental health in schools, schools funding, construction skills training, the impact of National Insurance changes on teacher recruitment, freedom of speech at universities, higher education funding, and the impact of smartphones on teenagers.

Any Urgent Questions or Ministerial Statements will follow.

Main business: Football Governance Bill (Second Reading). The Bill will establish an Independent Football Regulator (IFR) to oversee financial sustainability in football clubs and across the leagues. The IFR would manage a licensing regime and monitor and enforce compliance with financial regulation, club ownership, fan engagement, and club heritage rules. The Bill also sets out a process of mediation for the distribution of revenue throughout the football pyramid, with possible IFR intervention as a ‘backstop’ mechanism. Last week, in anticipation of the Bill getting onto the statute book, the Government announced that David Kogan OBE, an experienced media and sports industry executive, is its preferred candidate to chair the IFR when it is formally established. The Conservative Party have voiced objections to his appointment because he has been a donor to the Labour Party. In due course he will face a pre-appointment hearing with MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee.

The Bill has completed its passage through the House of Lords. A large number of amendments were considered by Peers but only amendments from Government Ministers were successfully made, with several seeking to clarify that the new regulatory regime is intended to be ‘light touch’. A Government factsheet sets out the changes that were made in the House of Lords:

• adding “financial growth of English football” to the IFR’s secondary duties (outcomes that the IFR must have regard to when exercising its functions);

• adding players, fans, and others who may be affected by decisions, to the list of persons that the IFR should engage with;

• adding a new regulatory principle, clarifying that the IFR should have regard to whether a regulatory requirement is necessary and whether the same outcome could be achieved by less burdensome means;

• requiring the Government to review the operation of the Act within five years of the introduction of the licensing scheme;

• clarifying that the IFR’s ‘backstop’ mechanism for financial distribution is a last-resort power;

• enabling the mediator on financial distribution to request an extension of the mediation phase of up to 28 days;

• increasing the minimum length of time between each new Football Governance Statement from three to five years;

• establishing a system for all IFR Board and Expert Panel members to declare relevant interests; and

• other minor and technical amendments.

As the Bill now starts its progress through the Commons, no amendments can be tabled at Second Reading, which is focused solely on debating the Bill’s principles. However, opponents may table a ‘reasoned amendment’ – a procedural device to reject the Bill while formally stating why. The Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Stuart Andrew MP has tabled such an amendment. It urges the House to decline to give the Bill a Second Reading because, although the English football league needs financial sustainability, the new IFR will “damage the independence of English football, particularly given the Government’s proposed choice for the Chair” and because the Bill “will increase the regulatory burden and costs on all English football clubs – particularly lower league clubs – leading to increased ticket prices for fans”.

If Second Reading is agreed, the programme motion tabled by the Government sets out that the Bill will be committed to a Public Bill Committee which must conclude its proceedings by Thursday 26 June.

• House of Commons Library briefing

Adjournment: Labour MP Afzal Khan has the adjournment debate, on community health in his Manchester Rusholme constituency.

Westminster Hall: MPs will debate e-petition 705384, which calls on the Government to ban the use of dogs in scientific procedures. The petition has acquired over 230,000 signatures.

• House of Commons Library briefing

Legislative committees:

Delegated Legislation Committee meeting today: to consider the Forensic Science Regulator draft Code of Practice 2025 (version 2).

Oral questions: Peers will begin the day by questioning Ministers for 40 minutes, on tackling self-harm among young people; access to funding to tackle violence against women and girls; plans to publish a 25-year farming roadmap; and guarantees sought from bidders for Thames Water.

Main business: Renters’ Rights Bill (Committee, Day 3). The Government Whips have indicated that they expect Committee Stage debate on the Bill to take place over six days, concluding on Wednesday 14 May. Progress on the first and second days of Committee Stage was in line with these expectations.

The next groups of amendments that the Committee is scheduled to debate cover issues such as the capacity of the courts system to handle cases brought under the Bill, the two-month notice period for rent increases, the mechanism and rules around the affordability of rent increases, and proposals to include rent controls in the Bill.

At Lords Committee Stage, amendments are often tabled to probe the Government’s position or prompt a discussion, rather than to force a vote. It is common for Peers to avoid pushing amendments to a division, as those rejected at Committee Stage cannot be reintroduced at Report Stage – where amendments often stand a better chance of success.

• House of Lords Library briefing

Grand Committee: Peers will debate two select committee reports:

• The Governance of the Union: Consultation, Co-operation and Legislative Consent, a report by the Constitution Committee

  • Government response to the report

  • House of Lords Library briefing

• Don’t fail to scale: seizing the opportunity of engineering biology, a report by the Science and Technology Committee

  • Government response to the report

  • House of Lords Library briefing

Highlights include:

House of Commons

• Public Accounts Committee (15:30): The Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Defence, the Chief of Defence Staff, and other senior MoD officials will give evidence on the future of the Equipment Plan. The Government has historically published an annual Equipment Plan setting out its spending plans for equipment procurement and projects. However, it announced last year that no plan would be published and no information about it would be given to the National Audit Office as it would no longer provide an accurate reflection of the Government’s spending plans. The Public Accounts Committee says this is an unacceptable loss of transparency, particularly when it is anticipated that over £300 billion of taxpayers money will be spent on defence equipment over the next decade.

Joint

• National Security Strategy (16:30): Academics and former senior officials will give evidence on the UK’s strategic posture.

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

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Private Business: Royal Albert Hall Bill (Second Reading). This is a Private Bill, meaning that it would change the law as it applies to specific individuals or organisations, rather than to the general public. During the Bills passage through the House of Lords an unprecedented amendment was made at Third Reading against the wishes of the Bill’s promoter, the Royal Albert Hall itself (under its formal title the Corporation of the Hall of Arts and Sciences). This amendment was intended to resolve perceived conflicts of interest arising from the Royal Albert Hall’s governance structure – as we discussed in a recent episode of our Hansard Society Parliament Matters podcast.

Under the Private Bill procedure, no debate takes place at Second Reading by default, hence this business has been scheduled for the start of the sitting day. If the Bill is not opposed by any MP, then Second Reading is agreed without debate and the Bill moves on to Committee Stage. However, if any MP opposes the Bill – by shouting “Object!” – then the Bill cannot proceed until time is found for a Second Reading debate to take place.

More information on the Bill’s provisions and its procedural background can be found in this recent edition of the Bulletin, as well as the following documents:

• Report by the House of Lords Royal Albert Hall Bill Select Committee

• Statement by the Promoter of the Royal Albert Hall Bill

Questions and statements: At 11:30, Energy Security and Net Zero Ministers will face questions from MPs. Topics on the Order Paper concern standing charges for electricity bills, jobs in renewable energy, the COP30 conference, the UK’s international leadership on climate change, energy bill transparency, the clean energy transition, home energy efficiency, Great British Energy, nuclear power, industrial electricity prices, national grid infrastructure resilience, and the National Wealth Fund.

Any Urgent Questions or Ministerial Statements will follow.

Ten Minute Rule Motion: Labour MP Rosie Wrighting will seek MPs agreement to introduce a Ten Minute Rule Bill titled the Maternity Units (Requirement for Bereavement Suite) Bill. The Bill would require new maternity units to have a bereavement suite. See our Hansard Society guide for more information about the parliamentary procedure for Ten Minute Rule Bills.

Main business: Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill (Report and Third Reading).

The Government has tabled 60 amendments to the Bill, though most appear to be technical or minor changes to the Bill’s provisions, relating to consistency with existing legislation and the effect of the Bill in Scotland.

The Conservatives have tabled 19 amendments, including amendments to: introduce new offences such as fraud against a public authority, and encouraging or assisting benefit fraud; give powers of arrest to DWP investigators; require the Government to publish the results of pilot schemes, the expected cost implications for banks, the impact on vulnerable customers, and an annual report of the amounts recovered under the Act; require the Government to produce an Anti-Fraud and Error Technology Strategy; increase the deadline to respond to information notices issued by the Government in relation to public sector fraud; provide that appeals against information notices are made to the courts rather than Ministers; and add Housing Benefit to the benefits for which the Government can require banks to scan accounts to check for fraud indicators.

Among the amendments attracting most support are two each from Labour backbenchers Neil Duncan-Jordan and Paula Barker.

Neil Duncan-Jordan’s amendments would:

• remove provisions enabling the Government to ask a court to suspend a person’s driving license if they repeatedly fail to repay social security debts worth over £1,000; and

• impose a limit on the proposed power to require banks to scan the accounts of all recipients of certain benefits and report any accounts that trigger potential fraud indicators (such as savings over a relevant threshold), so that the Government may only require scanning of accounts suspected of wrongdoing, rather than all recipients.

Paula Barker’s amendments would:

• limit the Government’s power to directly recover benefits overpayments from the recipient’s bank account to cases where either the person agrees or a court or tribunal has determined that such recovery is necessary and proportionate; and

• remove the requirement for banks to provide the Government with information about a person’s account, such as bank statements, to check whether they can afford for funds to be directly recovered.

These amendments have been signed by backbench MPs who are largely Labour, former Labour, Green or independent. The amendments relating to bank account scanning, direct recovery of debts, and the provision of account information by banks have also been signed by the Conservative MP Sir David Davis.

The Liberal Democrats have tabled other amendments in relation to overpayment of Carer’s Allowance, financial exclusion, the use of algorithms by the Department for Work and Pensions, the impact on victims of domestic abuse, bank account scanning, and removing pension credit from the scope of the Bill.

If the Bill is given a Third Reading, it will be sent to the House of Lords for consideration by Peers.

• House of Commons Library briefing

Presentation of public petitions: The Labour MP for South Norfolk, Ben Goldsborough, will present a petition on allotments in Wymondham. This relates to the potential closure of an allotment in his constituency by Anglian Water.

Adjournment: Liberal Democrat MP Monica Harding has the adjournment debate, on tackling overstayed boats on the River Thames.

Westminster Hall: There are five debates, on:

• compensation for criminal injuries (House of Commons Library briefing);

• the recycling of end-of-life tyres;

• Black Maternal Health Week 2025 (House of Commons Library briefing);

• anti-social behaviour in Dudley; and

• the cultural contribution of Staffordshire.

Legislative committees:

Crime and Policing Bill: The next clauses to be debated concern provisions relating to the creation of several new offences, including: the manufacture, supply or possession of electronic devices used in vehicle theft; the possession or supply of a ‘SIM farm’, a device capable of using multiple mobile phone cards used to mass distribute fraudulent messages; and the possession or supply of specified items with a significant risk of use in fraud by electronic communication. After these clauses, the Committee will move onto the Bill’s provisions on protest rights and public order, including new offences of concealing identity at designated protests, possession of pyrotechnics at any protest, and climbing on specified war memorials. The Government has also tabled a series of significant new clauses that would provide a presumption of anonymity for firearms officers who are subject to a criminal trial following a shooting, up to the point of conviction. However, these clauses are not likely to be debated until later in the Committee’s proceedings.

• House of Commons Library briefing

Planning and Infrastructure Bill: Today the Committee will begin its clause-by-clause scrutiny of the Bill, having taken oral evidence from witnesses last week (see the transcript and recording). MPs will begin by considering the first clauses of the Bill and any groups of amendments related to those clauses. The first clauses relate to the approval process for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) – major infrastructure projects relating to energy, transport, and other utilities, whose applications are decided by the Planning Inspectorate in accordance with National Policy Statements rather than by local planning authorities. Last week, the Government tabled a series of amendments that would eliminate existing legislative requirements for developers to prepare preliminary environmental information and consult relevant parties (including statutory consultees, local authorities, local communities, and landowners) before submitting an NSIP application. The change comes in the form of a new clause. Votes on new clauses normally take place at the end of Committee Stage. However, the new clause in this case is likely to be debated at today’s sitting, since it will be grouped for debate with Government amendments to an earlier clause which are consequential on the new clause. These new provisions offer yet another example of the Government’s ongoing practice – recently highlighted in this Bulletin’s coverage of the Employment Rights Bill – of introducing major policy changes to a bill after it has been presented to Parliament.

• House of Commons Library briefing

Delegated Legislation Committee meeting today: to consider the draft Health and Social Care Information Standards (Procedure) Regulations 2025.

Oral questions: Peers will begin the day by questioning Ministers for 40 minutes, on plans for legislation on artificial intelligence; nuclear power in Wales; the impact of increased defence spending in Scotland; and the loss of tax revenue from wealthy individuals leaving the country following recent tax changes.

Main business: Bus Services (No. 2) Bill (Third Reading). This Bill proposes to simplify the process for local transport authorities (LTAs) who wish to pursue bus franchising; enable LTAs to establish new local authority bus companies; devolve grant-making powers to LTAs; place a duty on LTAs to consider providing socially necessary local services; restrict new non-zero-emission buses from 2030; award powers to LTAs to make byelaws to tackle anti-social behaviour; and mandate training for bus drivers on tackling anti-social behaviour.

• House of Lords Library briefing

If the Bill is given a Third Reading by Peers, it will be sent to the House of Commons for consideration by MPs. During its passage through the House of Lords, six groups of amendments were inserted into the Bill against the Government’s wishes, which Ministers are now likely to try to reverse in the Commons:

• purpose of the Act: to specify that the purpose of the Act is to improve the performance, accessibility and quality of bus passenger services and place a duty on the Secretary of State to have regard to that aim;

• bus fare cap: to require the Government to assess the impact of ending the £2 bus fare cap on access to socially necessary local bus services;

• National Insurance contributions: to require the Government to assess the impact of the higher rate of National Insurance contributions on the provision of socially necessary bus services, including transport for children with special educational needs and disabilities;

• village bus services: to require the Government to review the provision of bus services to villages;

• bus safety: to require the Government to work with providers, trade unions, professional bodies and training institutions to implement a Vision Zero programme aiming to eliminate serious injuries during bus operations; and

• assaults on buses: to require bus operators to record all data about assaults and violent behaviour on their buses and require local transport authorities to consult unions about that data.

Employment Rights Bill (Committee, Day 1 of 7). Key provisions of the Bill include rights to flexible working, statutory sick pay, protections against dismissal for those on maternity or paternity leave, shorter probation periods, restrictions on ‘fire and rehire’ practices, and protections from unfair dismissal from day one of employment.

As we set out in a previous edition of this Bulletin, the Government’s pledge to introduce the Bill within 100 days of the general election left insufficient time for appropriate policy development to take place prior to publication. The Bill initially presented to Parliament was ‘skeleton’ or ‘framework’ legislation which, rather than setting out detailed provisions, instead delegated broad powers to Ministers to define and implement policies at a later date through regulations. The Government then proceeded to make substantial amendments to the Bill during its passage through the House of Commons, particularly at Committee Stage. As a result, the Bill has doubled in size: the 149 pages of legislative text presented at First Reading in the Commons had grown to 299 pages by the time the Bill was sent to the House of Lords.

The House of Lords Library briefing details the changes that were made in the House of Commons. The Government may have further amendments to make to the Bill, but they would do so with some risk at this stage: if Peers reject any amendments then the Government cannot re-insert them in the House of Commons during legislative ‘ping-pong’ (Commons consideration of Lords amendments).

The Government Whips have indicated that they expect the Committee Stage to be completed within seven days, with the seventh and final day provisionally scheduled for Thursday 5 June (the full list of sitting dates for the Committee can be found at the end of the Government Whips’ Forthcoming Business Paper). However, unlike in the House of Commons, there is no fixed date when the Committee must conclude its work; it will sit for as long as it takes to dispense with the amendments that have been tabled.

Amendments tabled at Committee Stage are ‘marshalled’ – that is, arranged in the order they apply to the Bill. As a result, groups of amendments concerning the Bill’s early clauses are expected to consume the first day of Committee Stage. These initial clauses relate to the establishment of new rights to guaranteed hours, reasonable notice of shifts, and compensation for zero-hours and agency workers for shift cancellation and short notice curtailment of shifts.

Conservative Shadow Ministers Lord Sharpe of Epsom and Lord Hunt of Wirral have already tabled 45 amendments between them. However, as noted above (in relation to Monday’s legislative business), amendments are often not pushed to a division at Committee Stage, since those that are rejected at Committee Stage cannot be reintroduced at Report Stage – where they typically stand a better chance of success.

• House of Lords Library briefing

• Constitution Committee report

Highlights include:

House of Commons

• Science, Innovation and Technology Committee (09:30): The Minister for Online Safety (Baroness Jones of Whitchurch), the Information Commissioner, and senior officials at Ofcom and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology will give evidence on social media, misinformation and harmful algorithms. In the last few days, Ofcom has published a number of measures in relation to the protection of children online using its powers under the Online Safety Act 2023, including Codes of Practice that have been laid before Parliament and will be subject to parliamentary scrutiny. The Committee’s inquiry was initiated in response to the role of social media misinformation during the 2024 summer riots.

• Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (10:00): The Permanent Secretary and other senior officials at the Cabinet Office will give evidence on the department’s work.

• Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee (10:00): Experts, developers and lawyers will give evidence on the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.

• Treasury Committee (10:00): The Chief Executive of the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) – the part of the Bank of England responsible for making sure banks and other financial institutions are financially safe and are not pursuing policies and practices that will get them into financial difficulty – will give evidence on the Authority’s work.

• Education Committee (10:00): Academics and practitioners will give evidence on solving the SEND crisis.

• Defence Committee (10:30): Defence and security experts will give evidence on the UK’s contribution to European security.

• Foreign Affairs Committee (10:30): Naomi Smith, the Chief Executive at Best for Britain, and Professor Anand Menon, Director of UK in a Changing Europe, will give evidence on the UK–EU reset.

• Women and Equalities Committee (14:20): The creator and the executive producer of the Netflix TV show Adolescence, Jack Thorne, will give evidence on misogyny among young men and boys.

• Home Affairs Committee (14:30): Lawyers, campaigners, and representatives of local government will give evidence on asylum accommodation.

• Business and Trade Committee (14:30): Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Kim McGuinness, the North East Mayor, and Howard Dawber, one of the Deputy Mayors for Greater London, will give evidence on industrial strategy, followed by a number of representatives from the financial and research sectors.

• Justice Committee (14:30): The Chief Executive of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), as well as the Interim Chair of the CCRC if one is appointed before the hearing, will give evidence on the Commission’s work. The previous chair of the CCRC, Helen Pitcher, quit in January after an independent panel concluded that she should no longer lead the organisation following its approach to the case of Andrew Malkinson who was jailed for rape in 2004 but whose conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal in 2023 after DNA evidence proved he was not the attacker. Pitcher later stated that she felt scapegoated for operational decisions made in the handling of the case. Concerns have been expressed that, as a result of the way she was treated, none of the other CCRC commissioners have been willing to take on the Chair’s role on an interim basis.

House of Lords

• Communications and Digital Committee (14:30): Representatives from NGOs and educational associations will give evidence on how to improve media literacy among children and young people, including how it is taught in schools.

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, Wales Office Ministers will face questions from MPs. Topics on the Order Paper concern the proposed visitor levy, domestic abuse, family farms, Brexit, strengthening the Union, the impact of National Insurance changes, the increase in defence spending, road connectivity between England and Wales, the minimum wage, and clean energy.

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

Any Urgent Questions or Ministerial Statements will follow.

Ten Minute Rule Motion: The Liberal Democrat MP Richard Foord will seek the House’s agreement to introduce a Ten Minute Rule Bill titled the UK–USA Trade Agreements (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Bill. This legislation would strengthen parliamentary oversight of any future UK–US trade agreement by requiring the Government to lay the agreement before Parliament and obtain the formal approval of both the House of Commons and the House of Lords before it could be implemented. At present, under the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 (CRAG), international agreements must be laid before Parliament for 21 sitting days before they can be ratified. During this time, either House can theoretically block ratification by passing a resolution. However, there is no guaranteed mechanism to force a debate or a vote within that period – particularly in the Commons, where the Government largely controls the parliamentary timetable. Foord’s proposal would replace this passive, ‘negative’ form of scrutiny with an ‘affirmative’ model. Rather than assuming Parliament’s consent unless it actively objects, the Government would be required to secure positive approval from both Houses before proceeding. The House of Lords International Agreements Committee is currently conducting an inquiry into the scrutiny arrangements for treaties and other forms of international agreements.

Main business:

• Sentencing Guidelines (Pre-sentence Reports) Bill (Committee, Report and Third Reading). This Bill is the Government’s legislative response to the Sentencing Council’s proposed new guideline on community and custodial sentences. Under the guideline, pre-sentence reports – used by courts to decide appropriate sentences – would generally have been required for offenders from specified groups, including ethnic, cultural, and faith minority communities. After the Government signalled its intention to legislate to prevent what it deemed two-tier sentencing, the Sentencing Council postponed implementation of the guideline. The Sentencing Council’s authority to make new guidelines without the approval of Ministers or Parliament will not change because of this legislation. However, the Bill will prohibit the Sentencing Council from framing any sentencing guideline by reference to an offender’s personal characteristics, particularly race, religion and cultural background, when determining the need for a pre-sentence report. The Bill received its Second Reading just a week earlier, on 22 April, when the programme motion setting today’s timetable for the Bill was also agreed. Under the motion, all remaining Commons-stages of the Bill must be concluded during a four-hour debate this afternoon. If no amendments or new clauses are agreed during Committee of the whole House (in the Chamber rather than in Public Bill Committee), then Report Stage will be perfunctory as it exists to allow the House to consider and possibly make further changes to the Bill as amended in Committee. If no amendments have been made then there is no “report” to consider and the House will move straight onto Third Reading. At the time of writing, only three amendments have been tabled. By convention, MPs must give the House three sitting days’ notice of an amendment, so any amendments that have not yet been tabled are unlikely to be selected by the Speaker. One of the three tabled amendments has been proposed by the Liberal Democrat MP Josh Babarinde, to require the Government to commission an independent review of the effect of the Act. The other amendments have been tabled by the Conservative MP and former Attorney General Sir Jeremy Wright MP. His amendments would replace the prohibition on guidelines referring to an offender’s “personal characteristics” with a prohibition on reference to an offender’s “membership of a particular demographic cohort”.

• Draft Licensing Act 2003 (Victory in Europe Day Licensing Hours) Order 2025. Once debate on the Sentencing Guidelines Bill concludes, MPs will turn to this draft Order allowing licensed premises to extend their opening hours by two hours – from 23:00 to 01:00 – to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day. Under the House’s Standing Orders, debates on Statutory Instruments are limited to a maximum of 90 minutes.

• Ways and Means motion for the Crime and Policing Bill: A Ways and Means motion is required to authorise any new or increased taxes or other “charges upon the people” established by a bill. If needed, such a motion is typically moved immediately after Second Reading. However, the Explanatory Notes originally published alongside the Crime and Policing Bill stated that “this Bill does not give rise to such charges and, as a result, does not require a Ways and Means resolution”. The Bill is now at Committee Stage, suggesting that either the initial assessment was incorrect, or an amendment has been made (or is planned) that triggers the need for a Ways and Means resolution. The most likely explanation is a new schedule tabled by the Government, requiring amounts paid by way of certain civil penalties to be directed into the Consolidated Fund – the Government’s general bank account. Although civil penalties are usually not treated as “charges upon the people”, any provision explicitly directing payments into the Consolidated Fund requires a Ways and Means resolution, specifically known as a “paying-in resolution” (see sections 4.11 and 4.12 of the Government’s guidance on financial resolutions). Where a Ways and Means motion is moved immediately after Second Reading, the question can be put without debate. If moved later, it can be debated for up to 45 minutes. However, given the narrow scope of the proposed new schedule, it is unlikely to attract significant opposition.

Adjournment: Labour MP Chi Onwurah has the adjournment debate, on Government support for people in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

There are two House of Commons Library briefings: one focuses on the UK’s response to the conflict, the other looks more broadly at the international response to the conflict since the start of the year.

Westminster Hall: There are five debates, on:

• Government policies to limit global deforestation;

• the Parthenon marbles and the British Museum Act 1963;

• the safety of humanitarian workers in conflict zones (House of Commons Library briefing);

• the 27th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement (House of Commons Library briefing); and

• the potential impact of puberty suppressing hormones on children and young people with gender incongruence (Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology note).

Legislative committees:

A Delegated Legislation Committee will debate the draft Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons) (Amendment, Surrender and Compensation) (England and Wales) Order 2025. This Order adds ‘ninja swords’ to the list of prohibited offensive weapons and will, as a consequence, make it an offence to manufacture, import, sell or possess a ninja sword. The Order also establishes a surrender and compensation scheme for those who currently own such swords. Once the Order has been debated, it will need approval from both Houses before it can be signed into law.

Oral questions: Peers will begin the day by questioning Ministers for 40 minutes, on young adults who are homeless or at risk of homelessness; the National Shipbuilding Strategy; and the LGBT Veterans Financial Recognition Scheme. The topic of a fourth question will be decided by a ballot drawn at lunchtime on Monday 28 April.

Main business:

• Great British Energy Bill (Lords Consideration of Commons Reasons). There remains one outstanding area of disagreement – in relation to modern slavery – between the two Houses, which will need to be resolved before the Bill can receive Royal Assent. The Bill, having first been passed by Commons, was subsequently sent to the House of Lords, where an amendment was inserted against the Government’s wishes that would restrict funding being given to Great British Energy (GB Energy) if there is credible evidence that modern slavery exists in its supply chain. This amendment was removed by the Commons when it considered Lords amendments on 25 March. However, there was considerable disquiet among Labour backbenchers at being asked to vote to remove a provision intended to tackle concerns about the involvement of Chinese slave labour in the production of solar panels. The House of Lords will now need to decide how to respond to the Commons’ decision. The House has three options:

  • not insist on its original amendment, which would resolve the disagreement between the Houses;

  • not insist on its original amendment but propose an alternative amendment in lieu; or

  • insist on its original amendment.

  Press reports indicate that, under pressure from its own backbenchers, the Government intends to introduce an amendment that will force GB Energy to ensure that slavery and human trafficking is not taking place in its supply chain. This is likely to come in the form of an ‘amendment in lieu’ in the House of Lords; MPs would then be asked to agree to that amendment in lieu and, if they do, the Bill would then be sent for Royal Assent. (House of Lords Library briefing)

• Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (Transfer of Functions etc) Bill (Lords Consideration of Commons Amendments). This Bill will transfer the functions of the existing Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education to the Government, paving the way for their further transfer to the planned new agency, Skills England. During the Bill’s initial passage through the House of Lords, Peers inserted an amendment – against the Government’s wishes – changing the way of determining when the Bill comes into force: instead of leaving it to the Government to set the date, the amendment requires the Bill to come into force one year after the creation of Skills England. When the Bill reached the House of Commons, MPs restored the original text, giving back control of the commencement date to the Government. The House of Lords must now consider the Commons amendment to the version it had previously passed. It has four options:

  • disagree with the Commons amendment, without proposing an alternative;

  • disagree with the Commons amendment but propose alternative amendment(s) in lieu;

  • agree to the Commons amendment but make further amendment(s) to it; or

  • agree to the Commons amendment without making any further changes, allowing the Bill to proceed to Royal Assent.

• Armed Forces Commissioner Bill (Report Stage). This Bill would establish a new Armed Forces Commissioner and abolish the existing office of the Service Complaints Ombudsman. The Government says its proposal is inspired by the German Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces. The Hansard Society looked at how the roles compare in an episode of our Parliament Matters podcast earlier this year. During Report Stage, the House debates and votes on proposed amendments to the Bill. The Government Minister has tabled amendments requiring that regulations defining “relevant family members” of personnel must be approved by both Houses. The Conservative Shadow Minister has proposed amendments to introduce a whistleblowing function for the Commissioner, and to clarify that commanding officers retain ultimate authority to access armed forces premises. The Liberal Democrat Defence Spokesperson has put forward amendments to expand the Commissioner’s remit to cover individuals undergoing the recruitment process and to specify a list of “relevant family members” directly on the face of the Bill. Former Veterans Minister Lord Beamish has tabled amendments requiring the Government to provide financial assistance to the Commissioner and prohibiting the appointment of a Commissioner without approval by a select committee of each House.

  • House of Lords Library briefing

• Property (Digital Assets etc) Bill (Report). This Bill, proposed by the Law Commission, would formally establish a third category of personal property in law – distinct from physical assets and rights-based assets such as debts and securities – into which crypto-tokens and similar digital assets could fall. As a Law Commission bill, it has followed the rare “special public bill committee” procedure, which gives conduct of the committee stage to a specially constituted select committee which can take oral and written evidence before proceeding to consider the bill clause-by-clause in the normal way. This procedure is normally reserved for uncontroversial bills and hence is primarily used for Law Commission bills. But this Bill has sparked debate. The Crossbench Peer Lord Anderson of Ipswich declared at Committee Stage that the Bill “could not be described as uncontroversial” and tabled a number of amendments to it. However, at the time of writing, no amendments have been tabled for Report Stage.

  • House of Lords Library briefing

• The House will then debate a motion to approve the draft Agriculture (Delinked Payments) (Reductions) (England) Regulations 2025. These regulations would reduce the levels of delinked payments, introduced in 2024 to replace the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments that farmers received while the UK was a member of the EU. Unlike BPS payments, delinked payments are based on farmers’ historic BPS entitlements rather than the amount of land they currently farm. The Government plans to phase out delinked payments entirely by 2027 as part of the transition to new farming support schemes. Conservative Peer Lord Roborough has tabled a motion to ‘regret’ the regulations, a type of motion that allows Peers to express concerns about a Statutory Instrument with blocking it. His motion argues that the Government is reducing payments faster than previously signalled, putting the viability of farming at risk. A fatal motion – which, if agreed, would block the regulations – has been tabled by Liberal Democrat Baroness Grender, who contends that the Government has accelerated the reductions without properly establishing replacement funding schemes. Both motions will be debated.

Highlights include:

House of Commons

• Transport Committee (09:15): The Minister for the Future of Roads, Lilian Greenwood MP, will give evidence on managing the impact of street works.

• Treasury Committee (15:00): Senior directors at the Financial Conduct Authority will give evidence on “finfluencers”, social media influencers who share financial advice and promote financial products on social media.

House of Lords

• International Relations and Defence Committee (14:00): The Foreign Secretary, David Lammy MP, will be questioned on the work of his department.

Joint

• Human Rights Committee: Shabana Mahmood MP, the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, will give evidence on her work.

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

Questions and statements: At 09:30, Business and Trade Ministers will face questions from MPs. Topics on the Order Paper include support for small business, trade agreements with European countries and the United States, the chemicals sector, the hospitality sector, US trade negotiations and the farming sector, grassroots cultural enterprises, and high street businesses.

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: There will be two debates recommended by the Backbench Business Committee:

• Parkinson’s Awareness Month (Graeme Downie, Labour): In his application for this debate to the Backbench Business Committee, Downie noted that there has been only been one substantive debate about the illness, which focused on young-onset Parkinson’s disease, and that took place in 2017. A debate in the Chamber would, he argued, “highlight some of the misconceptions around Parkinson’s and shine a light on what Parkinson’s means to the people who have it”.

• Prisoners of conscience (Jim Shannon, DUP): In his application for this debate, Shannon, who is also the chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom of Religion or Belief, stated that there has never been a debate in the UK Parliament on prisoners of conscience, whereas the “US Congress and the European Parliament have actively advocated for prisoners of conscience worldwide”, with the European Parliament adopting a resolution condemning the detention of tens of thousands of prisoners of conscience.

Adjournment: Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat has the adjournment debate, on educational administration of Hadlow College.

Legislative committees:

• The Crime and Policing Bill and the Planning and Infrastructure Bill will continue to be considered in their respective Public Bill Committees.

Oral questions: Peers will begin the day by questioning Ministers for 40 minutes, on dementia and Alzheimer’s treatments; the impact of inheritance changes on rural businesses and growth; and plans to abolish arm’s-length bodies. The topic of a fourth question will be decided by a ballot drawn at lunchtime on Tuesday 29 April.

Main business: Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Second Reading). This Bill, which has already passed through the House of Commons, introduces a range of reforms to the school system and to children’s social care, as outlined in a previous edition of the Bulletin.

At Second Reading, Peers will debate the general principles of the Bill but cannot propose amendments to its text. Government bills are usually given a Second Reading in the House of Lords without a division, particularly when they implement a general election manifesto commitment.

• House of Lords Library briefing

Grand Committee: Peers will take part in four ‘Questions for Short Debate’, with each debate limited to one hour, on the following topics:

• single-sex spaces for NHS staff;

• the potential use of frozen Libyan assets to provide compensation to victims of IRA terrorism;

• ensuring that amputees receive appropriate prosthetics at an appropriate time (debate to be led by quadruple amputee Lord Mackinlay of Richborough, formerly Craig Mackinlay MP); and

• access to banking and finance for small businesses.

House of Lords

• Social Mobility Policy Committee (10:05): Dr Fiona Hill, the Russia-expert and former adviser on national security to three US Presidents, will give evidence in her capacity as Chancellor of Durham University. A native of Bishop Auckland, she is passionate about social mobility. Her memoirs, There Is Nothing for You Here, recount the importance of education in her own personal route out of poverty, having, in her own words, moved “literally from the coalhouse to the White House”. Also giving evidence is Sir David Bell, the former Permanent Secretary at the Department for Education and now Vice Chancellor at the University of Sunderland; and other academic leaders from Northumbria and Newcastle universities.

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

The House will not be sitting.

The House will not be sitting.

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