Questions and statements: At 14:30, the Home Secretary and other Home Office Ministers will respond to MPs’ questions. Topics include asylum hotels, rural crime and policing, violence against women and girls, indefinite leave to remain, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, illegal migration, the release of historic case files, the use of technology by police, money laundering on the high street, knife crime, and police recruitment.

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.

Select Committee Statement: If the House approves the Business of the House motion setting out the timetable for subsequent business, Lee Dillon MP – a Liberal Democrat member of the Procedure Committee – will make a statement on the Committee’s new report on call lists (also known as speakers’ lists). While some MPs have argued for the introduction of call lists, as this would help them plan their time while waiting to speak in debates, the Committee instead concluded that publishing call lists alone would not resolve the issues cited in support of them. It also warned that call lists could have unintended drawbacks, including a negative impact “on the quality of, and attendance during, debates”. The inquiry included oral evidence from the Director of the Hansard Society, who appeared before the Committee last November.

General debate on the UK–India Free Trade Agreement: The House will debate the recently agreed UK–India Free Trade Agreement. The debate is being held in Government time, reflecting the previous Government’s commitment in December 2020 to seek to accommodate requests for debates from the Commons select committee responsible for scrutinising free trade agreements, currently the Business and Trade Committee. (House of Commons Library briefing)

Under the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010, international agreements – including free trade agreements (FTAs) – cannot be ratified (that is, brought into force) until they have been laid before Parliament. Once an agreement has been laid, either House may resolve within 21 sitting days that the agreement should not be ratified.

If only the House of Lords objects, the Government may still proceed by laying a statement before Parliament. If, however, the House of Commons resolves against ratification, the Government may not ratify the agreement for a further 21 sitting days, during which time the House of Commons may again resolve against it. In theory, this provides the House of Commons with a power of indefinite delay, though in practice this is tightly constrained by the Government’s control of parliamentary time.

The Agreement signed by the UK and India in July 2025 was formally laid before Parliament on 21 January 2026. The 21-sitting day scrutiny period is due to expire on Thursday 5 March.

The six-month gap between signature and laying reflects, in part, the enhanced post-Brexit scrutiny arrangements that apply to FTAs. The Trade Act 2021 established the Trade and Agriculture Commission (TAC) to scrutinise the agricultural provisions of new FTAs. In October 2025, the TAC published its report on the UK–India Agreement.

In addition, the Agriculture Act 2020 requires that where an FTA includes “measures applicable to trade in agricultural products”, the Government must publish a report assessing whether those measures are “consistent with the maintenance of UK levels of statutory protection in relation to human, animal or plant life or health, animal welfare, and the environment” before the agreement can be laid before Parliament. The Government published its report in November 2025.

In addition to the Government’s and the TAC’s reports, two parliamentary committees are charged with scrutinising FTAs laid before Parliament: the House of Commons Business and Trade Committee (BTC) and the House of Lords International Agreements Committee (IAC). Both have now published reports on the Agreement (BTC report and IAC report).

While the BTC did not recommend against ratification, it expressed disappointment that the Government intends to provide only a general debate. It recommended instead that the Government “seek to schedule a debate on a substantive motion”, and more broadly called for a commitment to make time available in the House of Commons to debate all FTAs agreed with other countries. The Hansard Society made similar recommendations in recent evidence to the IAC. In its own report, the IAC welcomed the Agreement and drew it to the special attention of the House of Lords on the grounds that it is politically important and gives rise to issues of public policy.

Debate on a motion on increasing survival rates of brain tumours: The motion highlights concern about the slow pace of improvement in survival rates of brain tumours and the limited availability of clinical trials. It calls on the Government to set out a plan to increase survival rates, including by accelerating access to trials and innovative therapies, expanding tissue freezing and storage, and increasing the deployment of research funding. The motion was chosen by the Backbench Business Committee following an application from Labour MP Dame Siobhain McDonagh, Liberal Democrat MP Charlie Maynard and Conservative MP Mike Wood. (House of Commons Library briefing)

Select committee appointment: A motion to appoint 17 MPs to the Select Committee on the Armed Forces Bill will be put to the House without debate. As outlined in a recent edition of the Bulletin, committing a Bill to a select committee is relatively uncommon, though the procedure has been used previously for other Armed Forces Bills. The committee must report back to the House by 30 April 2026, after which the Bill will proceed to its normal Committee Stage. Among those due to be appointed is Jayne Kirkham MP, who discussed the Armed Forces Bill in last week’s episode of our Parliament Matters podcast.

Adjournment: Labour MP Sarah Owen will give a speech on step-free access at Leagrave station. A Minister will then give a response. (House of Commons Library briefing)

Westminster Hall

16:30: MPs will debate e-petition 744215, which calls for a public inquiry into Russian influence on UK politics and democracy. The petition has around 115,000 signatures. (House of Commons Library briefing)

Delegated Legislation Committee

18:00: MPs will debate three related draft Statutory Instruments:

• Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave Regulations 2026;

• Employment Rights Act 1996 (Application of Section 80B to Adoptions from Overseas) (Amendment) Regulations 2026; and

• Employment Rights Act 1996 (Application of Section 80B to Parental Order Cases) (Amendment) Regulations 2026.

↖ Contents · Skip to Tuesday’s Commons ↘

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

• Catherine MacLeod – now Baroness MacLeod of Camusdarach – a former special adviser to Alistair Darling and former political editor of The Herald; and

• Dr Sophy Antrobus – now Baroness Antrobus – Senior Research Fellow and Co-Director of the Freeman Air and Space Institute at King’s College London, and a former RAF wing commander, and former Labour parliamentary candidate.

Oral questions: Peers will question Ministers for 40 minutes, on the use of dogs for animal testing; Royal Navy operations in the Caribbean; public transport for remote communities; and the Health Foundation report on delayed discharges from hospital.

Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Third Reading): At Third Reading, the House is given a final opportunity to review the text of the Bill. Unlike in the Commons, amendments can be made for a few limited purposes. The Government has put forward some amendments to tidy up the drafting of the Bill. (House of Lords Library briefing)

Once the Bill receives a Third Reading, it will return to the House of Commons for MPs to consider the amendments made by the Lords. In particular, MPs will be asked to respond to the Government defeats suffered during the Bill’s Report Stage, including on the following issues:

• social media ban: requiring the Government to make regulations preventing children under 16 from accessing social media;

• virtual private networks: prohibiting the provision of virtual private network (VPN) services to children, with enforcement through age verification requirements;

• smartphone ban in schools: requiring schools to ban the use of smartphones during the school day;

• school uniform costs: replacing the proposed cap on the number of branded uniform items with a monetary cap on the total cost of branded items that a school may require parents to purchase for their child;

• Child Protection Plans: requiring a senior local authority leader to approve the ending of a Child Protection Plan for a child under five, once care proceedings have been initiated in court;

• multi-agency child protection teams: delaying the rollout of new multi-agency child protection teams in local authorities until the Secretary of State has assessed the impact of pathfinder areas for Families First, an ongoing pilot scheme for child protection reform;

• adoption and guardianship funding: requiring the Government to review the level of funding available per child through the adoption and special guardianship support fund and to make recommendations on increasing it;

• contact between a child in care and their siblings: extending requirements to promote contact between a child in care and siblings who do not live with them, to include siblings who are not themselves in care;

• cooperation with health agencies on looked-after children: requiring health agencies to be included in new cooperation arrangements between groups of local authorities related to the accommodation of looked-after children;

• funding arrangements for children deprived of liberty: requiring relevant health bodies to enter into joint funding arrangements for the accommodation of children deprived of their liberty, to support more joined-up provision;

• withdrawal of at-risk children from school: requiring local authority consent before a child may be withdrawn from school where there are, or have been, child protection enquiries or care proceedings under the Children Act 1989, or where the child is classified as a child in need under that Act;

• powers to limit pupil admissions: limiting the circumstances in which the Schools Adjudicator may direct a school to reduce pupil admissions, and require consideration of alternative measures (including amalgamation or closure) before restricting the intake of oversubscribed schools;

• allergy safety in schools: introducing mandatory allergy safety policies for all schools in England.

For each Lords amendment, the House of Commons must either agree with the amendment, disagree with it outright, or propose an alternative of its own.

Victims and Courts Bill (Committee, day 1 of 2): The Government’s Bill to reform the criminal justice and victim support system – whose main provisions were outlined in a previous edition of the Bulletin – will begin Committee Stage today. At this stage the House must decide whether each clause and schedule should be included (“stand part”) in the Bill, and whether any amendments should be agreed or new clauses and schedules added.

Clauses and amendments are decided in the order in which they appear, or would appear, in the Bill. As a result, today’s debate is expected to focus on the Bill’s earlier provisions, including measures to require offenders to attend sentencing hearings and proposed restrictions on parental responsibility for sex offenders, including cases involving children conceived through rape. (House of Lords Library briefing)

Grand Committee

15:45: English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Committee, day 6 of 8): The next clauses and groups of amendments to be debated relate to fire and rescue authorities, the licensing powers of the Mayor of London and Greater London Assembly, and ‘Henry VIII’ and other delegated powers. (House of Lords Library briefing)

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

↖ Contents · Skip to Tuesday’s Lords ↘

Highlights include:

House of Commons

13:30: Foreign Affairs Committee – The situation in Ukraine.

15:30: Public Accounts Committee – New Hospital Programme update: The Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), the CEO at NHS England, and other senior officials will give evidence.

16:15: Public Accounts Committee – Supporting people with frailty outside hospitals: The Permanent Secretary at DHSC and the CEO of NHS England will give evidence again, joined by the Chief Medical Officer, Professor Sir Chris Whitty, and other senior officials.

Joint

16:30: Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy – Defending Democracy: The Director-General of the National Crime Agency (NCA) and the Director of the NCA’s National Economic Crime Centre will give evidence.

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

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↖ Contents · Skip to Tuesday’s Select Committees ↘

Questions and statements: At 11:30, Energy Security and Net Zero Ministers will respond to MPs’ questions. Topics include energy bills, industrial electricity prices, large-scale solar projects, the Warm Homes Plan, GP access to decarbonisation schemes, UK Emissions Trading, small modular reactors, Great British Energy, the green energy sector, electricity distribution, the Contracts for Difference scheme, and new nuclear projects.

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

Ten Minute Rule Motion: Labour MP Richard Quigley will seek to introduce an Eating Disorders (Training) 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 people providing certain public services to undertake training relating to eating disorders. See our Hansard Society guide for more information about the parliamentary procedure for Ten Minute Rule Bills.

Statutory Instruments relating to benefits and pensions: The House will debate and vote on four draft Statutory Instruments:

• Guaranteed Minimum Pensions Increase Order 2026: This Order provides the annual increase to the Guaranteed Minimum Pension element of certain occupational pension schemes. It applies to individuals who were members of “contracted-out” occupational pension schemes between 1988 and 1997. (House of Commons Library briefing)

• Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order 2026: This fulfils the Government’s statutory duty to review social security benefit rates. It provides for an increase in the State Pension of 4.8%, in line with the Triple Lock, and an increase of 3.8% to certain benefits and entitlements, including maternity and paternity pay, statutory sick pay, incapacity benefit, and carer’s allowance. (House of Commons Library briefing)

• Child Benefit and Guardian’s Allowance Up-rating Order 2026: This sets the weekly rates of Child Benefit and Guardian’s Allowance from 6 April 2026, increasing both benefits by 3.8%.

• Social Security (Contributions) (Rates, Limits and Thresholds Amendments, National Insurance Funds Payments and Extension of Veteran’s Relief) Regulations 2026: This gives effect to the annual re-rating of National Insurance contributions (NICs) rates, limits and thresholds for 2026-27. It also extends for a further two years the zero-rate relief on secondary Class 1 contributions for employers of qualifying veterans.

Presentation of Public Petitions: Labour MP John Slinger will present a public petition, on urgent care provision in Rugby.

Adjournment: Conservative MP Alan Mak will give a speech on services at Oak Park Community Clinic. A Minister will then give a response.

Westminster Hall

09:30: Independent Water Commission Final Report (House of Commons Library briefing)

11:00: Impact of screen time on young children (House of Commons Library briefing / Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology POSTnote)

14:30: Funding for local authorities in inner London (House of Commons Library briefing)

16:00: Tourism in Sherwood Forest

16:30: Place-based employment support programmes

Public Bill Committees

09:25 and 14:00: Cyber-Security and Resilience (Network and Information Systems) Bill (Committee, day 3): The next clauses and amendments to be debated relate to: cost recovery; information sharing, guidance, investigation and enforcement by the network and information systems (NIS) regulators; and the role of the Government in setting strategic priorities for NIS regulation.

09:25 and 14:00: Railways Bill (Committee, day 7): The next clauses and amendments to be debated relate to: co-operation with devolved authorities, mayoral authorities and Transport for London; licensing of train drivers; international interests in railway rolling stock; and a number of proposed new clauses relating to various issues.

Delegated Legislation Committee

14:30: The draft Scotland Act 1998 (Modification of Schedule 5) Order 2026

The House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee has produced a report on this Order, which concerns the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill currently being considered by the Scottish Parliament. Notably, the committee’s report called for the Order to be debated on the floor of the House of Commons rather than in a Delegated Legislation Committee.

The Order will also be debated today in the House of Lords Chamber. More detail on the Order and its background can therefore be found below.

↖ Contents · Skip to Wednesday’s Commons ↘

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

• Uday Nagaraju – now Lord Nagaraju – a former Labour parliamentary candidate and the founder of AI Policy Labs; and

• Sir John Redwood – now Lord Redwood – the former Conservative MP and Cabinet Minister.

Oral questions: Peers will question Ministers for 40 minutes, on the timeline for legislation banning the sale of energy drinks to under-16s; pregnancy and early years policy; registration of deaths; and whether the vetting process for ambassadors is sufficiently robust.

Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill (Report): Today is the first and only day scheduled for this stage of the Government’s legislation to implement a revenue certainty mechanism to support sustainable aviation fuel production. (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 reduce repetition and help create a focused discussion. It is at Report Stage that the Government most often suffers defeats on amendments.

Statutory Instrument relating to assisted dying in Scotland: The House will debate the approval motion for the draft Scotland Act 1998 (Modification of Schedule 5) Order 2026.

Schedule 5 to the 1998 Scotland Act includes a list of policy areas on which the Scottish Parliament cannot legislate, known as ‘reserved matters’. Section 30 of the Act allows the UK Government to make an Order to modify the list of reserved matters.

In March 2024, Liam McArthur MSP introduced the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill to the Scottish Parliament. Both the Presiding Officer and McArthur himself said they believed the Bill was within the Scottish Parliament’s legal competence. However, the Scottish Government later indicated that it considered there to be two potential competence issues. In particular, it suggested:

• the power conferred on Scottish Ministers to specify the drugs, substances or devices used in assisted dying would fall within the reserved matter of ‘medicines, medical supplies and poisons’; and

• certain other provisions might engage the reserved matters of ‘regulation of health professionals’ and ‘employment and industrial relations’.

As a result, the UK Government is bringing forward a Section 30 Order to address the first of these two competence issues. The draft Order would create a time-limited exemption from the reserved matter of medicines, enabling the Scottish Parliament to confer the relevant powers on either Scottish or UK Ministers.

The remaining competence issues will be dealt with separately. The relevant provisions will be removed from the Bill and addressed at a later stage through UK secondary legislation making “consequential provision” once the Bill has become law.

The Order would expire on the dissolution of the Scottish Parliament ahead of the May elections and will therefore not apply to any Bills passed by the next Parliament.

Lord Keen of Elie, the Conservative former Advocate General for Scotland, has tabled a regret motion. While this would not block the Order, it would allow the House to place its concerns on the record. The motion argues that the Order would be “insufficient to render the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill fully within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament”.

Grand Committee

From 15:45, Peers will consider five draft Statutory Instruments (SIs) requiring subsequent approval, plus one SI which has already been made into law but which a Peer wishes to be debated. They are grouped for debating purposes into three related pairs:

• the draft Local Government Finance Act 1988 (Prescription of Non-Domestic Rating Multipliers) (England) Regulations 2026; and the Non-Domestic Rating (Definition of Qualifying Retail, Hospitality or Leisure Hereditament) Regulations 2025, which the House is invited to “take note” of by Liberal Democrat frontbencher Lord Clement-Jones, creating an opportunity for debate before the SI comes into force on 1 April. (This SI does not require parliamentary approval. It was laid under the “made negative” procedure whereby each House has power to pray that the SI be annulled but only within 40 days of it being laid before Parliament, which in this case meant by 24 November last year as the SI was laid on 16 October 2025);

• the draft Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority Order 2026; and the draft Cumbria Combined Authority Order 2026; and

• the draft Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order 2026; and the draft Guaranteed Minimum Pensions Increase Order 2026.

↖ Contents · Skip to Wednesday’s Lords ↘

Highlights include:

House of Commons

09:45: Treasury Committee and Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee – Affordability of homeownership: Treasury Minister Lucy Rigby MP and Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook MP will give evidence to a joint session of the two committees.

09:45: Science, Innovation and Technology Committee – Data security across Government: Security Minister Dan Jarvis MP and Data Minister Ian Murray MP will give evidence on whether enough is being done to improve data security following the Afghan data breach.

10:00: Culture, Media and Sport Committee – Protecting built heritage: Heritage Minister Baroness Twycross will give evidence.

10:00: Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee – Catherine Little, Permanent Secretary at the Cabinet Office, alongside the Chief Executive of the Infected Blood Compensation Authority and other senior officials from the Cabinet Office and HMRC, will give evidence on the work of the Cabinet Office. The session will focus in particular on civil service pensions, headcount, and the Infected Blood Compensation scheme.

14:30: Home Affairs Committee – Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley will give evidence on the work of the Metropolitan Police Service.

14:30: Business and Trade Committee – UK trade with the US, India and EU: Senior executives from a number of UK-based companies 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, Northern Ireland Office Ministers will respond to MPs’ questions. Topics include public services, economic policy and the Autumn Budget, education, the legacy of the Troubles, and the defence industry.

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

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

Ten Minute Rule Motion: Labour MP Rachel Blake will seek to introduce a Short-Term Let Accommodation (Data Sharing Requirements) 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 certain persons or organisations to share specified data relating to the short-term letting of accommodation with regulatory authorities.

Debate on the Police Grant Report: MPs will debate a motion to approve the Home Secretary’s statutory report setting out the proposed grant allocations for local policing bodies. In a Written Statement, the Government has indicated that funding for police forces will increase by 4.2% in cash terms, equivalent to a 2.0% increase in real terms, compared with the current year.

Debate on a motion relating to Local Government Finance: MPs will then debate a motion to approve the allocation of funding to local authorities. A provisional settlement was published on 17 December 2025 and was consulted on until 14 January 2026, with the final version awaiting publication. The House of Commons Library notes that “funding in this settlement is distributed using new formulas set in the Fair Funding Review 2.0”. This represents the first full assessment of local authorities’ relative levels of need since 2013. As a result, the motion may prove more controversial than is typical for a funding settlement. Local authorities in cities with higher levels of deprivation are expected to be relatively better off, while rural areas with very low council tax bases are expected to be relatively worse off. According to House of Commons Library analysis, if the settlement is approved, overall core spending power would increase by 8.5% in cash terms – or 4.4% after inflation – over the three years of the settlement period, 2026-27 to 2028-29. (House of Commons Library briefing)

Adjournment: Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Dyke will give a speech on the Government’s response to Storm Chandra flooding. A Minister will then give a response.

Westminster Hall

09:30: The second anniversary of the Hughes Report on options for redress for those harmed by valproate and pelvic mesh (House of Commons Library briefing)

11:00: The future of the New Medium Helicopter programme

14:30: Woodland creation (Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology POSTnotes on woodland creation and restoration and creation of semi-natural habitats)

16:00: GP funding in rural areas (House of Commons Library briefing)

16:30: Supported exempt accommodation in Birmingham (House of Commons Library briefing)

Delegated Legislation Committees

14:30: The draft Armed Forces Commissioner (Family Definition, and Consequential and Transitional Provision etc.) Regulations 2026

16:30: The draft Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers’ Compensation) (Payment of Claims) (Amendment) Regulations 2026; and the draft Mesothelioma Lump Sum Payments (Conditions and Amounts) (Amendment) Regulations 2026.

↖ Contents · Skip to Thursday’s Commons ↘

Oral questions: At 15:00, Peers will begin the day by questioning Ministers for 40 minutes, on the implementation of tenancy reform; progress towards delivering 1.5 million new homes; and the transition to electric vehicles. The topic of a fourth question will be decided by a ballot drawn at lunchtime on Monday 9 February.

Rare Cancers Bill (Committee): This Private Member’s Bill to incentivise research and investment into the treatment of rare types of cancer has its Committee Stage scheduled for today. Although Private Members’ Bills are usually considered on Fridays, uncontroversial bills often progress on other sitting days, with the co-operation of the Government. This is because the Committee Stage may not actually need to take place. (House of Lords Library briefing)

So far, no Lords amendments have been tabled. If none are submitted by Wednesday and no Peer signals an intention to speak, the Bill’s sponsor in the Lords (Baroness Elliott of Whitburn Bay) may move at the start of the debate “that the order of commitment (or re-commitment) be discharged” enabling the Bill to bypass Committee Stage entirely. However, if any amendments are tabled before the sitting, the Government may choose to reschedule the debate to a Friday sitting instead to allow time for fuller consideration.

Victims and Courts Bill (Committee, day 2 of 2): At Committee Stage, the House examines the Bill clause-by-clause and decides whether each clause should “stand part” of the Bill and whether any amendments should be made. The House will resume its scrutiny of clauses and amendments from the point reached by the House at Monday’s sitting. (House of Lords Library briefing)

Grand Committee

16:15: English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Committee, day 7 of 8): The Grand Committee will continue its scrutiny of clauses and amendments from the point reached by the Committee at Monday’s sitting. (House of Lords Library briefing)

↖ Contents · Skip to Thursday’s Lords ↘

Highlights include:

House of Commons

09:30: Work and Pensions Committee – Employment support for disabled people: Minister for Employment Dame Diana Johnson MP will give evidence.

09:45: Treasury Committee – Business rates: Treasury Minister Dan Tomlinson MP will give evidence.

13:30: Energy Security and Net Zero Committee – Energy Secretary Ed Miliband MP will give evidence on his department’s work.

14:15: Treasury Committee – The Treasury’s Permanent Secretary and other senior officials from the Treasury and Debt Management Office will give evidence on the Treasury’s work, including the leaks during the 2025 Budget and the Treasury’s relationship with the OBR.

14:30: Welsh Affairs Committee – Wales Secretary Jo Stevens MP and junior Minister Anna McMorrin MP will give evidence on their Office’s work.

House of Lords

10:00: Environment and Climate Change Committee – Drought preparedness: Water and Flooding Minister Emma Hardy MP will give evidence with departmental officials.

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, Transport Ministers will face questions from MPs. Topics include the vehicle emission mandate, commuter safety, driving tests, rail fares, rail upgrades, local bus services, the bus fare cap, rural transport, road maintenance, and Heathrow expansion.

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.

Select Committee Statement: Florence Eshalomi MP, Chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, will make a statement on the Committee’s forthcoming report, Housing conditions in the social rented sector (scheduled to be published on Monday 9 February). Select committees can ask the Backbench Business Committee for time to make statements on the launch of inquiries or the publication of a report. These statements are usually delivered in the Chamber during backbench business time on Thursdays. A statement consists of a 10-minute speech from a member of the select committee, during which interventions are not permitted, followed by 10 minutes of questions from MPs, to which the select committee member responds.

General debate on LGBT+ History Month: The topic of this debate was chosen by the Backbench Business Committee following an application from Labour MPs Nadia Whittome and Kate Osborne. In their application, they noted that such a debate has been a regular feature of the parliamentary timetable for a number of years and is always well attended. (House of Commons Library briefing)

Debate on a motion on mobile connectivity in rural areas: The motion calling on the Government and service providers to help improve mobile connectivity in rural areas was chosen by the Backbench Business Committee following an application from Liberal Democrat MP Helen Morgan. Applying for a Chamber debate rather than a Westminster Hall debate, Morgan noted that there had been “a number of Westminster Hall debates on digital connectivity over the years, and they have always been extremely oversubscribed”. This debate was originally scheduled for Monday 5 January, but was dropped when the time that would have been available was curtailed from 6½ hours to just 10 minutes by the prioritisation of three urgent questions and two ministerial statements on issues that had arisen during the Christmas recess. (House of Commons Library briefing)

Adjournment: Labour MP Sarah Edwards will give a speech on school minibus safety. A Minister will then give a response.

Westminster Hall

13:30: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee chair Alistair Carmichael MP will make a statement about his Committee’s recent report, UK–EU agritrade: making an SPS agreement work, about sanitary and phytosanitary rules (border checks on animal and plant health). Select committees can ask the Backbench Business Committee for time to make statements on the launch of inquiries or the publication of a report, including in Westminster Hall. A statement consists of a 10-minute speech from a member of the Select Committee, followed by 10 minutes of questions from MPs, to which the Select Committee member responds.

13:50: Government support for healthy relationships (House of Commons Library briefing)

15:10: Onshoring in the fashion and textiles industry (House of Commons Library briefing)

Public Bill Committees

11:30 and 14:00: Railways Bill (Committee, day 8): The Committee will resume its scrutiny of clauses and amendments from the point reached at Tuesday’s sitting. Under the terms of the programme order agreed on 9 December 2025, the Committee is due to conclude at today’s sitting. If any amendments or clauses have not been debated by the end of the sitting, they will be put without debate. It is also possible that the Committee may conclude its work on Tuesday, in advance of today’s sitting.

↖ Contents · Skip to Looking ahead ↘

Introduction of new Peer: At 11:00, Mike Dixon – now Lord Dixon of Jericho – the Chief Executive of the Liberal Democrats, will be introduced to the House.

Oral questions: Peers will question Ministers for 40 minutes, on the impact on rural communities of any forthcoming legislation on cruelty to animals; the Speaker’s Conference on the security of candidates, MPs and elections; and the Post Office Capture and Horizon scandals. The topic of a fourth question will be decided by a ballot drawn at lunchtime on Tuesday 10 February.

Debate on Justice and Home Affairs Committee report: The House will hold a general debate on a recent report by the House of Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee, Better prisons, less crime. (House of Lords Library briefing)

Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill (Committee): The Bill will have one day of Committee Stage today, having had its Second Reading last week, and been expedited through all its Commons stages in a single day the week before. Unlike in the House of Commons, where all stages were completed in a single sitting, the Lords’ consideration of the Bill is taking place over several days. At Committee Stage, the House will consider the Bill clause by clause and debate proposed 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 earlier edition of the Bulletin – has written to the Minister, Baroness Merron. The Committee draws attention to a retrospective element in the legislation: 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 “priority” groups would find themselves in a less favourable position than they could reasonably have expected when they applied. The Committee has asked for a response to its correspondence by 20 February 2026, ahead of the Bill’s Report Stage, which is expected to take place on Monday 23 February.

Grand Committee

From 13:00, Peers will consider four Questions for Short Debate:

• plans to reform the law on donations to political parties (House of Lords Library briefing);

• the introduction of a counter-extremism strategy (House of Lords Library briefing);

• the economic impact of the UK flour milling sector;

• the performance of the Environment Agency in addressing waste crime (House of Lords Library briefing).

↖ Contents · Skip to Looking ahead ↘

Highlights include:

House of Commons

10:00: Public Accounts Committee – National Audit Office Main Estimates 2026-27: The Comptroller and Auditor General Gareth Davies and other NAO officials will discuss the Office’s budget estimate for the next financial year. At 11:00 the Committee will convene a separate panel about civil service pensions at which the CEO and Managing Director of Capita Public Services, the new administrator of the Civil Service Pension Scheme, 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 Looking ahead ↘

Both Houses are set to rise for a short recess at the end of business on Thursday, so neither House is scheduled to sit on Friday 13 February 2026. Both Houses will resume at 14:30 on Monday 23 February 2026. Our next Bulletin will therefore be published on Sunday 22 February.

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