Questions and statements: At 14:30, Defence Ministers will respond to MPs’ questions. Topics include armed forces families, support for veterans, the defence industrial strategy, military support for Ukraine, legal protections for veterans in Northern Ireland, the Red Arrows, defence procurement, the shipbuilding supply chain, increasing defence spending, the UK–Mauritius Agreement on the Chagos Islands, and the security of military bases in the UK.

Any Urgent Questions or Ministerial Statements will follow.

Main business: Deprivation of Citizenship Orders (Effect during Appeal) Bill (Second Reading). This short two-page bill would make some targeted changes to the procedure for depriving a person of citizenship, in response to a recent judgment by the UK Supreme Court.

Currently, the Government can remove someone’s British citizenship if it is deemed conducive to the public good – often on national security grounds – or if citizenship was obtained fraudulently. These orders take effect immediately, even before an appeal to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission is lodged or concluded. In many cases, appeals are the only opportunity individuals have to challenge a deprivation order, especially when orders are issued with little or no notice.

In February, the Supreme Court gave judgment in relation to the handling of successful appeals against citizenship deprivation. The Court ruled that, where an appeal succeeds, a person is treated as never having lost their citizenship. Citizenship is therefore effectively regained by the person concerned immediately, without any action needed from the Government to lift the deprivation order.

The Bill will make changes in response to the consequential element of the ruling. The Government argues that this effect poses a threat to national security, because it would allow someone whose appeal initially succeeds to then re-enter the UK before the Government has a chance to challenge that outcome in court. To address this, the Bill proposes that a citizenship deprivation order will remain in effect throughout the entire appeals process. This would apply to all deprivation cases, including those based on fraud, not just those involving national security.

At Second Reading, the House is debating only the principles and purposes of the Bill and cannot make amendments to the Bill’s text. If the Bill is given a Second Reading, the committal motion specifies that it will have its Committee Stage in Committee of the Whole House, which takes place in the Chamber rather than a committee room, and that all its remaining stages will be wrapped up in a single three-hour debate. (House of Commons Library briefing on the Bill and on the policy of withdrawing passports)

Motions to approve delegated legislation: MPs will be asked to approve the draft Marking of Retail Goods Regulations 2025 (see the end of today’s House of Lords business, below, for further information) and the draft Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities etc.) (Amendment) Order 2025.

Presentation of petition: The Labour MP Richard Burgon is set to present a petition opposing cuts to disability support.

Adjournment: The Labour MP Sam Rushworth has the adjournment debate, on road safety powers of parish and town councils.

Westminster Hall: MPs will debate e-petition 700036, which calls for a ban on driven grouse shooting. The petition has acquired over 104,000 signatures. (House of Commons Library briefing)

Legislative committees:

• Delegated Legislation Committee meeting today: to consider the draft Criminal Justice Act 2003 (Suitability for Fixed Term Recall) Order 2025. This Order proposes that any prisoners serving sentences under four years will, if recalled to prison, serve a fixed term of 28-days, rather than the remainder of their sentence, except in cases involving higher risk offenders. The Government anticipates that this measure will free up 1,400 prison places. The Order has been drawn to the special attention of the House of Lords by the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee (SLSC). In doing so, the Committee raised concerns about how the Ministry of Justice will monitor the impact on probation services, and expressed alarm over reports of poor performance by Serco, the contractor that operates the electronic tagging system.

• Other Delegated Legislation Committee meeting today: to consider the draft Contracts for Difference (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 3) Regulations 2025.

Oral questions: Peers will begin the day by questioning Ministers for 40 minutes, on deep-sea mining; the removal of books from school libraries; the subsidised arts sector; and humanist weddings.

Main business: Peers will debate three related motions concerning ratification of the agreement between the UK and Mauritius over the Chagos Archipelago.

Two of the motions object to ratification of the agreement in accordance with the terms of section 20 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 which sets out the procedure for parliamentary scrutiny of and objection to international treaties.

The motion tabled by Lord Callanan, the Conservative Shadow Foreign Office Minister, highlights the cost of the agreement, the absence of any legal requirement to conclude an agreement, the impact on international security and the lack of consultation with the Chagossian people.

The motion tabled by Lord Purvis of Tweed, the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, calls for a statement to be laid before each House, which must then be debated, setting out the implementation plan for the resettlement of the Chagossians, the legal basis for, scope and implementation of the Trust Fund being established for the Chagossians, and the mechanisms for engagement with the Chagossians including enforcement of their rights under the Agreement.

A third motion in the name of Lord Goldsmith, chair of the International Agreements Committee, asks the House to take note of the Agreement, drawing attention to the recently published report on it by his Committee.

Several economic and strategic interests are at stake in the agreement, including the long-term future of the UK’s military base on Diego Garcia. The Government argues that this base could be jeopardised if the UK becomes subject to binding rulings from international courts regarding the island’s status. The International Agreements Committee found that based on the evidence it had heard “any international court looking at this issue would be unlikely to find in favour of the UK. In that circumstance, the future of the military base on Diego Garcia would be at greater risk.” Nevertheless, the report highlights some concerns with the agreement: it notes that “it does not provide a clear route to resettlement” for the Chagossian community and that the governance arrangements for a proposed £40 million trust fund for the Chagossians are unclear. (House of Lords Library briefing)

If one of the motions objecting to ratification of the agreement – that tabled by Lord Callanan or by Lord Purvis of Tweed – were agreed by the House, it would not automatically prevent the Government pressing ahead with ratification.

Under the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 (sometimes referred to as the CRaG Act), the Government must lay an international agreement before Parliament and cannot ratify it – that is, bring it into force – until 21 sitting days have passed, during which time either House may pass a motion formally objecting to ratification.

If the House of Lords resolves that the agreement should not be ratified, and the House of Commons does not, then the Government can still insist on ratifying the treaty, so long as it lays a statement before Parliament explaining why it intends to proceed. Therefore, if Peers agree to Lord Callanan’s or Lord Purvis’s motion, the Government may still press ahead with ratifying the agreement providing they lay the required statement before the House in advance.

The House of Commons’ influence over the process is marginally stronger. If 21 sitting days pass without MPs agreeing a motion against ratification, the Government may proceed to ratify the treaty at a future date of its choosing. But if the House of Commons passes a motion against ratification within the 21-day scrutiny period then the Government may not ratify the agreement for at least a further 21 days. The Minister may lay a statement explaining why (s)he thinks the treaty should nevertheless be ratified. Unlike in the Lords where no further action will result, in the Commons this will trigger a second 21-day scrutiny period during which MPs may again resolve against ratification. The cycle then repeats itself: if MPs do not vote against ratification, then the Government can proceed, if they do object then the scrutiny cycle may be extended for a further 21 days. This process has never been tested but in theory the objection and delaying process in the Commons could be repeated indefinitely.

In practice, a motion opposing ratification can only be considered by MPs if the Government allocates time for a debate and vote – something it is not obliged to do. This contrasts with the House of Lords where the Government does not control the Order Paper and if a Peer tables a motion there is an expectation that time will be found for it to be debated. The Agreement with Mauritius was laid before Parliament on 22 May, so the 21 sitting day scrutiny period ends this Thursday, 3 July. Although Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch MP has tabled a motion opposing ratification of the Agreement, no time has yet been set for it to be debated.

The Government could extend the scrutiny period, but it is under no obligation to do so. The House of Lords International Agreements Committee requested more time for scrutiny, but Ministers refused, without offering a reason. The Chairs of the Foreign Affairs and the Business and Trade Committees in the House of Commons have also expressed a desire for more time. While ratification may still be some way off – since primary legislation is needed to implement the Agreement – the Government’s unwillingness to allow more time for scrutiny is disappointing, but not uncommon. The Hansard Society has proposed more robust procedures for treaty scrutiny in a recent submission to the International Agreements Committee. Among our recommendations, we call for a stronger role for Parliament in shaping negotiating mandates and monitoring progress, a sifting committee tasked with determining which agreements warrant the greatest scrutiny, and a parliamentary consent vote for the most significant agreements.

The House will then debate a motion to approve the draft Marking of Retail Goods Regulations 2025. The regulations would provide Ministers with the power to introduce ‘not for EU’ labelling for certain agri-food retail goods in Great Britain by notice, in order to safeguard the supply of retail goods to Northern Ireland. A report by the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee drew the regulations to the special attention of the House. The report noted that it is the notice given by Ministers, not these regulations, that would require ‘not for EU’ labelling; the regulations therefore create a “sub-delegation” of power to the Minister which would not be subject to parliamentary procedure, except for a requirement to provide an explanatory statement to Parliament.

Highlights include:

House of Commons

• Public Accounts Committee (15:30): The Permanent Secretary and other senior officials at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will give evidence on improving local areas through developer funding. This hearing builds on a recent National Audit Office report, which concluded that current policy “is not reliably delivering the infrastructure funding required for new developments, even where it may be financially viable to do so” and that it “cannot conclude that the current approach represents value for money”.

• Environmental Audit Committee (16:30): The Chief Executives of the Environment Agency, Natural England and Homes England will give evidence on environmental sustainability and housing growth.

Joint

• National Security Strategy (16:30): Sir Chris Bryant MP, the Minister for Data Protection and Telecoms, and Luke Pollard MP, Minister for the Armed Forces, will give evidence on undersea cables.

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

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Questions and statements: At 11:30, Treasury Ministers, including Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves, will face questions from MPs. Topics include the Barnett formula, high net worth individuals, disabled people in poverty, transport infrastructure spending, economic growth, the clean energy sector, the betting and gaming duty, and employer National Insurance contributions.

Any Urgent Questions or Ministerial Statements will follow.

Ten Minute Rule Motion: The Green Party MP Siân Berry will seek to introduce a Ten Minute Rule Bill titled the Clean Air (Human Rights) Bill. The proposed Bill would create a legal right to clean air and compel the Government to meet the World Health Organisation’s air pollution guidelines by 1 January 2030. A previous version, championed in the last Parliament by Green Party politicians Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb and then-MP Caroline Lucas, was halted when Parliament was dissolved ahead of the general election last May. Informally known as “Ella’s Law”, the Bill is named in memory of nine-year old Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, the first person in the UK to have air pollution officially recorded as a cause of death following a fatal asthma attack. See our Hansard Society guide for more information about the parliamentary procedure for Ten Minute Rule Bills.

Main business: Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill (Second Reading). In the form in which it was presented to Parliament, the Government proposed to make changes to the provision of two benefits.

• Universal Credit (UC): this is a benefit designed to help low income households, including those who are unemployed, with everyday living costs. The core component of UC is the standard allowance, which varies depending on a claimant’s age and household circumstances. Under the Bill, the standard allowance would rise each year until 2029-30 at a rate above inflation. In addition to the standard allowance, claimants may receive extra support based on specific needs, such as housing costs, children, care, or having limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA). However, the Bill proposed to reduce the LCWRA element for new claimants and to freeze it in cash terms for existing claimants.

• Personal Independence Payment (PIP): this is a cash benefit that helps individuals with the extra costs they face due to a long-term health condition or disability, regardless of their employment status. Eligibility is determined by assessing a person’s ability to carry out a set of daily activities, with points awarded based on the level of difficultly experienced. The total score determines whether a claimant qualifies for the standard or enhanced rate, or is found ineligible. Currently, a person who scores between eight and 11 points across the 10 assessed activities may receive PIP at the standard rate. The Government proposed to introduce a new requirement: to qualify, a claimant would have to score at least four points in a single activity, in addition to the overall points threshold.

No amendments to the text of the Bill can be made at Second Reading. However, MPs can table ‘reasoned amendments’. These are not amendments to the text of the Bill. A reasoned amendment is a way for MPs to reject the Bill while placing their reasons for doing so on the record. If a reasoned amendment is agreed by the House, then the Bill falls. The last Bill to be rejected at Second Reading was the Shops Bill in 1986. An article in our Hansard Society journal, Parliamentary Affairs, explained the political and policy context to that rebellion by Conservative MPs under Margaret Thatcher’s leadership.

Several reasoned amendments have been tabled to today’s Bill, including by the Liberal Democrats, the SNP, the Independent Alliance, and the Green Party.

However, the most widely supported reasoned amendment is in the name of Dame Meg Hillier MP, the Labour chair of the Treasury and Liaison Committees. The amendment has acquired over 120 signatures, predominantly from Labour backbenchers and including a dozen of their select committee chairs. The amendment criticises the Bill on the grounds that its provisions have not been subject to formal consultation, that the Office of Budget Responsibility has not yet published an analysis of its employment impacts, that the Government’s Impact Assessment estimates that 250,000 more people will be pushed into poverty, and that the Government is still awaiting the finding of two reviews.

In response to this major backbench rebellion the Government has confirmed it will make changes to the Bill, including by ensuring that existing claimants of PIP will be exempt from the new eligibility rules and that the health element of Universal Credit will be increased in line with inflation. Dame Meg Hillier has indicated that the proposed amendment is a “major change” and it has been reported that the select committee chairs who signed the amendment now plan to support the Government.

The Speaker can only select one reasoned amendment and is not obliged to select any. If he selects Meg Hillier’s amendment, and she chooses not to move it, then any other MP could move it instead. If no MP moves it, or if the Speaker does not select it or any of the other reasoned amendments, then those who oppose the Bill must either vote against the Second Reading or absent themselves from the division. (There is no formal process for abstaining in a division. MPs do sometimes walk through both voting lobbies to cancel out their votes but this demonstration of a ‘third’ position has been deprecated by the Speaker as “unparliamentary” practice.)

Amendments to the Bill to enshrine the concessions made by the Government will need to be made at Committee or Report Stage. These, plus the final Third Reading, have all been provisionally scheduled to take place on a single day, next Wednesday, 9 July. The Government’s Guide to Making Legislation states (para 22.24) that Government amendments should be tabled at least one sitting week before they are due to be considered; if this requirement is honoured it would require Ministers to table their amendments by the rise of the House tomorrow, Wednesday, 2 July. Other MPs will then have until the rise of the House on Friday 4 July to table their own amendments.

The Order Paper notes that the Bill “is expected to be certified as a Money Bill”. This is important because if it is certified as such then the Bill is unlikely to be subject to amendment in the House of Lords. The House of Lords is not debarred from amending a Money Bill, provided that the amendments are passed within one month, but there is no obligation on the Commons to consider the Lords amendments. Therefore, apart from a Second Reading debate, a Money Bill’s passage through the Upper House is normally a formality.

A Money Bill is defined in Section 1(2) of the Parliament Act 1911. It is a bill which, in the opinion of the Speaker, contains only provisions dealing with all or any of the following:

• the imposition, repeal, remission, alteration, or regulation of taxation;

• the imposition for the payment of debt or other financial purposes of charges on the Consolidated Fund or the National Loans Fund, or on money provided by Parliament or the variation or repeal of any charges;

• Supply;

• the appropriation, receipt, custody, issue or audit of accounts of public money;

• the raising or guarantee of any loan or the repayment thereof;

• subordinate matters incidental to those subjects or any of them.

For a bill to be certified by the Speaker as a Money Bill, it must have the sole purpose of creating or extending the scope of a charge on public expenditure. The Speaker will only consider certification when the bill reaches the final form in which it will leave the House of Commons. This is because the inclusion of an amendment could have a significant bearing on the certification decision. When MPs have attempted to assess whether an amendment is likely to prevent a bill being certified as a Money Bill, at the bill’s committee or report stage, then the committee chair or the Speaker has always declined to give an opinion. More information about the certification process can be found in our Hansard Society guide to Money Bills.

(House of Commons Library briefing)

Adjournment: The Liberal Democrat MP Jess Brown-Fuller has the adjournment debate, on infant feeding.

Westminster Hall: There are five debates, on:

• regulatory powers over billing of energy supply to businesses (House of Commons Library briefing);

• the impact of ADHD on rehabilitation and reoffending in the prison system;

• Government support for the hospitality sector (House of Commons Library briefing);

• the introduction of Class 701 trains on the Waterloo–Reading line; and

• refugee citizenship rights.

Legislative committees:

• Bus Services (No. 2) Bill: The next clauses and amendments to be debated include measures to encourage operators to re-invest into the bus market, to require operators to enable travel by people with disabilities, and to produce bus network accessibility plans, and lift the ban on new local authority bus companies. The Committee is scheduled to conclude on Tuesday 8 July.

• Delegated Legislation Committees meeting today: to consider the draft Sheep Carcase (Classification and Price Reporting) (England) Regulations 2025; and the draft Subsidy Control (Subsidies and Schemes of Interest or Particular Interest) (Amendment) Regulations 2025.

Oral questions: Peers will begin the day by questioning Ministers for 40 minutes, on hotel accommodation for migrants; global agreement on plastic pollution; requirements to consult or seek approval from other governments in relation to the use of weapons systems; and the planned procurement of F35B jets.

Main business: Renters’ Rights Bill (Report). This is the first of three days scheduled for the Bill’s Report Stage, with two further days scheduled for Monday 7 July and Tuesday 15 July. At Report Stage, the whole House debates and votes on amendments to the Bill; it is also the stage where the Government is most likely to suffer defeats on amendments.

The first day will focus on amendments to the early clauses of the Bill, which relate to the abolition of fixed-term tenancies and no-fault evictions, new statutory grounds for eviction, the recovery of rent arrears, and affordable rent. (House of Lords Library briefing)

Grand Committee: Five draft Statutory Instruments will be debated:

• the Investigatory Powers (Communications Data) (Relevant Public Authorities and Designated Senior Officers) Regulations 2025;

• the Licensing Act 2003 (UEFA Women’s European Football Championship Licensing Hours) Order 2025;

• the Protection and Disclosure of Personal Information (Amendment) Regulations 2025;

• the Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Act 2007 (Extension of Duration of Non-jury Trial Provisions) Order 2025;

• the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (Suitability for Fixed Term Recall) Order 2025 – more information on this Order is included in Monday’s House of Commons section, above.

Highlights include:

House of Commons

• Treasury Committee (09:15): Lord Livermore, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, and the Chief Executive of the National Wealth Fund will give evidence on the National Wealth Fund.

• Education Committee (10:00): Catherine McKinnell MP, the Minister for School Standards, will give evidence on solving the crisis in special educational needs and disabilities provision.

• Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (10:00): The Chair of the UK Statistics Authority, the interim National Statistician, and the head of the Office for Statistics Regulation will give evidence on the work of the UK Statistics Authority.

• Home Affairs Committee (10:30): Representatives of Migrant Help, an organisation that provides support for asylum seekers, victims of slavery and human trafficking, and refugees, will give evidence on asylum accommodation.

• Foreign Affairs Committee (10:30): The Director of UN and Multilateral Diplomacy at the International Crisis Group and the former UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs will give evidence on the UK at the UN Security Council.

• Justice Committee (14:30): The Chair-Designate and the Chief Executive of the Parole Board will give evidence on the work of the Parole Board.

House of Lords

• Science and Technology Committee (10:15): Baroness Gustafsson, Minister for Investment, and the CEO of the British Business Bank will give evidence on financing and scaling UK science and technology.

• Economic Affairs Committee (15:00): The Chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility and two members of the OBR’s Committee will give evidence on preparing for an ageing society.

• European Affairs Committee (15:30): Nick Thomas-Symonds MP, Minister for the Constitution and European Union Relations, and Stephen Doughty MP, Minister for Europe, will give evidence on the UK–EU reset.

Joint

• Joint Committee on Human Rights and the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee (14:20): The Committees will hold a joint session to question Dr Mary-Ann Stephenson, the Government’s preferred candidate for Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

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, Northern Ireland Office Ministers will face questions from MPs. Topics include transport links to ferry ports, the UK–EU trade agreement, technology investment, funding for Northern Ireland in the Spending Review, childcare provision, and the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023.

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 Labour MP Ian Byrne will seek to introduce a Ten Minute Rule Bill titled the Public Authority (Accountability) Bill. This legislation would require public institutions and officials to act in the public interest and with candour and frankness.

Main business: Armed Forces Commissioner Bill (Consideration of Lords Message). This Bill would establish a new Armed Forces Commissioner and abolish the existing Service Complaints Ombudsman. The proposal is inspired by the German Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces; in an episode of the Hansard Society’s Parliament Matters podcast earlier this year, we looked at how the two roles compare.

During the Bill’s passage through the House of Lords, a group of amendments, including one to introduce a whistleblowing function, were inserted against the Government’s wishes. When the Lords’ amendments were sent to the Commons, the Government disagreed with them and proposed an alternative amendment in lieu. This compromise stated that if the Commissioner publishes a report on a specific investigation, it must not include any information that could identify the whistleblower without their consent. However, the House of Lords rejected this compromise and instead proposed a revised version of the Commissioner’s duties to whistleblowers. The House of Commons must now decide how to respond. The Government has tabled a motion to insist on its earlier compromise and reject the Lords proposal. Under the Bill’s supplementary programme motion, this debate will be time-limited to one hour.

MPs will then debate a motion to approve the draft Armed Forces Act 2006 (Continuation) Order 2025. This annual Order is essential as it renews the legal basis for the UK’s armed forces. Without it, the Armed Forces Act 2006, which underpins the terms of service and discipline of the armed forces, would expire. The requirement for yearly renewal dates back to the 1688 Bill of Rights, which declares that maintaining a standing army in peacetime without Parliament’s consent is unlawful. Under the House of Commons’ Standing Orders, debates on Statutory Instruments are limited to 90 minutes. (House of Commons Library briefing)

The House will then debate a Statutory Instrument related to terrorism. Although not specified on the Order Paper, it is likely to be a motion to proscribe the organisation Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act 2000. This Act gives the Home Secretary the power to add or remove an organisation from the list of proscribed groups through a Statutory Instrument, which must be debated and approved by both Houses of Parliament. A proscription order can only be made if the Home Secretary believes that the organisation is “concerned in terrorism”. Under the Act, terrorism is defined as the use or threat of an action that satisfies three conditions:

1. it is designed to influence the Government or intimidate the public (or a section of the public);

2. it is made for the purpose of advancing a political, religious, racial or ideological cause;

3. it involves either serious violence, serious damage to property, endangering a person’s life, creating a serious risk to health or public safety, or is intended to interfere with an electronic system.

As set out in a ministerial statement last week, the Government justifies proscription on the grounds that Palestine Action “has committed acts of serious damage to property with the aim of progressing its political cause and influencing the Government” and that its members have demonstrated “a willingness to use violence”.

This debate will also be time limited to 90 minutes. (House of Commons Library briefing)

Adjournment: The Conservative MP Sir John Hayes has the adjournment debate, on the regulatory environment of corporate businesses and franchisees.

Westminster Hall: There are five debates, on:

• the impact of the Spending Review 2025 on Scotland (House of Commons Library briefing);

• redress under the ECO4 scheme (House of Commons Library briefing);

• the contribution of whistleblowers (House of Commons Library briefing);

• the impact of space weather on the UK (Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology briefing); and

• forced displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank (House of Commons Library briefing).

Legislative committees:

• Rare Cancers Bill: A Private Member’s Bill presented by the Labour MP Dr Scott Arthur, this Bill would make provision to incentivise research and investment into the treatment of rare types of cancer. The Committee Stage for this Bill was delayed by the extended Committee Stage of the assisted dying bill, as were the Committee Stages of the two other PMBs set to be debated in Committee today. The Standing Orders normally allow only one Private Member’s Bill to be considered in Committee at any one time, so the Government has again tabled a motion to enable multiple Committees to sit simultaneously. The fact that the Explanatory Notes for all three bills have been produced by a Government department indicates that they are Government ‘handout’ bills. As with almost all PMBs, the Committees for these bills are expected to conclude in a single sitting. (House of Commons Library briefing)

• Secure 16 to 19 Academies Bill: This Private Member’s Bill presented by the Labour MP Emma Foody would reduce the minimum notice period for termination of a secure schools funding agreement from seven to two years and amend the consultation duties under the Academies Act 2010 to be more appropriate for secure 16 to 19 academies.

• Courts (Remote Hearings) Bill: This Private Member’s Bill presented by the Labour MP Oliver Ryan would enable certain cases in the Magistrates’ Courts, County Courts, and Family Courts to be heard remotely by live audio or video link.

• Delegated Legislation Committee meeting today: to consider the draft Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (Amendment, etc.) Regulations 2025.

Oral questions: Peers will begin the day by questioning Ministers for 40 minutes, on the use of facial recognition technology; the costs of recent works on the security door to Peers’ entrance; and the position of minorities in India. The topic of a fourth question will be decided by a ballot drawn at lunchtime on Monday 30 June.

Main business: House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill (Report). Three months after the conclusion of Committee Stage, Peers will begin Report Stage consideration of the Bill to remove the right of hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords. Two days have been allocated for the Bill’s Report Stage, with the next sitting scheduled for Wednesday 9 July.

The House will debate and vote on 16 pages of amendments and new clauses, in the order they appear on the amendment paper. The first set of amendments would:

• allow the Earl Marshal and Lord Great Chamberlain to continue to sit in the House of Lords;

• abolish the existing system of by-elections for hereditary Peers, which would prevent current hereditary Peers from being replaced and thereby facilitate a more gradual abolition process;

• reduce the size of the House of Lords to 600 Peers;

• impose a duty on the Government to take forward proposals to secure a democratic House of Lords;

• prevent life peerages from being conferred if the House of Lords Appointments Commission recommends against the appointments;

• remove the Prime Minister’s power to appoint Peers and give it to the House of Lords Appointments Commission, who would be required to consider whether a nominee is a fit and proper person committed to participating in the work of the House;

• impose a term limit of 15 years and a retirement age of 85;

• require the Government to present a further House of Lords bill within two years of the removal of the hereditary Peers;

• require some hereditary peers to be given life peerages;

• prevent the Prime Minister from appointing Peers in such a way that Peers from the governing party would constitute more than 40% of the House;

• require the removal of any Peer who is convicted of a serious criminal offence;

• require all Lords Ministers to be given a salary; and

• enable the House of Lords to vote on a retirement age, minimum attendance requirement, and participation requirement.

If any of these amendments succeed, the Bill will be sent back to the House of Commons after Third Reading, so that MPs can decide whether they agree with the Lord’s amendments. (House of Lords Library briefing)

Highlights include:

House of Commons

• Defence Committee (14:00): John Healey MP, the Defence Secretary, will give evidence about his work.

• Women and Equalities Committee (14:20): Baroness Gustafsson, Minister for Investment, and Gareth Thomas MP, Minister for Services, Small Businesses and Exports, will give evidence on female entrepreneurship.

• Scottish Affairs Committee (15:00): Michael Shanks MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, will give evidence on GB Energy and the net zero transition.

• Speaker’s Conference on the security of candidates, MPs, and elections (15:40): Dame Diana Johnson MP, Minister for Policing, Lucy Rigby MP, Solicitor General, Sarah Sackman MP, Minister for the Courts, and representatives of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, the Crown Prosecution Service, and the Scottish Sentencing Council, will all give evidence on the security of candidates, MPs, and elections.

House of Lords

• Constitution Committee (10:15): Mick Antoniw MS, the former Welsh Minister for the Constitution and former Counsel General for Wales, will give evidence on the rule of law, followed by Anne Applebaum, the journalist, writer and historian at The Atlantic magazine, and Mark Lewis of the World Justice Project.

• International Relations and Defence Committee (14:30): The three authors of the Strategic Defence Review 2025 – former NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, former Commander of Joint Forces Command General Sir Richard Barrons, and former US presidential adviser Dr Fiona Hill – will give evidence on the Review.

Joint

• Human Rights Committee (14:15): Academics and experts will give evidence on human rights and the regulation of artificial intelligence.

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, Culture, Media and Sport Ministers will face questions from MPs. Topics include the heritage sector, young people’s mental health, access to theatres, funding for parks and green spaces, the live music sector, major sporting events, the financial viability of women’s football, the impact of National Insurance changes on charities and the creative industries, and the implications for the sports sector of the Supreme Court judgment on the Equality Act.

At 10:10, the backbench MPs representing the Church Commissioners, the House of Commons Commission, the Public Accounts Commission, the Restoration and Renewal Client Board, and the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission will face questions from MPs. However, questions have only been tabled for the representatives of the House of Commons Commission and the Church Commissioners; indeed, 11 of the 12 questions on the Order Paper are directed to the Church Commissioners. Topics include support from the Church of England for people on low incomes, the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, community cohesion, and support from the Church for Christians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The question to the House of Commons Commission concerns measures to increase the number of apprentices employed in the House of Commons.

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 on topics determined by the Backbench Business Committee:

• A debate on a motion relating to state pension age changes for women: the motion, proposed by the Labour MP Rebecca Long Bailey, highlights the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s report that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) committed maladministration of state pension changes. As a result, some women lost the chance to make informed decisions about their retirement and Parliament therefore needs to provide a remedy. (House of Commons Library briefing)

• A general debate on mobile phone thefts. In her application for this debate, the Labour MP Dawn Butler noted that there was a 153% increase in mobile phone thefts in 2024 and highlighted that, on average, a mobile phone is stolen every four minutes in Westminster. (House of Commons Library briefing)

Adjournment: The Labour MP Dr Lauren Sullivan has the adjournment debate, on the impact of river crossings on her Gravesham constituency.

Westminster Hall: There are two debates today, on:

• the future of music education (House of Commons Library briefing); and

• safeguarding children with allergies at school (House of Commons Library briefing).

Legislative committees:

• Bus Services (No. 2) Bill: The Public Bill Committee will continue its detailed scrutiny of the Bill, resuming at the point where it concluded its work at the earlier sitting on Tuesday, 1 July. The Committee is scheduled to conclude its deliberations at its next sitting, on Tuesday 8 July.

Oral questions: Peers will begin the day by questioning Ministers for 40 minutes, on job losses following the Grangemouth oil refinery closure; financial assistance to housing associations; and the state of UK–EU defence and security cooperation. The topic of a fourth question will be decided by a ballot drawn at lunchtime on Tuesday 1 July.

Main business: Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Committee, day 8). Committee Stage on this Bill had initially been scheduled to conclude at the seventh sitting on Monday 23 June. Due to slow progress in advance of that sitting, the Government Whips scheduled an additional sitting for Thursday 3 July. However, further slow progress means that 59 groups of amendments relating to over half of the Bill’s clauses are yet to be debated. The House made it through just seven groups of amendments at the last sitting on 23 June. It will therefore be difficult for the House to complete Committee Stage at this sitting. Despite this, the weekly Forthcoming Business document published by the Government Whips does not list any further sittings beyond today.

The next clauses and groups of amendments to be discussed relate to the cost of school uniforms and the registration and monitoring of children not in school. (House of Lords Library briefing)

No select committees are scheduled to meet today.

Private Members’ Bills (PMBs): Four Private Members’ Bills are scheduled to have their Remaining Stages, that is, their Report Stage and Third Readings today. Each one is supported by the Government. Thirteen Fridays per Session are allocated for consideration of Private Members’ Bills. On the final six of these Fridays priority is given to bills that have reached Report Stage and Third Reading over those still awaiting a Second Reading. Despite four of these six Fridays having already passed, today marks the first time in this Parliament that Report Stage will be reached in the Commons by any Private Members’ Bill apart from the assisted dying bill.

The four bills are:

• Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill: Sponsored by the Liberal Democrat MP Danny Chambers, this Bill would restrict the commercial import and non-commercial movement of dogs, cats and ferrets into the UK on grounds of animal welfare.

• Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) Bill: Sponsored by the Conservative MP Aphra Brandreth, this Bill would amend the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 to improve enforcement in response to incidents of livestock worrying by dogs, including by extending the powers of police to obtain evidence, extending the scope of relevant offences, and increasing maximum penalties.

• Absent Voting (Elections in Scotland and Wales) Bill: Sponsored by the Labour MP Tracy Gilbert, this Bill would amend electoral law to make it easier for voters in Scotland and Wales to apply for postal and proxy voting, including by enabling online applications and by aligning postal voting renewal cycles. (House of Commons Library briefing)

• Space Industry (Indemnities) Bill: Sponsored by the Labour MP John Grady, this Bill would require spaceflight operator licences to specify a limit on the amount of the licensee’s liability to indemnify the UK Government and other persons against any claims brought against them for losses and damages.

No amendments have been tabled to any of the four Bills thus far. If none are tabled, then the Bills will each proceed straight to Third Reading. Private Members’ Bills that became Acts of Parliament in the 2019-24 Parliament received an average of 66 minutes’ scrutiny during their remaining stages, so it is likely that there will be time for the House to conclude proceedings on all four bills today.

The House will then move on to the Bills further down the Order Paper, all of which are Second Readings. After 14:30, any Private Members’ Bills on the Order Paper can only progress further if they are unopposed. If any Member shouts “Object!” to a bill, then it cannot proceed, and must be rescheduled for a later date. If the Government does not support a bill, a Whip will usually object. Today, 67 bills are listed for Second Reading, so at 14:30, the House will engage in a long and repetitive process: the Chair will call on a Member to move their bill’s Second Reading, a Whip will object, the Member will name a new date, and the Chair will move on to the next Bill, repeating the cycle 67 times. If there is no shout of objection, a Bill will proceed to its Committee stage without any Second Reading debate.

The Hansard Society’s guide to Private Members’ Bills explains in more detail the various types of PMBs and how the legislative process for PMBs differs from that for Government bills.

Adjournment: The Labour MP Danny Beales has the adjournment debate, on the future of services for adults with learning difficulties in Hillingdon.

Main business: Four debates are scheduled to take place: three on Private Members’ Bills and one on a Select Committee report:

• Mortgage Prisoners Inquiry Bill (Third Reading): Sponsored by the Liberal Democrat Lord Sharkey, this Bill would establish a public inquiry into mortgage prisoners, defined as those who are unable to switch mortgages to a better deal even if they are up to date with their payments. (House of Lords Library briefing)

• A debate on a report from the Constitution Committee, Executive oversight and responsibility for the UK constitution, which “examines the extent to which the structures and processes within the executive which ensure that the constitution is respected and safeguarded are effective”. (Government response to the report, House of Lords Library briefing)

• Still-Birth (Definition) Bill (Second Reading): Sponsored by the Liberal Democrat Baroness Benjamin, this Bill would amend the legal definition of stillbirth in England and Wales to apply from 20 weeks into a pregnancy rather than the current 24 weeks. (House of Lords Library briefing)

• Imprisonment for Public Protection (Re-sentencing) Bill (Committee): Sponsored by the Labour peer Lord Woodley, this Bill would require the Government, within two years, to re-sentence all individuals still serving sentences of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP), a form of indeterminate sentence abolished in 2012. (House of Lords Library briefing)

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