Questions and statements: At 14:30, Home Office Ministers will respond to MPs’ questions. Topics include community policing, fraud, visas for healthcare workers, domestic abuse, asylum accommodation, temporary worker visas, inter-constabulary cooperation, small boat crossings, state threats, knife crime, shoplifting, anti-social use of off-road bikes, and illegal employment by asylum seekers.

Any Urgent Questions or Ministerial Statements will follow.

Presentation of Bill: Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron will present the Water Regulation Bill, a Private Member’s Bill to replace the Water Services Regulation Authority with a Clean Water Authority.

Main business: Pension Schemes Bill (Second Reading). This Bill will reform the regulation of pension schemes. Specifically, it will make the following changes:

• Local Government Pension Scheme: Under the Bill, all 86 local pension funds will be required to join a centralised “asset pool company”. These companies will take over responsibility for implementing the investment strategies of the individual funds. The Bill will give Ministers the power to set rules and conditions for how these companies operate, and to issue directions to them.

• Pension scheme surpluses: Trustees of “defined benefit” (final salary) pension schemes will be allowed to release surplus funds to their sponsoring employers, with the aim of boosting business investment.

• Value for money: “Defined contribution” pension schemes will be required to assess, disclose and compare their value for money. The schemes covered by the new framework will be specified by Ministers in regulations.

• Consolidation: Ministers will be able to make regulations to require small dormant pension pots – specifically, those worth under £1,000, though Ministers may amend this figure by regulations – to be consolidated into a limited number of authorised consolidator schemes.

• Scale: Multi-employer defined contribution pension schemes will be required to have at least £25 billion of assets in their main default arrangement by 2030 or to be on track to achieve that level by 2035. This is designed to increase the scale and efficiency of pension schemes.

• Contractual override: Contract-based pension providers will be permitted to transfer a pension to another arrangement or provider, or to vary contractual terms, without the individual member’s consent, where it is in the best interest of the member. This is designed to allow schemes to consolidate underperforming and legacy arrangements.

• Default retirement solutions: Defined contribution pension schemes will be required to provide default retirement solutions for their members, from which the members can choose to opt out.

• Superfunds: A legal framework will be introduced for “superfunds”, entities that take over and consolidate defined benefit pension schemes from employers.

• Terminal illness: In the definition of “terminal illness” in the Pension Protection Fund and Financial Assistance Scheme legislation, qualifying life expectancy will be extended from six months to 12 months.

• Pension Protection Levy: The restriction that prevents the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) from reducing its pension protection levy to zero or a low amount will be removed, in view of the PPF’s strong financial position.

• Pensions dashboards: Pensions dashboards will be introduced to provide users with their whole pensions picture in one place online.

At Second Reading, MPs are debating and voting on the principles underlying the Bill. They cannot propose amendments to the text at this stage. (House of Commons Library briefing)

Motion to approve delegated legislation: MPs will be asked to approve the draft Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (Amendment, etc.) Regulations 2025.

Presentation of Public Petitions: The Liberal Democrat MP Tom Gordon will present a petition calling for a ringfenced proportion of the proceeds from the sales of Harrogate Spring Water to be spent in Harrogate, rather than going to North Yorkshire Council which has received the money since Harrogate Borough Council was abolished in 2023.

Adjournment: The Labour MP Margaret Mullane has the adjournment debate, on special educational needs and disability provision in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. (House of Commons Library briefing)

Westminster Hall: MPs will debate e-petition 700024, which calls for a ban on fossil fuel advertising and sponsorship. The petition has acquired over 110,000 signatures. (House of Commons Library briefing)

Legislative committee:

• Delegated Legislation Committee meeting today: to consider the draft Online Safety Super-Complaints (Eligibility and Procedural Matters) Regulations 2025.

Oral questions: At 15:00, Peers will begin the day by questioning Ministers for 40 minutes, on mothers in prison with babies; unpaid tax; the impact of AI on the news media; and recruitment and retention in the armed forces.

Main business: Renters’ Rights Bill (Report, day 2). This is the second of three days allocated for the Bill’s Report Stage, with the final day scheduled for Tuesday 15 July. At Report Stage, the whole House votes on proposed amendments; it is the stage where Government defeats are most common. On the first day of Report Stage last week, the Government was defeated on three sets of amendments, relating to the eviction of students, the eviction of tenants to rehouse agricultural workers, and the eviction of tenants to provide housing for carers. The groups of amendments which are to be debated at this sitting relate to:

• changes to the new right to request permission to keep a pet;

• rights to make home adaptations for people with disabilities;

• requirements for the Government to assess the impact of the Bill;

• financial penalties and offences for landlords;

• the rights of landlords to require a guarantor from tenants;

• the Bill’s application to joint tenancies; and

• tenant deposit requirements.

Grand Committee: Peers will debate five draft Statutory Instruments:

• the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities etc.) (Amendment) Order 2025;

• the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) (Threshold Amount) (Amendment) Order 2025;

• the Combined Authorities (Adult Education Functions) (Amendment) Order 2025;

• the Sheep Carcase (Classification and Price Reporting) (England) Regulations 2025; and

• the Subsidy Control (Subsidies and Schemes of Interest or Particular Interest) (Amendment) Regulations 2025.

Highlights include:

House of Commons

• Public Accounts Committee (15:30): The Permanent Secretary and other senior officials from the Cabinet Office will give evidence on civil service pensions. The National Audit Office investigated the administration of civil service pensions earlier this year, concluding that the Cabinet Office has been unable to hold the current scheme administrator to account when performance has declined. The report highlighted a rise in complaints and poor customer service levels.

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 Bills: Two Private Bills appear on the Order Paper.

Norwich Livestock Market Bill (Third Reading): The Bill would allow its promoter, Norwich City Council, to relocate Norwich Livestock Market to a location outside the City. Having already passed through the Lords, the Bill is set to complete its Commons stages without objection and await Royal Assent.

Then, for the tenth time, Sir Christopher Chope has signalled his intention to block the Royal Albert Hall Bill (Second Reading). He has once again used the procedural device of tabling a motion to delay the Bill’s Second Reading by six months – a tactic used to halt Private Bills from progressing without debate. Tabling this motion each week prevents the House from voting on the Second Reading and could delay the Bill indefinitely.

However, at Business Questions last week, the Leader of the House of Commons indicated that the Chair of Ways and Means – the most senior Deputy Speaker, responsible for overseeing Private Bills in the House of Commons – intends to use the power assigned to the Chair in the Standing Orders to force a debate on the Bill’s Second Reading on Monday 14 July. Under the Standing Orders the Chair of Ways and Means can schedule a debate on a deferred Private Bill, even in Government time, with the debate permitted to last up to three hours.

For more on this procedure and the specifics of this case, see a previous edition of this Bulletin. We also explored the Royal Albert Hall Bill in depth in a recent episode of our Parliament Matters podcast.

Questions and statements: Shortly after 11:30, the Lord Chancellor and other Justice Ministers will face questions from MPs. Topics include the Crown Court backlog, private contractors in the justice system, digital courts, legal aid, prisoner releases, the terms and conditions of service for prison officers, the pension age for prison officers, violence against women and girls, victims of grooming gangs, prison capacity, and probation.

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 Nesil Caliskan will seek to introduce a Ten Minute Rule Bill titled the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (Training in Schools) Bill. This legislation would require the evaluation of training in special educational needs and disabilities in initial teacher education. It would also mandate ongoing training as part of the continuing professional development for certain school staff. See our Hansard Society guide for more information about the parliamentary procedure for Ten Minute Rule Bills.

Main business: Football Governance Bill (Report and Third Reading). This 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 mediation process for the distribution of revenue throughout the football pyramid, with possible IFR intervention as a ‘backstop’ mechanism. As outlined in an earlier Bulletin, the Government heavily amended the Bill during its passage through the House of Lords. The Government also made further amendments during the Bill’s consideration at the Commons Public Bill Committee stage:

• allowing the levy imposed on clubs by the IFR to be used to finance all of its functions, meaning that the IFR will be fully funded by the levy; and

• amending the procedure for the IFR’s revenue distribution backstop, so that instead of choosing between the proposals offered by each league in mediation, the IFR can impose its own solution, drawing on the leagues’ proposals.

At Report Stage, the House will consider further amendments, and all MPs will be eligible to speak to and vote on them. Amendments will only be put to the House for a decision if they are tabled by a Minister or are selected for a vote by the Speaker.

The amendments tabled by the Official Opposition, and specifically by the Conservative Shadow Minister Louie French, are the most likely to be selected for a vote. These include amendments that would:

• require the Government to consult on lifting the ban on consuming alcohol within view of football games; and

• require the IFR to report on how its regulatory activities are affecting ticket prices, both in its annual report and its “state of the game” report, which will outline the key issues affecting English football.

The Liberal Democrats have also proposed amendments:

• to prevent clubs and competitions from engaging in gambling advertising or sponsorship;

• to require at least 10 Premier League matches, the League Cup Final, and the lower league playoff finals to be broadcast on free-to-air television channels;

• to give fans a veto on club proposals, through a Supporters’ Trust or equivalent fan body;

• to ensure that a club’s assets are recognised as the property of the club rather than of its owners;

• to require the IFR to consider whether a prospective owner has been complicit in violations of international or domestic human rights law or involved in modern slavery or human trafficking; and

• to add to the IFR’s objectives the provision of care and support for people who have developed neurodegenerative conditions linked to their career in English football.

Under the programme order agreed by the House after Second Reading, the Report Stage debate will conclude by 18:00 at the latest. Once the debate is concluded, any votes, some of which may require a division, will take place. In the time remaining between the final vote on Report Stage and 19:00 at the latest, there will be a short Third Reading debate, which usually involves only brief remarks from both frontbenches. The House will vote on Third Reading at 19:00 or whenever the debate concludes, whichever is earlier.

As the Bill has already completed its stages in the House of Lords and has since been amended by the House of Commons, it will return to the Lords if given a Third Reading. At this ‘ping-pong’ stage, Peers will consider their response to the Commons amendments. However, since these amendments do not overturn or conflict with the decisions previously made by the Lords, this stage is not expected to be contentious. (House of Commons Library briefing)

Adjournment: The Labour MP Dan Carden has the adjournment debate, on safeguarding combat sports for children.

Westminster Hall: There are five debates, on:

• alcohol and cancer (House of Commons Library briefing / POSTnote (Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology));

• local government reform in Cambridgeshire (House of Commons Library briefing);

• the use of generative artificial intelligence in schools (Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology briefing);

• military helicopters and blood cancers; and

• Down’s syndrome regression disorder research.

Legislative committee:

• Delegated Legislation Committee meeting today: to consider the draft Electricity and Gas (Energy Company Obligation) (Amendment) Order 2025.

Oral questions: At 14:30, Peers will begin the day by questioning Ministers for 40 minutes, on the Advanced Research and Innovation Agency; energy and water consumption by data centres; the import of forest risk commodities; and reversing recent changes to the law for small companies filing annual accounts.

Main business: Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill (Committee, day 2). This is the second of six days currently scheduled for the Bill’s detailed clause-by-clause scrutiny.

The first set of clauses and amendments scheduled for debate at today’s sitting concern the proposed new offences of supplying or handling articles intended for use in immigration-related crime. Specifically, the amendments propose to:

• clarify the threshold for establishing intent;

• limit the offences to individuals acting for financial gain;

• limit the offences to people smugglers and exclude asylum seekers;

• exclude certain items, such as telephones, from the scope of the offences;

• expand and clarify the scope of the proposed defence of “reasonable excuse”; and

• protect victims of modern slavery, ensuring they are not criminalised under these provisions.

The amendments on modern slavery have been tabled by the former Prime Minister Baroness (Theresa) May of Maidenhead and have been signed by the Chair of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, Lord Alton of Liverpool, and the former Lady Justice of Appeal, Baroness Butler-Sloss.

Peers will then consider the proposed new offence of endangering another person’s life or risking serious injury during a sea crossing to the United Kingdom from France, Belgium or the Netherlands. The proposed amendments would

• broaden the offence to cover anyone who tries to enter the UK in an unseaworthy vessel;

• limit its scope so that it applies to people smugglers, not asylum seekers; and

• exempt victims of modern slavery from prosecution under this offence.

Once again, the amendment on modern slavery is tabled by Baroness May of Maidenhead.

Divisions at Committee Stage are uncommon, since in the House of Lords an amendment which is rejected at Committee Stage cannot be proposed again at Report Stage. Many Peers therefore prefer to wait until Report Stage to push any amendment to a vote. (House of Lords Library briefing)

Highlights include:

House of Commons

• Science, Innovation and Technology Committee (09:30): Representatives of the US tech firm Palantir and NHS England will give evidence on the use of technology and data in the NHS.

• Culture, Media and Sport Committee (10:00): Sir Chris Bryant MP, Minister for Creative Industries, and representatives from Creative UK and the Creative Industries Taskforce, will give evidence on the Creative Industries Sector Plan.

• Business and Trade Committee (Sub-Committee on Economic Security, Arms and Export Controls) (10:00): Senior executives from Marks and Spencer and the Co-op Group, both organisations recently targeted by major cyber-attacks, will give evidence on UK economic security. They will be followed by a panel of academics and other experts.

• 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, which is responsible for oversight of the Office for National Statistics. This follows an initial evidence session with the same three witnesses held by the Committee last week.

• Foreign Affairs Committee (10:30): The Permanent Secretary and other senior officials from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) will give evidence on the work of the department.

• Modernisation Committee (11:45): The Clerk of the House of Commons, the Clerk Assistant, and other senior officials responsible for the operation of the House, will give evidence on access to the House of Commons and its procedures.

• Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee (13:00): Angela Rayner MP, Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, will give evidence on the Spending Review.

• Foreign Affairs Committee (13:30): The Foreign Secretary, David Lammy MP, will give evidence on the work of the Foreign Office.

• Justice Committee (14:30): Lord Timpson, Prisons Minister, will give evidence on tackling drugs in prison and on rehabilitation and resettlement.

House of Lords

• Justice and Home Affairs Committee (14:00): Home Secretary Yvette Cooper MP will give evidence on the work of the Home Office.

• International Agreements Committee (14:00): Academics will give evidence on the General Terms for the UK–US Economic Prosperity Deal.

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

Details of Wednesday’s business can be found below.

Questions and statements: At 11:30, Scotland Office Ministers will face questions from MPs. Topics include the impact of the Spending Review, the future of AI in Scotland, the Scottish broadcasting sector, the Industrial Strategy, Scottish agriculture, the Supreme Court judgment on the Equality Act, and clean energy in Scotland.

Any Urgent Questions or Ministerial Statements will follow.

Ten Minute Rule Motion: The Labour MP Chris Bloore will seek to introduce a Ten Minute Rule Bill titled the Schools (Allergy Safety) Bill. It would require schools to maintain an allergy management policy and hold a supply of adrenaline auto-injectors for treating reactions, and would require allergy training for school staff.

Main business: Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill (Committee and Remaining Stages). Just eight days after a chaotic Second Reading debate, during which the Government pledged to remove or scale back several parts of this welfare reform bill, the legislation is set to move swiftly through Committee of the Whole House, Report Stage, and Third Reading in the Commons in a single day.

Committee of the Whole House (CWH) enables all MPs to take part in a Bill’s Committee Stage directly in the House of Commons Chamber, rather than delegating scrutiny to a smaller group of MPs in a Public Bill Committee. During CWH, MPs examine each clause and schedule to decide whether it should “stand part of the Bill” (in other words, whether it should remain in the Bill) and vote on proposed amendments.

In the Bill originally introduced, the first four clauses would have made changes to rates of Universal Credit. Clause 5 would have introduced stricter eligibility requirements for claiming Personal Independence Payment (PIP), regardless of whether the claimants were new or existing claimants. A summary of the provisions was included in last week’s edition of the Bulletin.

Facing strong opposition from their own backbenchers, Ministers conceded ahead of the Second Reading debate that the stricter eligibility requirements in Clause 5 would not apply to existing PIP claimants. Ministers also committed to protecting the value of the Universal Credit health element in real terms – for both current recipients and new claimants with the most severe conditions.

In response to further concerns from Labour MPs about introducing new eligibility rules ahead of a planned review of the PIP system, Welfare Minister Sir Stephen Timms MP announced in the Chamber, just before the Second Reading vote, that the Bill would no longer include changes to PIP eligibility. Instead, the Government would wait for the outcome of his review before making any changes.

The Government has therefore tabled a series of amendments and new clauses to the Bill for consideration in Committee. (House of Commons Library briefing)

These include:

• Universal Credit: A new clause would impose a duty on the Secretary of State to increase the rates of the Universal Credit health element in line with inflation for both existing claimants and new claimants with serious conditions. This new clause is accompanied by a series of related technical amendments to other parts of the Bill.

• Personal Independence Payment: An amendment would remove Clause 5 of the Bill, which originally proposed changes to PIP. At Committee Stage MPs vote on whether each clause should be included in the Bill, this amendment is therefore technically out of order and will not be selected, since the House can simply vote against the question that Clause 5 “stand part of the Bill”. However, when MPs intend to oppose a specific clause it is customary to give notice of their intention by tabling an amendment of this kind. It is rarer for Ministers to do so, as is the case here, because it is rare for Ministers to remove entire clauses from their own Bill.

• The title of the Bill: Amendments would alter both the “short title” (the name commonly used to refer to the Bill) and the “long title” (an introductory paragraph which sets out the purposes of the Bill), to reflect the removal of the PIP provisions. The Bill will be renamed the Universal Credit Bill.

Under the programme order agreed by the House at Second Reading, debate in Committee of the Whole House must conclude by 18:00 at the latest, at which point the questions on any clauses to be included in the Bill, any Government amendments and new clauses, and any other amendments or new clauses selected for a vote will be put to the House. In Committee of the Whole House, decisions on the selection of amendments are made by the senior Deputy Speaker.

The structure of the debate has not yet been confirmed. The senior Deputy Speaker may choose to group related amendments and clauses into separate periods of debate – for example, one focusing on Universal Credit and another on Personal Independence Payment. Alternatively, all amendments and clauses could be grouped together for discussion in a single debate, with votes on the amendments and clauses all taken at the end at 18:00.

Once all votes in Committee have been concluded, the House will proceed to the Remaining Stages which – under the programme order – can run until 19:00 at the latest. Normally, Report Stage follows Committee Stage, but in this case, no amendments or new clauses are expected to be tabled for Report Stage. Since MPs are tabling their amendments for Committee Stage immediately beforehand, the House is likely to move straight to Third Reading without the need for a Report Stage debate.

Third Reading is expected to involve brief remarks from the frontbenches, followed by a vote on whether to approve the Bill in its revised form, and if so to send it to the House of Lords. Because the Speaker is expected to certify the Bill as a Money Bill – meaning its provisions deal solely with the public finances – it will receive only limited scrutiny in the Upper House and no further amendments will be made to it by Peers. For more information on Money Bills, see our Hansard Society guide.

Presentation of Public Petitions: Two petitions are set to be presented:

• on Clarion Housing management services (by Labour MP Dr Rupa Huq); and

• on the Omagh Bombing Inquiry (by Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi).

Adjournment: The Labour MP Liam Byrne has the adjournment debate, on the potential merits of a public inquiry into the Birmingham pub bombings in 1974. (House of Commons Library briefing on statutory public inquiries / on non-statutory public inquiries)

Westminster Hall: There are five debates, on:

• the role of Neighbourhood Plans in planning decisions (House of Commons Library briefing);

• the role of Sports England in tackling racism in sport;

• Government support for early years providers (House of Commons Library briefing);

• the LGBT veterans Financial Recognition Scheme (House of Commons Library briefing); and

• glaucoma awareness (House of Commons Library briefing).

Legislative committees:

• Delegated Legislation Committees meeting today: to consider the draft Electricity Capacity (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2025; the draft Transport Act 2000 (Air Traffic Services) (Prescribed Terms) Regulations 2025; and the draft Buckinghamshire Council, Surrey County Council and Warwickshire County Council (Housing and Regeneration Functions) Regulations 2025.

Oral questions: Peers will begin the day by questioning Ministers for 40 minutes, on the early release of prisoners; the EU’s Entry/Exit System; and Fujitsu’s suitability to hold government contracts. The topic of a fourth question will be decided by a ballot drawn at lunchtime on Monday 7 July.

Main business: House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill (Report, day 2). Peers will begin the second of two days scheduled for Report Stage consideration of the Bill to remove the right of the 90 remaining hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords. (House of Lords Library briefing)

On the first day, the House considered amendments relating to the roles of the Earl Marshal and the Lord Great Chamberlain and whether they should be permitted to remain members of the House of Lords, the pace of abolition of the hereditary peers, future proposals for democratic reform including reform of the appointments process for life peerages, term limits and retirement ages, and the party balance in the House.

Peers agreed to a Conservative amendment, against the Government’s wishes, to stop the immediate removal of the hereditary peers at the end of this Session. Instead it would abolish the system of by-elections through which hereditary peers are currently replaced. Under the compromise struck in 1999 during passage of the House of Lords Act, 90 hereditary peers were allowed to remain in the Lords, with vacancies (on death or retirement) filled through by-elections. In these contests, any hereditary peer not currently sitting in the House could stand as a candidate, and only the sitting hereditary peers from the same party could vote. By ending by-elections the amendment would ensure that once a hereditary peer dies or steps down, they would not be replaced, allowing for a gradual phasing out of hereditary peers over time. No other amendments were agreed.

At the last general election, the Labour Party’s manifesto included several pledges in relation to Lords reform: the immediate removal of hereditary peers, a mandatory retirement age of 80, a new participation requirement, stronger mechanisms to remove disgraced peers, and a reformed appointments process. In the long term, Labour committed to replacing the Lords with an “alternative second chamber that is more representative of the regions and nations”. Until last week’s debate, little had been said about the timetable for reform beyond the removal of the hereditary peers. However, during the debate, the Leader of the House of Lords, Baroness Smith of Basildon, promised to establish a dedicated Lords select committee to explore the issues of retirement age and participation requirements. Notably, she did not propose that the committee examine the appointments process or address the size of the House.

In today’s debate, the House will consider and vote on further amendments to the Bill, though not all of these amendments will be pushed to a vote. The next groups of amendments propose:

• that all Lords Ministers should receive a salary;

• granting life peerages to 56 of the hereditary peers;

• that a person who holds lasting power of attorney for a peer should be able to approve a retirement from the House of Lords on their behalf;

• that life peerages may be created without the right to sit in the House of Lords;

• a participation requirement so that Peers must attend on more than 10 percent of the House’s sitting days;

• a term limit of 20 years for new peerages;

• setting the House of Lords on a pathway to becoming smaller than the House of Commons by (i) during this Parliament limiting the Prime Minister to appointing one new peer for every peer who leaves the House, (ii) in future Parliaments, reducing this further, to one new peer for every two who leave, until the Lords is smaller than the Commons, and (iii) once that threshold is met, prohibiting the Prime Minister from making any appointments that would cause the Lords to exceed the size of the Commons;

• clarifying the application of gender equality to the inheritance of hereditary peerages;

• requiring a review of how the Act has affected the operation and functioning of the House of Lords;

• requiring a report on whether the name “House of Lords” remains appropriate once the hereditary peers have been removed; and

• inserting a preamble to the Bill to reflect Labour’s manifesto commitment to “an alternative second chamber that is more representative of the nations and regions”.

Grand Committee: Peers will debate three National Policy Statements (NPSs) covering energy, renewable energy infrastructure, and electricity networks infrastructure. These Statements set the framework for Government decisions on Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects, which are subject to a centralised approval process rather than local authority planning procedures. Under the Planning Act 2008, the Government must lay draft National Policy Statements before Parliament. If either House passes a resolution, or a committee makes recommendations about the NPS, Ministers are required to make a statement in response. An NPS can only be designated if it is either actively approved by the House of Commons or if a period of 21 sitting days pass without the House of Commons voting to reject it. Because scrutiny of NPSs is primarily the responsibility of the Commons, Lords debates on these statements are general debates and have no binding effect.

Highlights include:

House of Commons

• Transport Committee (09:15): The Minister for Rail, Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill, and the Chief Executive of HS2 Ltd will give evidence on delivering major infrastructure and learning from HS2.

• Environmental Audit Committee (09:30): Emma Hardy MP, the Minister for Water and Flooding, will give evidence on flood resilience in England.

• Health and Social Care Committee (09:30): Stephen Kinnock MP, Minister for Care, as well as representatives of NHS England, the Nuffield Trust, and the British Dental Association, will give evidence on NHS dentistry.

• Business and Trade Committee (Sub-Committee on Economic Security, Arms and Export Controls) (13:30): The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Pat McFadden MP, and the Minister for Trade Policy and Economic Security, Douglas Alexander MP, will give evidence on UK economic security.

• Women and Equalities Committee (14:20): Baroness Bertin, the lead reviewer of the Independent Pornography Review, will give evidence on misogyny and online content.

• Welsh Affairs Committee (14:30): Jo Stevens MP, Secretary of State for Wales, and Dame Nia Griffith MP, Wales Office Minister, will give evidence on the Office’s work.

• Speaker’s Conference on the security of candidates, MPs and elections (15:35): Representatives from social media technology giants X/Twitter and Meta/Facebook will give evidence.

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, Cabinet Office Ministers will face questions from MPs. Topics include the UK’s relationship with the EU, visa rules for travel to the EU, civil service relocation outside of London, the Civil Service Code, public engagement with politics, a duty of candour for public bodies, public procurement, cooperation with devolved governments, and national security.

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 general debates, the subjects for which were chosen by the Backbench Business Committee:

• Attainment and engagement of boys in education (Sam Rushworth, Labour): In his application to the Committee for time for this debate, Rushworth explained that “boys are underachieving at every level of education” and that there “is no strategy for addressing the gender attainment gap”. Parliament, he argued, should address this: “I do not think we should be letting down the young men we represent.” (House of Commons Library debate pack / House of Commons Library briefing)

• Children’s health (Dr Simon Opher, Labour): In his application, Dr Opher argued that the Government “have made a specific pledge to raise the healthiest generation of children in UK history” and that this would provide “the first opportunity for MPs to actually debate it.” (House of Commons Library debate pack)

Adjournment: The Liberal Democrat MP Tom Gordon has the adjournment debate, on disabled bus passes. (House of Commons Library briefing)

Westminster Hall: There are debates on two topics today:

• state support for victims of terrorism (House of Commons Library briefing); and

• London’s contribution to the national economy (House of Commons Library debate pack / House of Commons Library briefing).

Legislative committees: There are no legislative committees scheduled to meet today.

Oral questions: Peers will begin the day at 11:00 by questioning Ministers for 40 minutes, on proposals for a national tenant body; the re-listing of companies from London to New York; and tariffs on fisheries exports from the Falkland Islands. The topic of a fourth question will be decided by a ballot drawn at lunchtime on Tuesday 8 July.

Main business:

General Cemetery Bill (Third Reading). This is a Private Bill, as it affects specific individuals or bodies rather than the public in general. Its purpose is to update the corporate and regulatory structure of the General Cemetery Company, which manages the Kensal Green Cemetery and West London Crematorium. The Bill would enable the company to access grant funding, to extinguish burial rights in grave spaces, and to disturb or re-inter human remains to increase the space for further interments. The Bill has received no petitions against it and had its Second Reading without a debate or division. Therefore it is likely that Third Reading will be similarly agreed on the nod.

Supply and Appropriation (Main Estimates) (No. 2) Bill (All Stages). This bill gives statutory authority to the Main Estimates which were debated and agreed by the House of Commons last month. The Estimates are the Government’s departmental spending plans, presented to Parliament for approval every year. These requests for funds are made in at least two and sometimes up to four stages throughout the year, as part of the ‘Estimates Cycle’. The Main Estimates set out the formal annual spending plans for each department and are presented every year in advance of the Summer recess. Because this Bill relates exclusively to public spending, it is certified as a Money Bill and will therefore go through all its House of Lords stages in a single day and be passed without amendment.

Once the Bill receives Royal Assent, the Government will have the legislative approval necessary for the money sought by each department to be released from the Consolidated Fund (the public bank account created in 1787 at the Bank of England for the purpose of having a single fund into which all public revenues are paid, and from which all payments for public services are made). See the Hansard Society’s guide to how Parliament approves Government spending for more detail.

Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill (Committee, day 3). Peers will continue the clause-by-clause scrutiny of this Bill and consideration of proposed amendments, starting at the point where the House finished at its sitting on Tuesday 8 July. (House of Lords Library briefing)

Product Regulation and Metrology Bill (Lords Consideration of Commons Amendments). This debate will interrupt the debate on the Border Security Bill, as part of “lunch break business”. This Bill has already completed its stages in the House of Lords, after which it was sent to the House of Commons. MPs then agreed to several Government amendments to the Bill, which the Lords must now consider. However, the amendments were technical and drafting changes, so Lords consideration is likely to be relatively straightforward, after which the Bill will await Royal Assent. For more information on the Bill and its provisions, see this recent edition of the Bulletin.

Highlights include:

House of Commons

• Public Accounts Committee (10:00): The Permanent Secretary and other senior officials from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) will give evidence on the cost of maintaining the FCDO’s overseas estate. Earlier this year, the National Audit Office published a report which concluded that the overseas estate is “in a poor and deteriorating condition” and has a “maintenance backlog of nearly half a billion pounds”. It noted that the “FCDO has invested in its estate using proceeds from selling land and buildings, but there are now no more significant assets to sell”.

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

Private Members’ Bills (PMBs): Five Private Members’ Bills are scheduled to have their Remaining Stages (Report Stage and Third Reading) 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. This is the final PMB Friday that has been scheduled by the House.

The parliamentary session will now almost certainly be extended beyond July, so the Government might allocate further PMB Fridays after the Summer recess on a pro rata basis to reflect the extended length of the session. If they do not, any bills which have not received their Third Reading will not become law. Those bills that have received their Third Reading will require more time in the Commons if the House of Lords choose to make any amendments, though it is rare for the Lords to make such amendments.

The five bills that are scheduled to have their Report and Third Reading today are:

• Unauthorised Entry to Football Matches Bill (Linsey Farnsworth, Labour): This would create an offence of unauthorised entry at football matches, for which a football banning order could be imposed. (House of Commons Library briefing)

• Rare Cancers Bill (Dr Scott Arthur, Labour): This would make provision to incentivise research and investment into the treatment of rare types of cancer. (House of Commons Library briefing)

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

• Courts (Remote Hearings) Bill (Oliver Ryan, Labour): This would allow certain civil and family court hearings to be conducted remotely.

• Controlled Drugs (Procedure for Specification) Bill (Alex McIntyre, Labour): This would change the process for amending the list of “controlled drugs” from an Order in Council to Regulations made by a Minister. (House of Commons Library briefing)

If no amendments are tabled for a bill, then it can skip Report Stage and move straight to Third Reading. At the time of writing, no amendments have been proposed for any of the five bills.

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 must be rescheduled for a later date. A Whip will usually object to bills opposed by the Government. As today is the final PMB Friday scheduled for this session, several dozen 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 bill’s sponsoring Member to move Second Reading, a Whip will object, the Member will name a new date, and the Chair will then move on to the next bill, repeating the cycle dozens of times. If there is no shout of objection to a bill, it 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 Conservative MP Joy Morrissey has the adjournment debate, on the protection of the Colne Valley Regional Park.

The House will not be sitting.

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