Questions and statements: At 14:30, Home Office Ministers will respond to MPs’ questions. Topics include tackling violence against women and girls, rural crime, community policing, and the asylum system and migration trends.

Any Urgent Questions or Ministerial Statements will follow.

Select Committee statement: Emma Lewell-Buck, a member of the Defence Select Committee, will make a statement about a new report from the Committee, titled Developing AI capacity and expertise in UK Defence. The report stems from an inquiry into how artificial intelligence (AI) could transform UK defence. Initiated in the last Parliament, the inquiry was carried forward by the reconstituted Defence Committee following the general election.

Main business: Two backbench business debates:

• Hospice and palliative care: This topic was requested by the Liberal Democrat MP Paul Kohler to inform the wider debate about the assisted dying bill. As he noted in his application to the Backbench Business Committee, “the important subtext throughout [the Second Reading debate on the bill in November] was hospice funding, palliative care and the lottery of where people could or could not get good palliative care. There were also legal uncertainties over the power of doctors and their legal liability, post-Shipman, to give sufficient analgesics to address suffering where that might hasten death; that issue came up time and again. This debate will allow us to air these matters properly.”

• The impact of food and diet on obesity: This topic was proposed by Dr Simon Opher, a Labour MP and former GP with nearly 30 years of experience before entering Parliament. In his application to the Backbench Business Committee Dr Opher emphasised the timeliness of the debate, noting that the Minister for Public Health had said there would be policy development in this area in Spring 2025. He also highlighted the recent radical recommendations made by the House of Lords committee inquiry into food, diet and obesity, arguing that these significant proposals deserve thorough discussion in Parliament.

Delegated Legislation Committees (DLCs): will consider the following Statutory Instruments (SIs):

• Two draft SIs which will tighten the rules for ID verification for those setting up or running companies.

• The draft Clean Heat Market Mechanism Regulations 2024, which impose an obligation on large manufacturers of oil and gas boilers that they must sell a specified number of heat pumps as a proportion of their number of boiler sales. Manufacturers earn credits depending on the number of heat pumps installed and a fine is imposed for each credit below the annual target.

Adjournment: The Liberal Democrat MP Alison Bennett has the adjournment debate on the impact of sixth form college strikes in Sussex on students.

Westminster Hall: MPs will debate e-petition 661407, which calls on the Government to give parents and guardians the right to access the social media accounts of their children. The petition has acquired just over 126,000 signatures.

Oral questions: Peers will begin the day by questioning Ministers for 40 minutes, on consideration of those with well-founded human rights claims in the immigration system; the secondary market in driving tests; the impact of the increase in National Insurance contributions on the charity sector; and plans for a long-term workforce plan for adult social care.

Main business: Great British Energy Bill (Committee stage, day 3). The Bill, which has already passed through the House of Commons, would create a new publicly owned energy investment company. The Committee has so far disposed of almost half of the total amendments tabled.

Grand Committee: Peers will debate five groups of Statutory Instruments.

• The Registrar (Identity Verification and Authorised Corporate Service Providers) Regulations 2024 and the Unique Identifiers (Application of Company Law) Regulations 2024

• The Reporting on Payment Practices and Performance (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2024

• The Official Controls (Amendment) Regulations 2024

• The Free-Range Egg Marketing Standards (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2024

• The Combined Authorities (Borrowing) and East Midlands Combined County Authority (Borrowing and Functions) (Amendment) Regulations 2025

Highlights include:

House of Commons

• Foreign Affairs Committee (13:30): The Chief Executive and Deputy Chief Executive of the British Council, a non-departmental public body funded by the Foreign Office, will give evidence on the British Council’s work.

• Public Accounts Committee (15:30): The Permanent Secretary and other senior officials at the Department for Education (DfE) will give evidence on improving educational outcomes for disadvantaged children. The hearing builds on a National Audit Office report which concluded that there was a “lack of sustained progress reducing the disadvantage attainment gap since 2010/11” which meant that “DfE cannot demonstrate it is achieving value for money”.

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Questions and statements: At 11:30, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Ministers will face questions from MPs. Questions on the Order Paper concern the situation in the Middle East, the humanitarian situation in Sudan, and international cooperation to boost UK economic growth.

Any Urgent Questions or Ministerial Statements will follow.

Ten Minute Rule Motion: The Labour MP Joe Morris will introduce a Ten Minute Rule Bill titled the Community Energy (Review) Bill. The Bill would require the Secretary of State to conduct a review of the contribution of community energy to the Government’s Clean Power 2030 mission. See our Hansard Society guide for more information about the parliamentary procedure for Ten Minute Rule Bills.

Main business: Renters’ Rights Bill (Remaining Stages). The Government has tabled several amendments to the Bill, including three that reflect significant new policy changes originally proposed by Labour backbenchers:

• prohibiting more than one month’s rent being paid in advance;

• limiting a guarantor’s liability for rent following the death of a tenant; and

• preventing student leases from being agreed more than six months before the tenancy begins.

Other amendments have been tabled by backbench Labour MPs, with support from Independent Alliance and Green Party MPs. The most widely supported amendments include those to impose limits on how much landlords can increase rents and to require landlords to provide specific information in their entries on the Private Rented Sector Database.

The Conservative Party has proposed several amendments which, as they come from the Official Opposition, are most likely to be selected and put to a division by the Speaker. These focus on: evaluating how the Bill affects the court system and housing market; ensuring adequate access to insurance for landlords; exempting small landlords and student housing from the elimination of fixed-term tenancies; and allowing landlords and tenants to mutually agree to continue a fixed-term tenancy in certain circumstances.

More information can be found in the latest House of Commons Library briefing and the most recent amendment paper.

Public Bill Committees: Employment Rights Bill; Tobacco and Vapes Bill; Water (Special Measures) Bill.

Adjournment: The Conservative MP Joy Morrissey has the adjournment debate on education provision in south Buckinghamshire.

Westminster Hall: There are five debates, on railway services in the South West; the impact of planned changes to agricultural property relief and business property relief for small businesses; the future of coastguard search and rescue helicopter services; parking in town centres; and financial support for adoptive parents.

Oral questions: Peers will begin the day by questioning Ministers for 40 minutes, on the provision of health services in prisons; diplomatic relationships with countries in sub-Saharan Africa; and support for listed heritage buildings. A final question, particularly topical in light of instability in the financial markets, asks about the impact of the rise in the cost of long-term government borrowing and its effect on sterling.

Main business: Mental Health Bill (Committee stage, day 1). The Bill seeks to amend the Mental Health Act 1983, delivering on Labour’s manifesto commitment to modernise this “woefully out of date” legislation. The background to and key provisions of the Bill are outlined in a previous edition of the Bulletin. Peers have tabled 138 amendments to the Bill so far.

Highlights include:

House of Commons

• Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (10:00): the Permanent Secretary and senior officials at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will give evidence on the future of farming.

• Housing, Communities and Local Government (10:00): representatives of a number of housing associations and the building sector, as well as the Chief Executive at the Regulator of Social Housing, will give evidence on housing associations’ development and finances.

• Defence Committee (10:30): The Service Complaints Ombudsman – who provides independent oversight of the Service Complaints system for the armed forces – will give evidence on the work of her office. The Armed Forces Commissioner Bill, introduced by the Government in November, would abolish the office of the Service Complaints Ombudsman and transfer its functions to a new Armed Forces Commissioner.

• Committee on Standards (12:30): The Leader of the House of Commons and chair of the new Modernisation Committee, Lucy Powell MP, will give evidence on outside employment and interests. The Modernisation Committee published a memorandum last year suggesting that one of its initial priorities would be to consider “what advantages, if any, outside paid engagements such as media appearances, journalism and speeches furnish to the public, versus the potential conflicts of interest and attention that arise from such paid endeavours.”

• Business and Trade Committee (14:30): A representative of the recruitment industry, representatives from Deliveroo, Evri and Uniqlo, and the General Secretary of the trade union USDAW, will give evidence on the Employment Rights Bill.

House of Lords

• Justice and Home Affairs Committee (10:30): The chair of the Prison Officers Association, and a representative of the Community trade union which represents workers in the justice sector, will give evidence on prison culture, governance, leadership and staffing.

• Industry and Regulators Committee (10:30): Embarking on a new inquiry into the energy grid, the Committee will hear from the Deputy Director for Policy at Energy UK, a trade body for the energy industry.

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. Questions on the Order Paper concern economic growth in Northern Ireland, the aerospace sector and the Troubles legacy and reconciliation process.

Any Urgent Questions or Ministerial Statements will follow.

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

Ten Minute Rule Motion: The Liberal Democrat MP James MacCleary will introduce a Ten Minute Rule Bill titled the Youth Mobility Scheme (EU Countries) Bill. This legislation would require the Government to negotiate with European Union member states to extend the Youth Mobility Scheme, allowing young people from those countries to participate on a reciprocal basis. The scheme is controversial, with critics likening it to a reintroduction of free movement. Given the Bill’s contentious nature, the Conservatives may opt to force a vote on the Ten Minute Rule Motion, as they did last month with another Liberal Democrat Ten Minute Rule Bill on proportional representation.

Main business: Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill (Remaining Stages). The Bill proposes adjustments to business rate multipliers and removes charitable rate relief for private schools registered as charities. Only a small number of amendments have been tabled. Both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have put down amendments requiring the Government to assess the economic impact of the changes to business rate multipliers. The Conservatives have also proposed amendments to exempt schools teaching children with special education needs from the charitable relief changes, to maintain charitable relief for certain faith schools, and to delay implementation of the charitable relief changes until April 2026.

Adjournment: The Labour MP Gill Furniss has the adjournment debate on the impact of endometriosis on women in the workplace.

Westminster Hall: There are five debates, on water quality in rivers, lakes and seas; Government support for town centres in Stoke-on-Trent; compensation for women affected by changes to the State Pension Age; nature-based solutions for farmland flooding; and the UK submarine fleet.

Oral questions: Peers will begin the day by questioning Ministers for 40 minutes, on the value of school trips to theatres, museums and galleries for state school pupils; and plans to tackle court backlogs, including by reducing the use of trial by jury. However, in light of recent speculation about Elon Musk potentially funding Reform UK, the question likely to be of the most interest is the first on the Order Paper, from former Home Secretary Lord (David) Blunkett. His question asks what steps the Government is taking to prevent political parties from receiving funding from outside of the United Kingdom, and whether it intends to give the Electoral Commission additional powers to address this issue. The topic of a fourth question will be decided by a ballot drawn at lunchtime on Monday 13 January.

Main business: Financial Assistance to Ukraine Bill (All Stages). The Bill is set to progress through all its stages in the House of Lords – from Second Reading to Third Reading – in a single day. This expedited process is typical for 'money bills,' reflecting the financial privilege of the House of Commons. Having already cleared the Commons, the Bill will proceed to await Royal Assent following its passage through the Lords.

Football Governance Bill (Committee stage, day 7). The Committee of the Whole House has made slow progress but has now dispensed with over 250 amendments across six sittings. However, around 100 amendments still remain to be considered.

Highlights include:

House of Commons

• Transport Committee (9:15): The Chair of the National Infrastructure Commission will give evidence on their work. The Committee plans to ask why large infrastructure projects such as HS2 tend to go over budget.

• Justice Committee (9:30): The Attorney General, Lord Hermer, and the Solicitor General, Lucy Rigby MP, will give evidence to the Committee on their work.

• Health and Social Care Committee (9:30): The Chair and Chief Executive of the independent regulator for health and social care, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), will give evidence on the CQC’s work.

• Education Committee (10:00): The Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson MP, will give evidence on her Department’s work.

• Women and Equalities Committee (14:20): The Committee will hear from experts on the topic of gendered Islamophobia.

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

• Treasury Committee (14:30): The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, James Murray MP, will give evidence on the work of HMRC. James Murray was recently appointed as chair of HMRC’s board to improve its political accountability, the first time the board has ever been chaired by a Minister.

• Energy Security and Net Zero Committee (15:00): The Energy Secretary, Ed Miliband MP, will give evidence on his Department’s work.

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

Questions and statements: At 9:30, Culture, Media and Sport Ministers will face questions from MPs. Topics on the Order Paper include gambling reform, grassroots sport, and the film and television sector.

MPs will then question representatives of the Church Commissioners, House of Commons Commission, Restoration and Renewal Client Board and Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission.

• Two of the questions to the Church Commissioners ask what steps the Church of England has taken to respond to the recommendations set out by the Makin Review into the Church’s handling of allegations of serious abuse by the late John Smyth. There are also five identical questions about the effectiveness of the listed places of worship and grant scheme.

• Only two questions have been tabled to the Speaker’s Committee, both of which enquire about the adequacy of the rules on foreign donations to UK political parties.

• No questions have been tabled for the Restoration and Renewal Client Board.

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: Debate on a motion to approve the draft Deposit Scheme for Drinks Containers (England and Northern Ireland) Regulations 2024. These regulations establish a Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers. Under the scheme, consumers pay a deposit when purchasing a drink in an eligible container and can redeem the deposit by returning the container to a designated return point. Debates on Statutory Instruments, such as this one, are governed by the House’s Standing Order, and may last up to 90 minutes.

A general debate on the performance of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) will follow.

Public Bill Committees: Employment Rights Bill; Tobacco and Vapes Bill; Water (Special Measures) Bill.

Adjournment: The Conservative MP Dr Andrew Murrison has the adjournment debate on the future of UK air defence.

Westminster Hall: There is one debate today, on Government support for the marine renewables industry.

Introduction of new Peers: Baroness (Margaret) Curren and Lord (Claude) Moraes.

Oral questions: Peers will begin the day by questioning Ministers for 40 minutes, on the cutting of undersea internet cables in the Baltic Sea in November 2024; the implications for online safety posed by small, high-risk online platforms, such as 8Chan; and plans to reform the Independent Commission on Reconciliation and Information Recovery, established under the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2024. The topic of a fourth question will be decided by a ballot drawn at lunchtime on Tuesday 14 January.

Main business: Three backbench debates take up the rest of the day, on:

• the challenges to a rules-based international order and their impact on global cohesion, stability and security;

• steps to support the healthcare system in Gaza (One hour); and

• the challenges caused by the effects of climate change on natural ecosystems and the role of nature conservation in combating global warming.

Grand Committee: A ‘take note’ debate on the Restoration and Renewal: Annual Progress Report 2024. The House of Lords Library has published a summary of the report which reaffirms that costed proposals for the Restoration and Renewal of the Palace of Westminster are set to be presented to both Houses for decision at some point later this year. The Hansard Society has previously outlined arguments in favour of a full decant of the Palace during the restoration process, emphasising the practical and financial benefits of such an approach.

There are no public select committee meetings today.

Private Members’ Bills (PMBs): The Order Paper today features 30 Private Members’ Bills (PMBs), but only the first is guaranteed to be debated. If discussion of this bill ends before 2:30pm, then the second and subsequent bills may be debated in the time that remains. After 2:30pm only bills which are unopposed may make further progress. This means that a bill may not be debated but might still receive a Second Reading, provided there is no objection from MPs present or the party Whips.

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.

Of the PMBs listed, the first four (detailed below) are ballot bills, while the rest are presentation bills. Notably, three MPs have multiple PMBs on today’s Order Paper. Sir Christopher Chope has seven bills, while Max Wilkinson and Preet Kaur Gill each have two.

• New Homes (Solar Generation) Bill: This bill is presented by Max Wilkinson MP, who secured second place in the PMB ballot in September. The four-clause bill mandates the installation of solar photovoltaic equipment on new homes and establishes minimum compliance standards.

• Licensing Hours Extensions Bill: This bill is presented by Andrew Ranger MP, who came 10th in the PMB ballot. The two-clause bill seeks to amend the Licensing Act 2003. Specifically, it proposes that licensing hours Orders be made via the negative scrutiny procedure – meaning they wouldn’t require active parliamentary approval before becoming law – rather than the affirmative procedure, which does require parliamentary approval. This bill revives an initiative first introduced by Emma Lewell-Buck in the previous parliamentary session, but which fell due to the general election. It addresses challenges faced during the Women’s World Cup in 2023, when the fact that Parliament was in recess prevented the timely extension of licensing hours to celebrate the team’s historic appearance in the World Cup final.

• Absent Voting (Elections in Scotland and Wales) Bill: This bill is presented by Tracy Gilbert MP, who came 12th in the PMB ballot. It would amend electoral law to make it easier for voters in Scotland and Wales to apply for a postal or proxy vote.

• Fireworks Bill: This bill is presented by Sarah Owen MP, who came 18th in the PMB ballot. A notable sign of its prospects is that the bill has not yet been published.

Private Members’ Bills: There are four bills on the Order Paper. The first three will have their Second Reading debates, while the fourth has reached Committee stage.

• Regulated and Other Activities (Mandatory Reporting of Child Sexual Abuse) Bill. Presented by crossbench Peer Baroness Grey-Thompson, this bill seeks to impose a legal duty on individuals responsible for regulated or other activities involving the care of children to report known or suspected child sexual abuse. It also includes provisions to protect mandated reporters from retaliation and introduces a criminal offence for failing to report concerns.

• Consumer Products (Control of Biocides) Bill. Green Party Peer Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle is the sponsor of this bill, which aims to restrict the use of biocides – antimicrobial substances – in consumer products, addressing concerns about their potential overuse and environmental impact.

• Universal Credit (Standard Allowance Entitlement of Care Leavers) Bill. This bill, presented by the Bishop of Manchester, seeks to equalise the standard allowance in Universal Credit for care leavers with that provided to claimants aged 25 or older. The change aims to address financial inequities faced by young people transitioning out of care.

• Refugees (Family Reunion) Bill. Introduced by Baroness Hamwee, a Liberal Democrat Peer, this bill would grant refugees and individuals with humanitarian protection the right to bring family members to the UK. It also seeks to ensure legal aid is available in such cases. Baroness Hamwee has introduced similar bills in previous sessions, which were opposed by the Conservative Government but supported by Labour Peers. The Bill faces consideration in Committee of the Whole House, with 13 amendments proposed to date by Conservative Peer Lord Jackson of Peterborough.