THE WEEK AHEAD
I’m back in Westminster again before parliamentary recess begins on Thursday.
Again, it’s a busy week in Parliament. In particular, my eye has been caught by this week's Petitions Committee debate, on long waits for diagnosis for conditions like autism and ADHD .
Petitions debates attract some of Parliament's biggest online audiences and can provide a way of crowbarring public concerns that have failed to catch politicians' attention, into the Westminster agenda.
Today the main debate will be on the annual motions to uprate social security benefits and the state pension. There's also a motion to uprate the Charter for Budget Responsibility, which governs the Office for Budget Responsibility - normally a routine, technical matter.
On Tuesday, the main debate will see us zip through the remaining stages of the Seafarer's Wages Bill - which aims to ensure that minimum wage legislation applies to seafarers operating from UK ports. Then we will turn to Lords amendments to the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill. The main issue here is that peers removed a right to sue higher education institutions for infringements of free speech, and I’m pleased that the government seeks to reinstate it.
Finally, on Wednesday, there’s a ten minute rule bill to ban the sale of disposable e-cigarettes. I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
The main debate is on approving central government grants to police and local councils in England. With a number of councils teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, this will see some MPs raising serious concerns.
As always, if you would like to get in touch with me, you can reach me through the usual channels.