Here's how the next few hours looks in the Commons:

• at 11.30 we'll have Treasury Questions in the Commons - no doubt George Osborne et al will be asked about Ed Balls' "extreme" cuts accusations made on Monday

• at 12.30 we're expecting a statement in the Commons from Communities Secretary Eric Pickles about the government's troubled families programme. If you've forgotten what that is, here's some background from Mr Pickles' department, external

• at around 13.30 Francis Maude, Cabinet Office Minister, will address the House on the subject of trade union reform in the civil service. Perhaps he'll touch on the issue we mentioned earlier - suggestions of a possible merger between Unite and the PCS, external

tweets:, external At Labour Q&A in Harrow. One sixth-former complains that tuition fees cut is "insignificant". Chuka fights back.

Image source, Getty Images

We've mentioned Gordon Brown's speech today a few times. Well, now you can read a full preview of what he's going to say. The top line is also the one that seems to have drawn most criticism from commentators so far - his suggestion that leaving the EU would make Britain the North Korea of Europe.

Image source, PA

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has written to the head of the Civil Service, Sir Jeremy Heywood, to complain about a "pre-election partisan attack" on the SNP after Chief Secretary Danny Alexander used official Treasury figures to claim that the party's anti-austerity platform would damage the economic recovery. She writes that "it is clearly the case that the UK government is including the SNP in political attacks prepared at taxpayers' expense - while continuing to exclude us from pre-election access to the civil service". She goes on: "This inconsistency reeks of hypocrisy, as well as a Treasury which has become transparently party political."

tweets:, external At ECOFIN to discuss ongoing economic risks from Eurozone and the new plans to boost investment into Europe, including UK

BBC News Channel

"Some of them will be hurting children. Some of them will be offending while they are missing." That's the stark warning from Jim Gamble, former head of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre, after it emerged that hundreds of registered sex offenders have gone missing. He said the details and photographs of those missing should be posted online so the public are "empowered to help the police" find them.

tweets:, external Guardian's seat projection has been updated - big shift - Tories 279, Lab 266, SNP 52, LDs 27, Ukip 4, Greens 1 - Read more., external

tweets:, external I warned last year of an EU Army. Nick Clegg said this was a "dangerous fantasy". Who was right? Watch video., external

House of Commons
Parliament

Stephen Twigg, shadow justice minister for constitutional reform, says pilot schemes need to get going soon to test online voting in elections. "Labour will commit to that," he adds.

House of Commons
Parliament

Graham Allen MP, chairman of the political and constitutional reform select committee, welcomes all the recommendations on digital democracy, but issues a warning about "the information have-nots". "We need a strategy to think about how we can involve those people," he tells the Westminster Hall audience. "Maybe two-thirds of my constituents have access to the online world, but [even if they do] I suspect they aren't fluent in it."

Will any of the party manifestos back the idea of a development bank for the whole of the UK? The Welsh version has been hailed as a potential "catalyst and driving force" for growth after firms struggled to get credit from conventional banks. "The government provision of access to finance is too important a priority to be left within the narrow remit of this institution that has failed to adapt sufficiently to changing market conditions, " Prof Dylan Jones-Evans said. You can read our full story here.

Labour has offered a response to the news that the police have lost track of hundreds of convicted sex offenders. "The public will find these reports very worrying," shadow Home Office minister Diana Johnson says. "We need an urgent review of the way those on the sex offenders register are monitored. This is all the more pressing in light of changes David Cameron and Theresa May made to the child protection system in 2011 which has weakened the vetting and barring regime, making it harder to be sure sex offenders are not working with children."

tweets:, external Why is Britain spending less on defence as a proportion of GDP than "bankrupt" Greece? (2pc against 2.3pc)

Image source, Getty Images

EU-US trade talks over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership are ongoing, as are concerns about whether or not the merging of regulations could cut standards. MPs on the Commons' environmental audit committee have made clear their worries in a report out today., external They accept that the extent of the threat isn't clear at the moment, but call on ministers to "ensure that the EU negotiators do not engage in a race to the bottom as it combines the two blocs' regulatory systems".

tweets:, external Waiting to speak in Digital Democracy debate. Public allowed to use electronic devices in the public gallery for the first time.

tweets:, external Agree with @halfon4harlowMP and @Meg_HillierMP a secure means of electronic voting at general (and other) elections must be found by 2020

House of Commons
Parliament

Robert Halfon, Conservative MP for Harlow, tells the Westminster Hall debate the cyber chamber would be the third pillar in Parliament alongside the Commons and Lords. Every citizen would have a PIN and be able to log in and vote on issues, he explains. He adds that those votes would only ever be "advisory", "but would help make MPs aware of their constituents' concerns".

Gordon Corera
Security correspondent, BBC News

There was an interesting aside in Philip Hammond's speech where he said it was no coincidence that all three British intelligence agencies were recruiting Russian speakers at the moment. That gives you some idea about where their priorities lie. GCHQ is monitoring Russia, MI6 tries to recruit agents in Russia, MI5 watches Russian spies in Britain. The suggestion there is that in all of those areas, the role of Russia as a priority for the intelligence services is certainly growing at the moment.

Image source, Wales Online

A UKIP candidate blocked on Twitter by the Welsh government's historic monuments body Cadw has been explaining his controversial riposte of projecting his party's logo on to Caerphilly Castle. Sam Gould has told WalesOnline, external he's fed up with the "blatant politicising of our supposedly non-political public bodies". But the Welsh government is distinctly unimpressed - a spokesman has said the walls and fortifications of the castle were more troubled by the early fortress being burned down in 1270. "UKIP's stunt didn't quite have the same impact and we won't be losing any sleep over it."

House of Commons
Parliament

Conservative MP Robert Halfon is addressing the debate on digital democracy in Westminster Hall. "I believe our democracy will never be complete if it does not reach out to those who do not currently participate in it," he says. Digital technology is key to that, he continues, championing the need for a "cyber chamber... which would allow the general public to weigh in on debates that concern them". It could be a way of getting the public directly involved in prime minister's questions too, he adds.