House of Commons
Parliament

Jessie Norman, the Conservative chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, says the scope and funding of the BBC must be considered together, suggesting this hasn't always been the case in the past. Mr Whittingdale assures him it will be at "the heart"of the process. He adds that the licence fee will rise in line with the CPI measure of inflation "subject to the conclusion of the charter review".

House of Commons
Parliament

Responding to his Labour counterpart, John Whittingdale says the Charter Renewal process will be "open and transparent" and involve a wide range of people. The case for decriminalisation of the licence fee and the future scale and scope of the BBC will also be considered, he adds.

House of Commons
Parliament

"What an utter shambles," says shadow culture secretary Chris Bryant - who complains that the move was briefed to the press ahead of Chancellor George Osborne's Budget on Wednesday. Chancellors used to have to resign when elements of their budgets were leaked, he adds.

He stresses that the process for Charter Renewal must be "open and transparent", Mr Bryant says, adding this is "no way to run a whelk stall let alone the world's most respected broadcaster".

House of Commons
Parliament

John Whittingdale tells MPs the government is "pleased" that the BBC has agreed to "play its part" to contributing to reductions in public spending "like much of the rest of the public sector". He says the government will introduce legislation to enable the BBC to "modernise" the licence fee to cover the BBC iPlayer.

Culture Secretary John Whittingdale says the BBC will take on the cost of providing free TV licences for over-75s. This will be phased in from 2018-19 with the BBC taking on the full cost from 2020-21.

Image source, PA

Home Secretary Theresa May says 10 years since the 7 July London bombings, the terror threat to the UK remains "severe".

London was "cruelly and despicably attacked", she says, adding that as well as those who died there are many "who still live with the terrible consequences". 

She says the UK "must fight the threat we face on every front", by forming partnerships with communities and confronting "pernicious ideologies".

Image source, PA

The BBC's Huw Williams says a meeting between the RMT union and ferry operator Caledonian MacBrayne in Scotland has just broken up. 

A union spokesman described discussions as "positive", and said they are due to resume tomorrow afternoon. 

The RMT is concerned there may be redundancies and a loss of terms and conditionsas the Scottish government puts the contract for Clyde and Hebrides ferry services out to tender. 

Two firms are bidding for the contract - CalMac and the international services provider, Serco. 

The RMT says it wants a no compulsory redundancy guarantee either written in to the tender document, or written into its collective agreement with CalMac.

House of Commons
Parliament

Asking how many Syrians have been granted asylum in the UK in the last four years, SNP MP Owen Thompson says the international community, including the UK, needs to provide more places for resettlement to relieve Syria's neighbours of the numbers they are trying to cope with.

Home Office Minister James Brokenshire tells the House that since the Syrian crisis began in 2011 the UK has received over 6,800 asylum claims and granted asylum or other forms of leave to over 4,200 Syrians so far. 

He says the government believes the right focus should be on aid in the areas affected and that the international development secretary has committed another £100m to assist with the crisis.

Theresa May is telling the Commons that the terrible events in Tunisia show the importance of work to defeat terrorism both at home and overseas. She says the government has increased counter-terrorism funding but is "determined to go further". 

She says the government's counter-extremism strategy will set out a wide ranging response - part of which will be set out in the Counter-Extremism Bill.

The Green Party has accused Labour of "pandering to big business” over airport expansion with "little regard" for people and the environment.

It comes after the party called for a "swift decision" from the government in support of a third runway at Heathrow, following publication of the Airports Commission's report  which backed Heathrow expansion.

Green leader Natalie Bennett said any airport expansion would threaten the environment and the health of local residents.

Image source, PA

The British Army has appointed its first ever female Major General. Brigadier Susan Ridge said she was "delighted" to become Major General Susan Ridge, the new director general of army legal services. She will be in charge of some 1,500 personnel, and will take up the post in September.

In the Commons, MPs have moved onto policing. Policing minister Mike Penning chides Aberavon MP Stephen Kinnock, after he protests that police forces in Wales are facing 10% cuts to frontline services. The minister accuses the MP of "running down" the police rather than supporting the "fantastic job" they are doing in reducing crime levels, saying such an approach is a "disgrace". But Labour MP Barry Sheerman rides to his colleague's defence, saying he was asking a legitimate question about resources. Conservative MP Sir Edward Leigh then suggests that policing in Lincolnshire is in crisis and that there is barely a single police car on duty throughout his county overnight. He urges money to be transfered from overseas aid to bolster police budgets, saying "charity should begin at home". In response, Mr Penning says officials have looked into policing in the county and found that it was holding up, and crime had fallen significantly.  

Listen to Simon Danczuk's full interview on The World at One about the impact he says his campaign on child abuse had on his family life and mental health.

House of Lords
Parliament

Lord Williams of Oystermouth - better known as Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury - has just sworn in to the House of Lords.

House of Commons
Parliament

In the Commons, Theresa May faces a series of questions about violence against women and girls, including one from former Director of Public Prosecutions Sir Keir Starmer, now a Labour MP, in light of what the opposition says is a critical report from the United Nations special rapporteur.

Mrs May says more can always be done to bring offenders to justice but points out that prosecutions and convictions were at their highest level in their history last year and says the criminal justice system is doing its job. 

So, following on from the last tweet, what is SO (Standing Order) 24?

Well, it's a rule that allows an MP to ask the Speaker to allow time for an emergency debate on a particular topic.

The MP making the request must notify the Speaker in advance that they intend to do so.

Immediately after oral questions and, if there are any, urgent questions or ministerial statements, the MP can make a speech lasting up to three minutes giving the reasons that they believe a debate on a particular topic should be held urgently.

The speaker has total discretion over whether or not such a debate should be granted - and nearly always refuses.

If a debate is granted it will take place within 24 hours.