House of Commons
Parliament

The Labour MP for Sheffield Heeley, Louise Haigh, asks the second urgent question today.

It concerns the announcement yesterday that the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is to close its offices in St Paul’s Place in Sheffield, external and relocate to London.

Business, Innovation and Skills Minister Anna Soubry says the closure is part of the department's target of "delivering efficiency savings and contributing to the government's deficit-reduction targets".

Staff and unions were informed yesterday and staff will be allowed "time out of the office" to find new jobs, the minister adds.

House of Lords
Parliament

And peers move on to the Road Traffic Act 1988 (Alcohol Limits) (Amendment) Bill, external.

This is being proposed by Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe and would amend the Road Traffic Act of 1988 to lower the prescribed limit of alcohol in relation to driving or being in charge of a vehicle.

Currently, in England and Wales, the alcohol limit for drivers is 80 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, 35 microgrammes per 100 millilitres of breath or 107milligrammes per 100 millilitres of urine. 

In 2014, the alcohol limit for drivers in Scotland reduced from 80 milligrams of alcohol in every 100 millilitres of blood to 50 milligrams of alcohol in every 100 millilitres of blood.

House of Commons
Parliament

Two urgent questions are due in the Commons after 11am.

The first concerns the government's announcement that it is scrapping planned legal aid reforms in England and Wales.

The second follows the announcement that the Sheffield offices of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) are to close by 2018, putting around 250 jobs at risk.

Angry customers are criticising banking giant HSBC for a failure in its online banking service - on a key day for many people's personal finances.

The bank is apologising to customers trying to log on to its web-based service, which is unavailable.

It is not the first time this month that HSBC customers have faced an error with the service.

The final Friday in January is payday for many and is also two days ahead of a key deadline for paying tax.

Sunday is the last day for filing self-assessment tax forms online and is when millions of people settle their tax bill with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

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Image source, Thinkstock

Unacceptably short 15-minute home care visits to elderly and disabled people are still plaguing the care system in England, a report suggests.

Research by Unison found "distressing" cases of care being compromised after surveying councils and care workers.

Councils are not meant to schedule 15-minute visits for personal care, like help with washing, dressing or eating.

But the union said its findings showed many were still doing just that despite repeated calls for longer visits.

Ministers have been demanding councils which are in charge of care services stop using the so-called "flying visits".

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The Daily Politics

Image source, AP

Independent Scottish MP Natalie McGarry has apologised after accusing Harry Potter author JK Rowling of supporting internet abuse.

Ms McGarry, who withdrew from the SNP whip last year amid a police probe, sent a series of tweets claiming Ms Rowling had supported a "misogynist internet troll".

The author asked the Glasgow East MP for proof to back her claim and the pair exchanged a number of ill-tempered tweets.

Ms McGarry eventually apologised, saying: "On reflection, I do apologise for any misguided inference that you support misogyny or abuse instead of the folk you tweet."

Ms Rowling replied: "Thank you very much, Natalie, and I'd like to ask anyone following me who is being less than polite to stop."

The best-selling author later suggested she may take legal action, adding in a tweet to Ms McGarry: "You don't appear to understand how Twitter or defamation works. I'm going to help you out with the latter."

The Independent

The Independent

Image source, Conservative Party

Conservative former Welsh secretary John Redwood has described the "emergency brake" proposal on EU migrants as "a sick joke".

"It says we have to beg, in extreme circumstances, for the permission of the rest of the EU to not make payments we don't want to make - it's simply a bad joke," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"If we wish to be a self-governing democracy, responding to the needs and wishes of our electors, Parliament has to be able to decide who to let in and how many people to let in - not 27 other states on the continent who are very likely to take the very opposite view to the British people when it matters."

Mr Redwood said in his opinion "the best answer is for us to leave", as Britain does not belong to the euro and is not formally part of the Schengen Agreement, which abolished the EU's internal borders.

"When you can't accept the two major precepts of an organisation... I think the honest and decent thing is to leave," he said.

"They can get on and complete their political union ... without Britain constantly saying 'we don't want to go with you and can you please slow down'."

Mr Redwood said he doubted if many Conservative MPs would back the "emergency brake" proposal.

"Calling it an emergency brake is just a sick joke," he added.

House of Commons
Parliament

The bill's sponsor, Conservative MP Chris Heaton-Harris, defends "off-label prescribing", arguing that is "quite common in the treatment of secondary cancers".

House of Lords
Parliament

That was quick.

There were no amendments to Lord Empey's Airports Act 1986 (Amendment) Bill and so committee stage passes without debate.

And we move onto the second reading of the Public Advocate Bill.

Lord Wills wants the bill to establish a public advocate to provide advice to, and act as data controller for, representatives of the deceased after major incidents.

The move was prompted following the Hillsborough disaster. In April 1989, at the start of an FA Cup semi-final, a crush on the steel-fenced terraces of Sheffield Wednesday's stadium resulted in the death of 96 Liverpool fans and left hundreds more injured.

House of Lords
Parliament

The House of Lords is about to begin work: today peers are considering private members' bills, just like their MP colleagues down the corridor.

On today's menu: for starters we have the Airports Act 1986 (Amendment) Bill at committee stage - a bill introduced by Lord Empey.

We'll move onto second reading of the Public Advocate Bill, introduced by Lord Wills; and then the Road Traffic Act 1988 (Alcohol Limits) (Amendment) Bill at second reading and the Age of Criminal Responsibility Bill at second reading.

The estimated rising time is 2pm. Unlike the Commons, the Lords tend to allocate time to each of the bills on the order paper, and work their way through one by one.

House of Commons
Parliament

The Access to Medical Treatments (Innovation) Bill is a private members' bill sponsored by the Conservative MP Chris Heaton-Harris.

Its origins lie in the last Parliament, when two attempts were made to introduce similar bills.

A prominent supporter is Conservative peer Lord Saatchi, who has argued that current medical practice on deviation from standard procedure stifles innovation, and who introduced a previous version of the bill in the Lords.

Conservative MP and Health Committee chair Sarah Wollaston has been a prominent opponent of what she calls a "quacks’ charter", arguing that the previous version of the bill did not provide enough protection for patients.

House of Commons
Parliament

Business begins with the bizarre ritual of the motion that "the House do sit in private".

If passed, the motion would mean that any spectators would have to leave the public gallery and the cameras would be switched off.

However, this regular feature of a Friday sitting is simply used to check that the House is quorate - that there are sufficient MPs present for debates and votes to take place.

On many occasions a division takes place to reveal the numbers present but today the motion is rejected without a vote.

House of Commons
Parliament

Welcome to our live coverage of today in Westminster.

The House of Commons sits from 9.30am to consider private members' bills, beginning with the Access to Medical Treatments (Innovation) Bill.

The bill's stated aim is to allow access to "innovative medical treatments".

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Image source, AFP

BBC Europe Editor Katya Adler explained to BBC Radio 4's Today programme what the "emergency brake" on in-work benefits for EU migrants would entail.

"This is key because the idea of the emergency brake has been on and off the table ever since David Cameron started trying to renegotiate the UK's relationship with the EU," she said.

"Arguably, he wanted an emergency brake on EU migration full stop. He's watered that down for it to focus on in-work benefits for up to four years.

"The current idea ... would be that Britain could initiate a request for this emergency brake for up to four years if it could prove that Britain's social and welfare system is under excessive strain from immigration.

"But ... that brake would have to be approved by the majority of other EU member states - and of course, right from the beginning, they have been opposed to suspending benefits for other EU migrants.

"One of the founding principles of the EU is the freedom for every EU citizen to live and work as equals anywhere in any EU member state, so they don't like it.

"At the end of the day, these other countries want Britain to stay in. It could be that they just hold their nose and say yes to the deal, or it could be there's a lot of European fireworks ahead.

"Neither the deal on migration, nor the over all UK renegotiation deal is really black on white yet."

A major reform of the legal aid system in England and Wales has been scrapped, the justice secretary has announced.

Plans to slash the number of law firms allowed to do criminal legal aid work at police stations and magistrates' courts have been dropped, while an 8.75% cut to legal aid fees lawyers earn has been suspended for a year.

Michael Gove said the MoJ had faced too many legal challenges over the plans.

Lawyers had claimed the reforms could damage quality and access to justice.

Labour shadow justice secretary Lord Falconer said the government's plans had "descended into utter chaos".

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