Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden begins by saying the prime minister is attending a service in Westminster Abbey to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the NHS.

He says the NHS continues to be a "treasured national institution", and calls for MPs to celebrate its achievements and commitment to patients.

Image source, House of Commons

Chris Mason
Political editor

PMQs starts with a statement from the Speaker about the NHS. Speakers, traditionally, stand above politics - but it tells you something about the consensus that exists about the health service that Lindsay Hoyle’s warm words are welcomed warmly on all sides.

Here we go - Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden is at the despatch box as Prime Minister’s Questions begins.

Dowden will take questions from Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner and other MPs.

We’ll bring you all the latest lines - stay with us.

Chris Mason
Political editor

PMQs has a different feel for the next few weeks.

No prime minister. And no Labour leader. The two of them are at a service to mark the NHS’s 75th anniversary today.

Next week the prime minister will be at the Nato conference.

So it is Oliver Dowden facing Angela Rayner today.

You can watch Prime Minister's Questions now by pressing the Play icon at the top of this page.

If you can't see the play button please refresh your browser or reload this page on the BBC News app.

Some more details now on another big political story today as we countdown to PMQs.

The government looks set to break its flagship £11.6bn climate and nature funding pledge for developing countries, according to an internal document seen by the BBC.

The document details how the government has consistently underspent and would struggle to meet its 2026 target – 83% of its total overseas aid budget would need to be reallocated to climate in order to catch up, the document says.

In 2019, former PM Boris Johnson pledged to double the amount spent on the UK’s international climate finance – aid for vulnerable nations to deal with the causes of climate change – to at least £11.6bn between 2021/22 and 2025/26.

But the document says “subsequent turbulence” – economic shocks such as the Covid pandemic – have turned the target into a “huge challenge”.

Overall international aid spending has also since been cut from 0.7% of GDP to 0.5%.

More now on Partygate as the head of the Metropolitan Police has raised the prospect of the new investigation leading to charges for lying to officers.

As we reported earlier, an investigation into breaches of Covid regulations at a Christmas gathering at Conservative Party HQ, so-called "jingle and mingle", has been reopened.

Officers previously said video footage was not provided to them when they initially investigated the event.

Sir Mark Rowley was asked about the reopened inquiry by the London Assembly's police and crime committee this morning, where he said people misleading or undermining investigations could face charges of obstructing the police or perverting the course of justice.

However, the Met commissioner said he was speaking generally and wouldn't guess what would apply in this case.

Former health minister James Bethell says he believes the NHS will reach its 100th birthday but that it doesn't have enough resources to serve everyone as well as it could.

He says the government and society need to protect the NHS by inventing a healthier Britain by tackling the "six million people with diabetes, obesity, dirty air, mouldy homes and junk food".

Bethell, who was a health minister under Boris Johnson's government, tells BBC's Politics Live: "We're chucking too many sick people at the NHS and there's aren't enough resources to cope with that."

Labour peer Helena Kennedy says she believes there should be higher taxation for high-end earners and big corporations to help fund the NHS.

Image source, PA Media

As services are being held to mark the creation of The National Health Service, here's a little about its inception.

The NHS came into being 75 years ago today – on 5 July 1948.

The then-Minister of Health, Aneurin Bevan, is widely credited with being its founder.

It was part of a series of reforms aimed at using tax payer money to provide support “from the cradle to the grave”.

Some of the major changes it brought in included: free treatment for all British citizens; the nationalisation of hospitals; the creation of health centres to provide services such as vaccinations; and a better distribution of doctors around the country with GPs, opticians and dentists in every area.

Image source, Reuters

The House of Commons may look a little emptier than usual today, with many MPs attending an event next door at Westminster Abbey to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the NHS.

They will be joined by the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, as well as around 1,500 staff from the health service.

Image source, UK Parliament

As we have said, there's no Rishi Sunak today, so here's a little about his stand in.

Oliver Dowden is the UK's Deputy Prime Minister and has stood in for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at PMQs before.

Dowden’s been in the deputy PM role since April, when he replaced outgoing Dominic Raab. Raab resigned after an investigation upheld some bullying allegations against him.

Beforehand, Dowden already played a key role at the heart of the prime minister's administration, as cabinet office secretary.

He was first elected to Parliament in 2015 and is a long-term ally of the PM. However, unlike Sunak, Dowden voted remain in the EU in the Brexit referendum.

Image source, Daily Mirror

We heard yesterday that the Metropolitan Police was reopening an investigation into breaches of Covid regulations at a Christmas party at Conservative Party HQ.

A video of the gathering, where aides were invited to "jingle and mingle", was published by the Sunday Mirror.

Police say they will not investigate alleged gatherings at the prime minister's country home, Chequers, when Boris Johnson was PM but they are also now investigating an event in Parliament on 8 December 2020.

According to the Guido Fawkes website, external, this event involved Conservative backbencher Sir Bernard Jenkin, who sits on the Commons Privileges Committee, which last month published a highly critical report about Johnson.

Read more here.

You can watch lively political debate now on Politics Live by pressing the Play icon at the top of this page.

Then at 12:00 BST you can watch all the drama in the House of Commons at Prime Minister's Questions.

If you can't see the play button please refresh your browser or reload this page on the BBC News app.

Today is the 30th PMQs of the Sunak premiership – and the fifth he has missed.

His former deputy Dominic Raab stood in his place last November and again in March – when the PM attended the G20 Summit in Bali, and the funeral of Baroness Betty Boothroyd, respectively.

Oliver Dowden stood in the PM’s place in May – when Sunak attended the G7 Summit in Japan – and again last month when the prime minister was in Washington at the invitation of President Joe Biden.

Dowden will replace him again today.

With Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer absent from today’s Prime Minister’s Questions, it will be Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden versus deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner for the third time.

In recent weeks, Starmer has focused on bread-and-butter issues like the cost of living, rising mortgage rates and housing, and there could be more of the same from Rayner – though the NHS, on its 75th birthday, could also feature.

Other stories in the news that might come up include an internal government memo suggesting ministers are on course to break a flagship £11.6bn climate and nature funding pledge for developing countries. A government spokesman has insisted promises made will be honoured.

Elsewhere, the Metropolitan Police have reopened an investigation into breaches of Covid rules at a gathering at Conservative Party HQ. And the government's Illegal Migration Bill has suffered further setbacks in the House of Lords.

The PM will be absent from PMQs this week as he’s attending a service celebrating 75 years of the NHS.

He’ll also miss PMQs next week when he is away at a Nato summit.

Yesterday, Rishi Sunak’s attendance record was brought up during his grilling before the Liaison Committee.

During a somewhat heated exchange, Labour MP Sir Chris Bryant asked Sunak to name a time when a PM missed Prime Minister’s Questions two weeks in a row.

Sunak replied:“Is the honourable gentleman suggesting I shouldn’t attend the Nato summit on behalf of the United Kingdom as previous prime ministers have done?”

The PM pointed out that Labour leader Keir Starmer is also attending the NHS 75th anniversary service.

Watch their exchange in the video below.

PM Rishi Sunak appeared before the Commons Liaison Committee yesterday and was grilled on a number of issues - from the war in Ukraine through to resignation honours lists and mortgage rates. Here’s a brief recap of some of the things he said:

• on migration, Sunak said he’s confident the government’s Rwanda plan is legal
• on inflation, he admitted bringing costs down was proving harder than expected
• on mortgages, he advised some ways people could save money - including by extending a mortgage to cut down monthly payments
• on resignation honours, he said former PM Liz Truss had not yet submitted a list for review
• on Ukraine, he reiterated his view that the country should be admitted to Nato - but said it was for all member nations to decide

At the end of last week, the PM also announced a major NHS England workforce plan in which he said more doctors and nurses will be trained and thousands of new roles will be created to work alongside them.

Andrew Humphrey
Live reporter

Hello and welcome to this week’s coverage of Prime Minister’s Questions from Westminster.

With Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer attending events to commemorate the NHS’s 75th anniversary today, it’ll be deputy leaders Oliver Dowden and Angela Rayner sparring in the House of Commons.

Stay with us as we bring you all the latest lines and analysis.