Summary

  • Day starts with Home Office questions

  • Urgent question on sale of Opel-Vauxhall

  • Statement on Sky/21st Century Fox merger

  • Vehicle Technology and Aviation Bill to be debated

  • Peers start with oral questions

  • Move onto Higher Education and Research Bill

  • Work and Pensions Committee investigating PIPs

  1. Government underlines support for allotmentspublished at 14:50 Greenwich Mean Time 6 March 2017

    Oral questions

    House of Lords
    Parliament

    GardeningImage source, Thinkstock

    Conservative Baroness Sharples asks what the government is doing to ensure that councils continue to provide suitable plots for allotments. 

    Communities and Local Government Minister Lord Bourne says the government recognises allotments are "valuable assets" and councils "must satisfy a range of criteria" before disposing of them. 

  2. Home Office questions begin...published at 14:41 Greenwich Mean Time 6 March 2017

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    ...and the first question comes from Conservative Michael Fabricant who asks how the home secretary is increasing the level of armed police protection to counter the threat of terrorist activity.

    Amber Rudd replies that the number of armed police will increase by 1,000 and that there will be 41 new armed police vehicles.

    Mr Fabricant expresses concern that armed officers don't have the freedom to act because of the rules of engagement.

    Can these be changed? he asks.

    Amber Rudd tells the MP that there is no rule against "firing first" and that the decision must be based on the threat to life.

  3. Concerns over solicitors' qualificationspublished at 14:41 Greenwich Mean Time 6 March 2017

    Oral questions

    House of Lords
    Parliament

    Business kicks off in the Lords with a question from crossbencher Lord Low of Dalston on proposals by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) to reform admission qualifications.

    The SRA has suggested addressing what it calls "inconsistent and variable provider dependent pass rates" by providing a single assessment for all regardless of which route into the profession they take.  

    Lord Low says he's concerned it could "stifle innovation", but Ministry of Justice spokesman Lord Keen of Elie says it's a matter for the SRA.

  4. Westminster Hall debate on dress codepublished at 14:27 Greenwich Mean Time 6 March 2017

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  5. Coming up laterpublished at 14:25 Greenwich Mean Time 6 March 2017

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  6. Monday in the Lordspublished at 14:14 Greenwich Mean Time 6 March 2017

    House of Lords
    Parliament

    Peers start their day with the usual half hour of questions, followed by the first day of report stage debate on the Higher Education and Research Bill. Expect votes on tiered Higher Educational establishments - gold, silver, bronze universities.

    A statement on the merger between Sky and 21st Century Fox and one on the sale of Vauxhall-Opel will be repeated after 5.30pm.

    This evening's short debate is on recent legislation on assisted dying in North America; and whether those laws provide an appropriate basis for legislation in England and Wales, led by Labour's Baroness Jay of Paddington.

    This suggests that the Lords assisted dying lobby have not entirely given up following the defeat of Rob Marris's bill in the Commons, external , last year.

  7. What are MPs doing today?published at 14:08 Greenwich Mean Time 6 March 2017

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    ParliamentImage source, PA

    The day starts at 2:30pm with questions to Home Secretary Amber Rudd, followed by an urgent question on the sale of Vauxhall to the PSA Group.

    Culture Secretary Karen Bradley will then give a statement on the proposed merger between Sky and 21st Century Fox. 

    The rest of the afternoon will be taken up with debate of the Vehicle Technology and Aviation Bill.

    The day will be brought to an end with Nick Thomas-Symonds adjournment debate on young-onset Parkinson's disease. 

  8. Good afternoonpublished at 14:04 Greenwich Mean Time 6 March 2017

    Welcome back to another week in Westminster - a week which holds what's often regarded as the centrepiece of the Parliamentary year: the Budget on Wednesday.

    This year, its competing for attention with the Brexit bill - the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill - and Lords' examination at report stage on Tuesday.

    You can read more about the week ahead's events on parliamentary correspondent Mark D'Arcy's blog .