House of Lords
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"We have an anomaly where one party, with less than a third of the seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly, is in a position to collapse the executive," says Conservative peer Lord Trimble.

The former Ulster Unionist Party leader who was First Minister of Northern Ireland from 1998 to 2002, suggests that the Northern Ireland Assembly could "continue" while awaiting the formation of an executive.

House of Lords
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Democratic Unionist Party peer Lord Browne of Belmont blames Sinn Fein for the breakdown of the power-sharing executive, which included his party.

The executive was headed by DUP First Minister Arlene Foster, with the late Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein as Deputy First Minister.

Lord Browne says the extended talks deadlines of 29 June should be "the final cut-off date" in order to "focus the minds of the negotiators".

He supports the bill, saying: "People want devolution up and running."

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Shadow Northern Ireland spokesman Lord McAvoy says Labour supports the bill, to enable "progress to be made and an executive to be formed".

He also condemns an incident over the weekend, when a bomb was discovered by a passing police patrol near Holy Cross Boys' Primary School in Ardoyne.

Police said the device was "sizeable" and an attempt by dissident republicans to kill police officers.

Liberal Democrat spokeswoman Baroness Suttie adds her condemnation, saying: "Such actions have no place in a democratic society."

She gives her party's backing to the bill, accepting that agreement was unlikely during the general election campaign.

House of Lords
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Northern Ireland Minister Lord Dunlop opens the second reading of the Northern Ireland (Ministerial Appointments and Regional Rates) Bill., external

He says that Northern Ireland has enjoyed the longest period of devolved government since 1972 and is "a more peaceful and prosperous place than it was".

However, while talks continue to resolve the current political impasse, the bill before the House would prevent "a gap" in funding for public services, he says, and enable an executive to form if there is progress.

MPs have already passed the bill, which would extend the deadline for Northern Ireland parties to reach a deal to restore devolution until 29 June, after the UK general election.

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Shadow education minister Gordon Marsden acknowledges concessions made by the government but says they've been "a long time coming".

He says it's right that the government will consult on extending the kind of institutions which can gain the title university and Labour will subject it to "extreme scrutiny". 

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The government has proposed an alternative amendment which would require ministers to consult and to consider "the economic consequences for the life sciences industry in the United Kingdom".

Crossbench peer Lord Warner, a former Labour health minister, thinks the government has "met the concerns" of peers with its own proposed amendment.

However, another crossbencher, Baroness Masham of Ilton, asks how the government can be sure that the costs of drugs and treatments will come down.

Labour health spokesman Lord Hunt of Kings Heath says the parties have reached a "satisfactory" position on the bill and urges the government to implement its provisions.

The government amendment is agreed and the short debate on the bill ends.

The prime minister is asked for a "clear and unambiguous commitment" to maintain the state pension triple-lock by the SNP's deputy leader.

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After dealing briefly with four private members' bills and having a minor scrap about procedure, peers begin debate on the Health Service Medical Supplies (Costs) Bill.

The House of Lords passed an amendment requiring the government to "promote and support a growing life sciences sector" and to "ensure that patients have rapid clinical access to new clinically effective and cost-effective medicines and treatments".

Health Minister Lord O'Shaughnessy argues the amendment would "undermine one of the core purposes of this bill" which is to enable the government to "exercise its powers effectively to control costs".

He asks the House to accept the Commons' rejection of this amendment on the grounds that the government might be prevented from taking action to control costs if doing so is deemed not to promote life sciences.

Jeremy Corbyn questions Theresa May in their final PMQs sessions before the general election.

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MPs agree to the government's changes to the Criminal Finances Bill and move on to Lords amendments to the Higher Education and Research Bill, which aims to create a new Office for Students and provide greater choice in the sector. 

Universities Minister Jo Johnson asks them to reject an amendment by peers which sought to insert a clause at the start of the bill to define universities as autonomous institutions.

He says the government recognises universities as autonomous degree-awarding bodies and the Office for Students would help uphold this. 

He also asks MPs to overturn amendments: 

• preventing the scheme in the bill for rating the quality and standards of higher education institutions from being used to set course fees
• requiring that students at UK universities are not counted as long-term migrants
• altering the grounds for appeal against a decision by the Office for Students to revoke degree-awarding powers 
• requiring the Office for Students to ensure providers have functioned to required standards for at least four years
• requiring the Secretary of State to introduce a scheme to provide information about the quality of education.

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The third Lords questions concern action to deliver the United Nations Global Goals for Sustainable Development, asked by Labour's Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale.

Then, Liberal Democrat Baroness Barker asks the government if they will take action "in response to reports of the persecution and detention of LGBT citizens in Chechnya" - which was the subject of an urgent question in the Commons last week.

Reports of a campaign against gay men by Chechen security forces have been trickling through since early April when they first appeared in a Russian newspaper. Now some of the alleged victims are starting to speak out.

Baroness Barker urges the government to allow gay people from Chechnya to seek asylum in the UK.

Foreign Office Minister Baroness Anelay tells her the government is working to "improve the asylum processes for those claiming on the basis of their sexuality or gender identity".

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Green Party peer Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb asks whether the government intends "to refine the definition of domestic extremism, in order to enable the police to focus on those involved in terrorism and serious crime".

She claims that "police are watching peaceful, non-violent campaigners", such as environmental campaigners, rather than concentrating on terrorists.

Home Office Minister Baroness Williams insists that the defenition of extremism "is not our definition" but one that is made by the police.

Labour peer Lord Harris of Haringey says a government bill on extremism is in "the long grass" and asks when it will be brought forward. Referring to the difficulty of defining extremism, he notes that "quite a number of us might be deemed by other colleagues in your lordships' House as extremist".

Baroness Williams tells him that "events have overtaken us" with the calling of a general election and it will be up to the next government to legislate if it chooses.

Crossbencher Lord Singh of Wimbledon says that when Sikhs were being "called terrorist and extremist" in India in the 1980s, the BBC asked him whether he was a moderate or an extremist.

"I replied: 'I'm extremely moderate'," he says. "Such words have no meaning. We must get beyond these smear definitions and look to what is actually concerning us."

House of Commons
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The SNP's Richard Arkless says he's "very proud" that the bill includes betting slips as a form of cash for the purpose of anti-money-laundering measures, which was an SNP manifesto pledge. 

However, he adds the lack of action on Scottish limited partnerships "brings this place into disrepute".

The legal status of a limited liability partnership can be protected from external scrutiny and gives the partners the capacity to handle money that is not open to their English equivalents.

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Shadow Home Office minister Rupa Huq says Labour is happy to support the government's amendments.

But she notes that closed registers of beneficial ownership are "the elephant in the room" and the original Labour amendment on this issue would have been a better solution. 

"This is a missed opportunity for Britain," she tells the House. 

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The first question today comes from the Earl of Clancarty, who asks what the government will do to encourage the study of design subjects in schools.

Education Minister Lord Nash says art and design are compulsory subjects under the national curriculum at key stages one to three.

The crossbench peer, who is also known as the artist Nick Trench, says he is concerned about "a significant fall in take-up" of the subjects and a fall in schools offering the subjects at GCSE.

Lord Nash claims the government has "arrested that decline".

Labour education spokesman Lord Watson alleges that "design is one of the subjects that some headteachers will be unable to afford to provide if the Tories government is re-elected and cuts to the schools budget are given free reign".

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MPs pass government amendments to the Digital Economy Bill and now move to consideration of Lords amendments to the Criminal Finances Bill, which aims to toughen measures to prevent money-laundering.

The bill was not defeated in the Lords; some peers sought changes to the bill to ensure greater financial transparency in the crown dependencies and overseas territories. 

Home Office Minister Ben Wallace acknowledges this is of "great interest" and says the government is committed to working with them to prevent criminals from hiding behind anonymous shell companies. 

The government has introduced a statutory review but he says it would not be right to "force" new legislation on these countries. 

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The House of Lords will also debate the Northern Ireland (Ministerial Appointments and Regional Rates) Bill, which had its Commons stages on Tuesday.

The bill is a fresh attempt to restore devolved government at Stormont.

Parties in Northern Ireland are currently trying to reach a power-sharing agreement following the resignation of the late deputy first minister Martin McGuinness in the wake of the Renewable Heat Incentive scandal. 

The collapse of the executive triggered an election in Northern Ireland in March, but under existing legislation it is not possible for an executive to be formed on the basis of that election, even if an agreement were reached.

A new election would be needed, or a change to the Northern Ireland Act 1998. 

The bill therefore provides for the possibility that the ongoing negotiations bear fruit, by changing the effect of the 1998 act in this instance, to provide interim arrangements.

Without an executive to set the regional rate, rate bills cannot be issued and revenue cannot be collected. The bill addresses this by setting a regional rate itself.

Finally today, peers will debate the Finance (No.2) Bill, which has also been passed by the Commons.

House of Commons
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Conservative Claire Perry approves of extra protections for children from online pornography, but expresses concern that the definition of what constitutes extreme pornography has narrowed. 

She says "time is running out" for companies who "hide behind" being based overseas.

Culture Minister Matthew Hancock intervenes to point out that "what is illegal offline is also illegal online". 

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Peers meet at 3pm for questions, then deal briefly with four private members' bills.

The House then considers a Commons amendment to the Health Service Medical Supplies (Costs) Bill, as the government continues its bid to get bills through Parliament before it is dissolved.

Before Easter, peers insisted on an amendment to the bill offering guarantees to the life sciences sector and on patients' access to new medicines.

The Commons overturned the amendment and approved a government amendment in lieu, which ministers say would provide guarantees without leaving the government open to challenge from drug companies.

Health Minister Lord O'Shaughnessy will try to persuade peers to accept the Commons' decision.