Select Committee
Parliament

Labour MP Lilian Greenwood, the Committee Chair, asks Mr Walsh about selling future tickets.

Many airlines sell tickets up to a year ahead, although Mr Walsh says that very few passengers actually buy tickets this far in advance.

"When I'm looking at my forward bookings, I rarely look beyond the next three months", he says.

Mr Walsh says he would like certainty for six months in advance, however, but adds: "I wouldn't be prepared to say there's a drop dead date".

House of Commons
Parliament

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott welcomes "many aspects" of the statement but argues that deaths in custody are "of particular concern to our urban communities".

"I personally have had to comfort too many families who said goodbye to their son in the morning and he never came back," the London MP tells the House.

In order to uphold the idea of "policing by consent", she adds, "we must deal with this long-running issue".

House of Lords
Parliament

Home Office Minister Baroness Williams of Trafford is repeating a statement given earlier in the Commons on deaths in police custody.

A review carried out by Dame Elish Angiolini has recommended that deaths in police custody should be probed by investigators qualified in securing evidence at crime scenes.

The report also calls for former police officers to be barred from leading investigations and recommends "drying out centres" as safer alternatives to police cells for holding intoxicated detainees.

Select Committee
Parliament

EasyJet recently said it was planning to set up a new company in Austria to protect its European business after Britain leaves the EU.

EasyJet director Sophie Dekkers says the move was to protect "that part of the business", referencing the flights the company operates which "do not touch the UK".

Following questioning by Committee Chair Lilian Greenwood, Willie Walsh adds that an Air Operator's Certificate (AOC), which allows the company to operate in different areas, is an extra layer for the airline industry, but adds that British Airways has operated many certificates across Europe, the UK and Ireland.

House of Commons
Parliament

Policing Minister Nick Hurd says that Dame Elish Angiolini's report raises some problems "for which there are no easy answers".

He says inquests held to establish the cause of someone's death should be "inquisitorial" rather than "adversarial".

Mr Hurd praises the police but adds that they must be held to account, saying their "integrity and accountability" is essential to ensure public confidence.

The minister promises legislation later in the year "to extend the disciplinary system to former officers".

Select Committee
Parliament

The witnesses say they share the transport secretary's optimism that the situation can continue as normal.

Sophie Dekkers, of EasyJet, adds that "aviation is beneficial to both the UK and EU".

"It's clear that we do need a new aviation agreement, and we're encouraged by the fact that that has become a reasonably high profile issue", says Mr Hawkins from the Manchester Airports Group.

Image source, HoC

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Conservative Baroness Jenkin of Kennington says when she was a PA in Westminster she was "regularly approached by what you might call the usual suspects".

But she argues Parliament is a "better environment" now than it was 40 years ago and that an improved gender balance will help.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, PA

MPs now hear the first of today's statements, on deaths in custody, from Policing Minister Nick Hurd.

It follows a review by Dame Elish Angiolini, commissioned two years ago by the then-Home Secretary Theresa May.

Among the report's 110 recommendations are:

• The Independent Police Complaints Commission - due to be reformed in January - should have on-call teams to respond to deaths in custody 24 hours a day
• Investigators attending the scene of a death should have "experience of all steps necessary to protect a potential crime scene and secure evidence"
• Police chiefs should face misconduct charges if they fail to preserve the scene of a death that needs investigating
• Ministers should consider "drying out centres", scrapped as too expensive in the 1980s, amid evidence that intoxication is a factor in many deaths
• England and Wales should have a "National Coroner Service" to deal with "inconsistencies and fundamental shortcomings"

Read more.

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour MP Rachael Maskell criticises leader of the House Andrea Leadsom for, as she sees it, focusing on mediation.

"Mediation assumes there is an equality of power," Ms Maskell says.

Ms Leadsom says she is "talking about an independent grievance procedure" rather than mediation.

Another Labour MP, Kate Green, presses her further to rule out mediation, calling it "inappropriate".

Ms Leadsom says there should be "independent investigation of allegations, not mediation".

Select Committee
Parliament

There are four witnesses taking part in this one-off evidence session:

• John Holland-Kaye, external, Chief Executive of Heathrow Airport, external
• Sophie Dekkers, UK Director, EasyJet, external
• Tim Hawkins, Corporate Affairs Director, Manchester Airports Group, external
• Willie Walsh, Chief Executive, International Airlines Group, external

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour MP Rupa Huq says "other levels of government" should adopt the same procedures, including local government and members of the European Parliament.

House of Lords
Parliament

Lib Dem leader in the Lords, Lord Newby, says the way Parliament has dealt with matters of MPs' conduct has been "slapdash" and that "we have taken it less seriously than we should have done".

He asks for details of the timetable for setting up a new mediation process.

Lords Leader Baroness Evans says she can't give an exact timetable but it's important to engage in a dialogue "quickly".

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Shadow leader in the Lords Baroness Smith of Basildon responds to the statement on sexual harassment, saying such behaviour can be "highly intimidating for those on the receiving end".

"It's not a party political issue but a human and a workplace one," she tells MPs.

Good employment practices need to be embedded in Parliament and all parties should publish their complaint procedures, she says.

Lords Leader Baroness Evans agrees this is the right way to proceed, and stresses the need for both Houses to work together.

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour MP Chris Bryant, a former priest in the Church of England, says a colleague in the church told him he was raped by a senior member of the clergy.

The perpetrator was later jailed but "the Church's instinct was to protect itself, the institution", Mr Bryant adds.

He argues that the best way to protect an institution is to protect the victim.

Mr Bryant also proposes that an HR professional should sit in when MPs are conducting job interviews.

Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, AFP/Getty Images

At 4.45pm, MPs on the Transport Committee will open their evidence session on aviation.

This is a one-off evidence session being hosted by the committee, after concerns about a ‘no deal’ Brexit raised by the aviation industry.

Separately, the government has issued a call for evidence, external over its future aviation strategy for 2050 and beyond.

As a member of the European Common Aviation Area, UK airlines currently have a right to fly to, from and within European countries, as well as third party countries such as the US and Canada.

This session will focus on the progress made so far in negotiations and potential implications for aviation if there are delays.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

"The issue of bullying in this House is systemic," says Conservative MP Matthew Offord.

He calls for the procedures to be widened to bullying and to include "historical allegations".

House of Lords
Parliament

Lords Leader Baroness Evans of Bowes Park is repeating the answer to an urgent question on plans to tackle sexual harassment in Parliament.

Leader of the Commons Andrea Leadsom earlier told MPs that recent allegations point to "a vital need to provide greater support and protection".

She confirmed that the Cabinet Office is urgently investigating allegations in the light of the ministerial code.

House of Lords
Parliament

Labour withdraws its amendments seeking the right to personal data protection after Brexit without a vote, although opposition spokesman Lord Stevenson insists there would have been nothing unconstitutional about voting at this stage.

House of Commons
Parliament

Liberal Democrat MP Jo Swinson calls for openness about the results of any grievance procedure, arguing that "repercussions in secret... will not cut it in 2017".

Labour's Jess Phillips urges MPs not to "think of this as being a party political thing" and also calls for robust action against perpetrators.

"Nothing hurts a victim more than watching a perpetrator getting away with it," Ms Phillips says.

House of Commons
Parliament

Conservative MP Esther McVey asks whether new procedures will address threats against female MPs - a reference to comments made about her by shadow chancellor John McDonnell in 2014.

Mr McDonnell faced calls to apologise after repeating the words of a former constituent of Ms McVey, who asked why she hadn't been lynched.

Leader of the House condemns the words as "appalling".