House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Lord Geidt, former private secretary to the Queen, and Lord Hogan-Howe, former Metropolitan Police Commissioner, are being introduced.

They will both sit as crossbenchers.

House of Commons
Parliament

Leader of the House Andrea Leadsom announces forthcoming Commons business.

Next Tuesday will see further committee stage debate on the EU Withdrawal Bill.

On Wednesday, the chancellor will make his Budget statement to the House.

Debate on the Budget will continue on Thursday and the following Monday and Tuesday.

Ms Leadsom also welcomes an extension of a telephone helpline for staff in Parliament to both the Commons and the Lords.

It is estimated that over one million women used the drug Primodos to test for pregnancies.

It worked by triggering a period if a woman was not pregnant. Before that pregnancy tests required complicated blood tests.

Dr Alisa Gebbie, chair of the working group which oversaw the inquiry, said many thousands of pieces of evidence were examined during the review, and detailed testimonies had been gathered from families affected.

But she said there was simply not the evidence to suggest the drug caused defects or miscarriages.

Marie Lyon, who is chair of the Association for Children Damaged by Hormone Pregnancy Tests, was prescribed Primodos and later gave birth to a daughter whose limbs were not fully formed.

She said she was very angry with the findings and would like a judicial review.

Legal action against Schering - the original manufacturer of Primodos - was halted in 1982 because of a lack of evidence.

House of Commons
Parliament

SNP MP Hannah Bardell asks whether "24 hours" was a reasonable notice period to ask families to travel to London to hear the report's findings, as the short notice prevented a constituent of hers from travelling.

She also claims that Yasmin Qureshi and herself were "locked out of the press conference" on the report, adding: "That alone smacks of a cover-up."

"Causal link and possible link are two very different terms," Ms Bardell adds, asking if it is reasonable if an inquiry "changes the goal posts".

Health Minister Steve Brine says he "cannot understand how" the MPs were barred from the press conference and will ask why and how it happened.

He adds that he can see how such a thing "feeds the conspiracy theory that some have".

The Northern Ireland Budget Act - which allows the British government to set a budget for Northern Ireland - has received Royal Assent.

The proposals were rushed through parliament this week after the failure of talks to restore power sharing at Stormont.

House of Commons
Parliament

Conservative MP Sir Mike Penning alleges there were "things removed from the draft" of the report and the working group "looked at things that were not in their remit".

Her urges ministers to meet the families again to understand "why they are so upset".

Minister Steve Brine again insists that the report by the working group was not a whitewash.

House of Commons
Parliament

Steve Brine says he is not just quoting what was put before him and it is not for "this House to second-guess" scientific findings.

Conservative MP Anna Soubry says she has heard from two of her constituents who believe there is a link.

She calls for a full debate and thinks she smells "a rat".

Shadow health minister Justin Madders says the report has "rightly been met with disbelief by campaign groups", suggesting it is "a whitewash".

Mr Brine insists: "This was a rigorous, impartial review."

However, he concedes that families "could have been treated a lot better" and meeting with the working group may have been "intimidating".

House of Lords
Parliament

The Lords get started at 11am with the introduction of Lord Geidt, former private secretary to the Queen, and Lord Hogan-Howe, former Metropolitan Police Commissioner. They will sit as crossbenchers.

Lords then quiz ministers on:

• bilateral trade between the United Kingdom and Sudan
• reducing the number of young women who are self-harming.
• an adequacy decision for data transfers between the UK and the EU after Brexit
• the Permanent Structured Cooperation process agreed by 23 EU member states on 13 November.

Peers will take part in three debates - on universal credit, rising inflation, the human rights of older persons - before they debate a Labour motion to regret a regulation on NHS charges to overseas visitors.

This evening they will hear repeats of statements made in the Commons on an independent complaints and grievance policy for Parliament, and on hormone pregnancy tests.

House of Commons
Parliament

Health Minister Steve Brine answers an urgent question on hormone pregnancy tests.

It follows an investigation into whether a hormonal pregnancy test in use from the 1950s to the 1970s did not damage unborn children by the Commission on Human Medicines.

Mr Brine says the outcome "does not support" a link between use of the tests and "stillbirth, miscarriage or congenital abnormalities".

Labour MP Yasmin Qureshi says she is "so disappointed with the minister's response" and calls on him to read all the documents submitted to the inquiry.

She says she is talking about a "possible link" with the tests which, she argues, has a lower burden of proof.

House of Commons
Parliament

MPs are putting question to Attorney General Jeremy Wright, the government's chief legal adviser.

SNP MP Hannah Bardell asks whether the government will commit to incorporating the EU's "Charter of Fundamental Rights into UK law" before the UK leaves the EU.

"No, Mr Speaker," replies Mr Wright, adding that "substantive rights" will be incorporated into UK law by the EU Withdrawal Bill.

Later, he argues: "This House is perfectly capable of protecting the rights of the people of this country."

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, Reuters

Shadow minister Liam Byrne asks whether the government has held talks with social media companies about "the existence of evidence of Russian interference in the EU referendum and in the general election".

Culture Minister Matt Hancock says ministers hold regular meetings with firms, adding: "You can't solve an issue like this without working with the social media companies."

Mr Byrne calls on the government to "co-operate fully with the Mueller inquiry into Russian cyber-attacks on democracy" in the United States.

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour's Eleanor Smith asks about a possible relocation of broadcaster Channel 4 outside London.

The Wolverhampton MP thinks the West Midlands would be a good location for the broadcaster. The region launched a bid earlier this year.

"I make no comment on an appropriate location," says Culture Secretary Karen Bradley and suggests MPs put their bids to the Channel 4 board.

She adds that she has heard suggestions of a "vast number of incredible, creative locations" from MPs across the House.

Conservative MP Richard Bacon says Channel 4 "should carefully consider the merits of Norfolk".

House of Commons
Parliament

Following a question from Labour colleague Nick Thomas-Symonds on improving access to careers in the creative industries, shadow culture minister Kevin Brennan asks why trade unions are not represented on the Creative Industries Council.

The council describes itself, external as a joint forum between the creative industries and government.

It is co-chaired by Culture Secretary Karen Bradley, Business Secretary Greg Clark and Facebook executive Nicola Mendelsohn.

Despite the ministerial representation on the council, Ms Bradley insists that membership is a matter for the council and "not a government decision".

House of Commons
Parliament

The Speaker announces the start of questions to Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Karen Bradley.

Ms Bradley jokes: "It sounds like a land grab doesn't it - the length of the name of the department now?"

Until July, it was the Department for Culture, Media and Sport but the government announced a name change,, external "in a move that acknowledges the way the department’s remit has evolved".

House of Commons
Parliament

The day in the Commons begins with questions to the digital, culture, media and sport secretary.

An urgent question on hormone pregnancy tests follows, before Leader of the House Andrea Leadsom announces the forthcoming Commons business and takes questions.

Ms Leadsom will also make a statement on an independent complaints and grievance policy following allegations of sexual harassment and assault at Westminster.

MPs will spend the remainder of the day holding backbench business debates on the roll-out of Universal Credit and the defence aerospace industrial strategy.

That's where we leave our live coverage of Parliament for today.

The second day of committee stage for the EU Withdrawal Bill again saw the government come under criticism - particularly on the protection of rights and environmental standards after Brexit - but again it saw off all amendments voted on.

House of Commons
Parliament

MPs vote 313 to 48 to reject an SNP amendment requiring the government to retain various articles in the Treaty on Functioning of the European Union including equal pay, freedom of movement and residence, and the protection of citizens' rights.

They then agree to keep Clause 4 - which Justice Minister Dominic Raab earlier described as "making sure we retain the general principle of EU law and directly effective rights" - without a vote.

House of Commons
Parliament

MPs are now voting on an SNP amendment requiring the government to retain various articles in the Treaty on Functioning of the European Union including equal pay, freedom of movement and residence, and the protection of citizens' rights.