House of Commons
Parliament

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Leader of the House Andrea Leadsom is outlining future business in the Commons.

Next Monday MPs will debate spending estimates for the Ministry of Defence and the Department for Exiting the EU. On Tuesday they will do the same for the Housing, Communities and Local Government department and the Department for Transport.

On Wednesday there'll be a debate on the independent complaints and grievance policy, meant to tackle harassment and bullying within Parliament.

Next Thursday, the 1st March, will see a backbench debate on St David's Day.

The only business given for the week after next, starting March 5th, is the second reading of the Data Protection Bill, freshly arrived from the Lords.

House of Lords
Parliament

Labour peer Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe asks ministers "why they have no plans to provide patients with the costs of their treatment in order to encourage charitable donations to the National Health Service".

Health and Social Care Minister Lord O'Shaughnessy says the NHS provides care to people "regardless of your means" and argues that information about full costs to patients might put them off seeking treatments.

Lord Brooke argues in turn that giving people information on the costs could encourage them "to give more and get more involved with the NHS".

The minister says he understands the sentiment but adds that there are "over 250 NHS charities" and people give to "a range of health causes" already.

He repeats his concern that "itemising a bill could put some people off".

House of Commons
Parliament

There's a grim warning from Labour's Barry Sheerman, who says: "A million people could probably die by 2040."

House of Commons
Parliament

A Liberal Democrat Layla Moran seeks confirmation that there will be extra money for councils.

The minister Therese Coffey replies that she wrote to all MPs affected by the legal ruling to say that the government would be making "what we are doing already legal binding" on councils.

The minister says she will be asking councils what resources or powers they may need.

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour MP Tony Lloyd thinks "the real issue" is the number of heavy goods vehicles and old buses on the roa,. He says an "intensive bus scrappage scheme" is needed.

The minister Therese Coffey replies that £89m is being invested in helping local authorities to convert their buses.

House of Lords
Parliament

Peers meet shortly for oral questions on topics including efforts to re-establish devolved government in Northern Ireland, and the future of the prison system.

That is followed by a private notice question from the Bishop of St Albans, asking what the government is doing to respond to the crisis in Eastern Ghouta in Syria.

Peers will hear repeats of yesterday's Commons statement on the medicines and medical devices safety review and the answer to today's urgent question on air quality.

Today's legislation is the Nuclear Safeguards Bill, which seeks to establish a nuclear safety regime after the UK leaves the EU.

There will also be a short debate on the priority given to women and girls when developing international aid projects.

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour shadow environment minister Holly Lynch says the court ruling raises the question of wether the government "can be trusted" with the environment after Brexit.

She says it has "played down responsibility for extremely serious failure" and it is "typical of a government that provides high talk on the environment" but does not "demonstrate action".

She asks if the government plans to appeal the ruling, and if there'll be support for "cash strapped" local authorities.

Minister Therese Coffey says the Welsh Labour government was also a defendant and is also having to update its plans.

She is "fed up" with the opposition not accepting its share of responsibility and says the Labour government "incentivised" diesel cars and ignored advice that diesel fumes were toxic.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Environment committee chair Neil Parish is asking an urgent question on the government's defeat at the High Court over plans to tackle air pollution. The court said that plans were "unlawful" and more needed to be done in 45 local council areas.

Minister Therese Coffey says that following the court judgement "we are happy to take a more formal approach" with councils and "issue legally binding directives". She says the government will publish a new plan for tackling nitrogen dioxide pollution, which mostly comes from vehicles, by October.

She says that the government is "committed to improving air quality" and that there will be a "comprehensive strategy" on tackling pollution more broadly later this year.

House of Commons
Parliament

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There has been some discussion in today's session of the gender pay gap among high paid roles at the BBC.

Conservative Philip Davies asks if the government believes the pay gap at the BBC is the result of high profile women being underpaid, or men being overpaid.

Women and Equalities Minister Amber Rudd says it's "almost a philosophical question" but says that she's most interested in "equality" which is the point she says she'll be making when she meets with the BBC to discuss the issue.

House of Commons
Parliament

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The Commons is discussing the repeal, in 2013, of Section 40 of the 2010 Equalities Act.

The clause made employers liable, in some circumstances, for sexual harassment of their employees by third parties.

Lib Dem Jo Swinson, who was in government at the time of the repeal, says that she knows from experience that "Conservative obsession with deregulation sometimes gets in the way of protecting vulnerable workers".

She asks if, in light of the Presidents Club scandal, external, it is "time to look again" at the provision.

Home Office Minister Victoria Atkins says that the government "of course" is keeping the matter "under review" but says that "general protection exists under the Act".

House of Commons
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Women and Equalities Questions is now underway in the Commons.

Amber Rudd, the Women and Equalities Minister is explaining how the government's fund to mark the centenary of some women first gaining the vote has been spent.

She confirms how the £2.5m distributed so far has been spent, including funding for "the first ever statue of a woman in Parliament Square, Millicent Fawcett".

House of Commons
Parliament

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The SNP's Joanna Cherry asks what the impact of leaving the EU single market will be on the Scottish fishing industry.

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox says that the "majority of Scotland's exports go to the rest of the UK, not the EU".

He adds that "despite our membership of the single market, we had a trade deficit with the EU at a time we had a surplus with the rest of the world".

He says that IMF projections show that "90% of global growth next fifty years will be outside Europe".

House of Commons
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International Trade questions is underway.

Labour's Catherine West asks how many new institutions will be needed to replicate the terms of existing EU trade agreements after Brexit.

Minister Greg Hands says the government will provide "continuity" to "minimise disruption".

Ministers will ensure that "provisions of existing agreements are met as the country starts to operate its independent trade policy", he adds.

House of Commons
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Good morning and welcome to our coverage of events today at Westminster.

The Commons begins shortly with questions to ministers from the Department for International Trade, followed at 10am by questions to Women and Equalities Minister Amber Rudd.

At 10:30 Neil Parish, the chair of the environment committee, will ask an urgent question on the government's defeat in the High Court over its plans to cut pollution.

The court ruled yesterday that current measures are inadequate.

The main business of the day are debates later on disabled people's contribution to economic growth, and the government's cancer strategy.

The Lords started the marathon committee stage of the EU Withdrawal Bill - a chance to debate the many amendments to the legislation.

That's the theory, at least. Some peers thought the debate felt like a re-run of previous arguments about Brexit instead of detailed discussion about changing the bill.

There were some tetchy exchanges when a government chief whip, Lord Taylor tried to move the debate along, with Labour's Lord Adonis insisting it was too important to be rushed.

It's the first of ten days of committee stage debate on the bill - although there could be more.

Before that, Brexit was raised by Jeremy Corbyn at Prime Minister's Questions - an unusual line of questioning from the Labour leader.

He quoted the Brexit Secretary David Davis's remarks that Brexit would not be like a scene from "Mad Max". Mr Corbyn suggested that the bar should be set "a little bit higher".

Theresa May gave a hint of a smile but came back with a swipe at Labour, accusing the party of shifting its position on Brexit.

House of Lords
Parliament

Brexit Minister Lord Callanan tries to deal with concerns over the absence of devolution amendments to EU Withdrawal Bill.

He says he understands peers' frustrations but they need to wait for the outcome of the Joint Ministerial Council meeting.

Lord Foulkes calls this response inadequate but agrees to withdraw his amendment - and that's where we leave our live coverage of the Lords for this evening.

House of Lords
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Conservative Lord Forsyth of Drumlean dismisses Lord Foulkes' argument that the bill creates tensions between Edinburgh and Westminster, as "there will always be tensions while those who wish to destroy the UK are in power in Scotland".

He warns that Scottish nationalists "use every opportunity to turn everything into a constitutional crisis".

House of Lords
Parliament

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After a pause for the dinner-break debate, peers resume committee stage of the EU Withdrawal Bill.

Labour's Lord Foulkes of Cumnock is introducing an amendment which would prevent repeal of the European Communities Act without legislative consent motions from devolved administrations.

"There's not one parliament in the UK but four - and they must be consulted," he tells the House.

House of Lords
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Shadow Brexit spokesperson Baroness Hayter acknowledges that ministers accepted measures to vary the exit date as the bill went through the Commons, but says this is designed to deal with "exceptional circumstances".

She won't support the amendment as she doesn't want another Brexit bill but says some of the arguments for a separate repeal act are "compelling".

Responding, Brexit Minister Lord Callanan tells peers this amendment would "undermine the most important part of it" - repealing the European Communities Act - but that even if it weren't repealed the UK would still leave the EU as part of the Article 50 process.

House of Commons
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The Finance (No. 2) Bill passes by 301 votes to 218.

That's where we leave our Commons coverage for today.

The House sits at 9:30am on Thursday for international trade questions.

MPs will also hold debates on the role of disabled people in economic growth and on the cancer strategy.

Meanwhile tonight, debate on the EU Withdrawal Bill continues in the House of Lords.