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Shadow public health minister Sharon Hodgson says smoking is a "huge challenge" for government, especially when looking to tackle the number of people that smoke during childhood.

She asks "with local smoking services on their knees how can the government meet targets for quitting?"

She says ambitions to reduce smoking in pregnancy are "unlikely to be met without urgent action".

Ms Hodgson says she welcomes the minister's targets, but asks how the government will help younger women and women from disadvantaged backgrounds stop smoking during pregnancy.

House of Commons
Parliament

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MPs are now debating the Tobacco Control Plan.

The government published its latest tobacco plan in July 2017, providing four national ambitions for tobacco control:

• Reduce the prevalence of smoking amongst young people
• Reduce smoking in pregnancy
• Make all mental health sites smokefree by 2018
• Help individuals quit by backing evidence based innovations for quitting

Health Minister Steve Brine is opening the debate and says thousands of people continue to die as a result of tobacco around the world.

"The UK government can help make a dent on that toll by sharing knowledge and skills."

In a broad ranging speech, Mr Brine says "we will continue to keep the harms of products, such as heated tobacco, under review" and reminds the House that "the promotion of tobacco products is unlawful".

House of Commons
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In a point of order, Labour's Wes Streeting says recent press reports suggest that the Conservative Chief Whip Julian Smith has "instructed MPs to break their pairs".

He refers to comments by the Leader of the House suggesting the breaking of the pair was done in error.

He says the Chief Whip must now resign as he has broken the ministerial code.

He asks how MPs can compel Julian Smith to come to the House and answer for his actions.

Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine adds to this, asking whether the Chief Whip can be summoned to the house "without hiding behind the Leader of the House" through an urgent question.

Deputy Speaker Dame Rosie Winterton says she is sure the Leader of the House's earlier comments "were said in good faith" and if that she had said something incorrect unintentionally then she would correct the record.

"I also don't think we should rush to any conclusions based on what is reported on social media."

She says it is a convention that the Chief Whip does not speak in the House, it is for the Speaker to decide whether to accept an urgent question, and that it is the government to decide who responds to an urgent question.

Conservative Chief Whip Julian Smith is under pressure to explain why an MP took part in crunch Brexit votes despite an agreement not to.

Mr Lewis told Brandon Lewis to break a voting pact with a Lib Dem MP "by accident", sources have told the BBC.

He has apologised to the MP in question, Jo Swinson, who had a "pairing" agreement with Mr Lewis.

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Parliament

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Lord Pickles, formerly a Conservative local government secretary, is giving his maiden speech in the House of Lords. He recalls not believing someone from his background could become a peer, and his teenage communist beliefs growing up in a Labour family.

He recalls his grandfather saying in despair that he would probably end up a Conservative and sit in the House of Lords.

On the subject of the debate, he quotes President Nixon: "Once the toothpaste is out of the tube, it is impossible to put it back."

He concludes that if his grandfather could meet current peers, he would realise that he had judged the House too harshly.

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Crossbencher Lord Wilson rises to say "I fear that we are all going to say the same thing".

He speaks about the advantages, such as flexibility, of having an unwritten constitution.

"We tend in this country to do big change as if we were under anaesthetic," he says, "and referendums have slipped in in this way."

He says governments have begun to use them to avoid difficult decisions.

He says referendums should be used but only as a final step, once Parliament has properly debated what the options mean.

He says this was the main mistake of the Brexit referendum and asked how an option could be put to the public which the government believed to be against the national interest.

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MPs vote against Sir Kevin's amendment:

Ayes: 22

Noes: 79

Majority: 57

The motion then passes without a vote.

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Chair of the Standards Committee Sir Kevin Barron's amendment would remove a paragraph that calls for information no longer to be published on live investigations.

Sir Kevin says it would be "huge step backwards in terms of transparency".

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Andrea Leadsom rises to wrap up the debate, and she says she acknowledges the calls for six month review.

She appeals to members to vote against Kevin Barron's amendment, arguing "we need confidentiality and consistency".

With that, the House divides on the amendment.

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We have to have permission to challenge and confidence to do so, says Labour's Rachael Maskell, another member of the steering group.

"The independent investigation process is the most powerful part," she says, with it vital someone is with "no interest in anything other than resolve and justice to the person involved".

"We need ensure that everyone has that sense of justice," Ms Maskell says, referring to historical cases.

She argues that training should be mandatory as if not "perhaps those that would most benefit from it may miss out".

She asks for the Leader of the House to consider "the role of trade unions and what they can bring to this place".

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Labour's Lord Parekh says people's views on referendums are clouded by their views on Brexit and he wants to decontextualise the debate.

He says it is important to remember that in parliamentary democracy, sovereignty does not lie with Parliament but with the people.

He lends support to the use of referendums, especially as, he says, people feel detached from their representatives.

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Green Party MP Caroline Lucas praises the new system, but says that there is "more to do".

She says there are concerns around the independence of the final stages, suggesting the process is "undermined" by MPs playing a part in the decision making.

Historic complaints can go "unresolved", which means the measures don't go far enough, she says.

Ms Lucas suggests "reforms that will deliver real change have been delayed until after the next election", arguing the idea that MPs did not know they would have to sign up to rules against abuse when they stood for election is not good enough.

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Next on the order of business is a debate tabled by Lord Higgins on the impact on the UK's parliamentary democracy from the use of referendums.

The Conservative peer says the issue needs to be considered in a wider sense than just the Brexit referendum.

Referendums were unpopular for a long time because of their association with dictators, he says. He says they are becoming more popular among the public as politicians become more unpopular.

He says referendums prevent politicians from exercising their own judgement as is normally expected in UK representative democracy.

He says the Brexit referendum was approved as 'advisory' but is treated as binding. He says the result was affected by false promises and possibly illegal financing so it is perhaps not right to respect it fully.

He says there is a problem when the view of the majority in a referendum contradicts the view of a majority of parliamentarians.

He says another referendum on Brexit would create more confusion and it is time for Parliament to make decisions.

The case for referendums is weak, he says, and there should be better rules on turnout and majorities.

Concluding, he argues that referendums create rule by the majority and can negatively effect minorities.

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Lib Dem Layla Moran, who chaired the policy's steering committee for a while, says that "if it gets to the point of a complaint we've already failed".

She hopes that the policy means harassment will no longer occur.

"This place should be the best place to work in the entire country," she says, suggesting that Parliament has "lagged behind" for too long.

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Labour MP Jess Phillips says this is a positive step forward, admitting that she has been a "naysayer" throughout the process but suggesting the report is significant progress.

"It will be a massive pleasure to me to no longer be the referral system for victims of violence in this building," she says.

"I think I'm up to around 50 complaints from a variety of people, from different political parties, about members of parliament and others that work around politics as well."

She says she has some concerns over historical cases, as "most of those cases that are brought us to do anything at all won't be able to go through this system."

However, she says she has a "deep trust in the Leader of the House in her desire to make this right".

Ms Phillips worries about "how it looks" with attempts to pull back on transparency, which she suggests "was a deal done that had to be done to put this through".

Political parties are "no way near" where they need to be on this, she says, "every day I take complaints about the processes people are put through by the political parties".

She ends with a massive thank you to victims that came forward, "you are considerably braver than us".

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Chair of the Standards Committee Sir Kevin Barron says not everyone in Parliament has "behaved in a morally decent way".

He says that suggestions that "MPs mark their own homework" does not fairly reflect how his committee operates, as there are a number of lay members who have never been MPs who work with the committee.

He says lay members do not currently have voting rights however, and he would like that to change.

The committee released a report last week on the policy, supporting the extension of the complaints procedure to cover allegations of bullying and harassment, and sexual harassment.

He is critical of parts of the policy, and has tabled an amendment to the motion.

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Pete Wishart, the SNP Commons business spokesperson, says he's "not been involved with a piece of work that's been so detailed" in his 17 years in Parliament.

"This report will have a great credibility in the House," he says.

He says he hopes it will redefine the culture in Parliament, which needs to be tackled to ensure that everyone is treated with dignity and respect.

He says it shows the kind of work that can be done if MPs get together to ensure they do this.

It's disappointing there isn't an opportunity for historic complainants to come forward presented by the report, but he says he hopes this will still be addressed. He also expresses concern about transparency, confidentiality and consistency.

Training "is a critical part of the report", he says, praising the inclusion of what constitutes bullying and sexual harrassment, as well as how to prevent it and how to deal with it.

"Parliament has to lead... we would be shirking our responsibility if we did not tackle this."

House of Commons
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Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee Maria Miller says "Parliament is overwhelmingly a good place to work" and there "is a responsibility to deal with this".

Issues which people are finding hard in Parliament are part of "a much wider context".

"This process does need to be independent" of the "intricate network" that is in Parliament.

"The Leader of the House is entirely right" to protect the confidentiality the system seeks to introduce, she adds.

She says that there needs to be more advice to members on how to deal with reporting of problems when they are witnessed.

"We cannot allow bystanders to simply watch things going on without acting," she states.