Select Committee
Parliament

The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee is to hold a pre-appointment hearing with Lord Bew, the government's preferred candidate for the position of chair of the House of Lords Appointment Commission.

Lord Bew is a professor of Irish politics at Queen's University and Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life. He acted as historical adviser to the Bloody Sunday Inquiry between 1998 and 2001 and was appointed as a non-party peer by the House of Lords Appointments Commission in February 2007 following his contributions to the Good Friday Agreement.

Lord Bew is a Visiting Professor at King’s College London. Among Lord Bew’s many publications is the Ireland volume of the Oxford History of Modern Europe.

House of Commons
Parliament

Chris Stephens asks about plans to regulate the processing of personal data by online companies.

Responding to the SNP member's question, minister Margot James says the government is in the process of reviewing personal data rules.

She expects all organisations to co-operate with the Information Commissioners Office.

Shadow DCMS secretary Tom Watson says it is now time for a full investigation into results of the EU referendum, as well as the role of the Russian state.

Ms James says it will be investigated, but is not really a matter for her department - to which Mr Watson disagrees.

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour MP Clive Efford asks about discussions with football authorities about grassroots sport funding.

Sports Minister Tracey Crouch says she meets football authorities regularly to discuss a variety of things, including grassroots sport.

Mr Efford says the FA is considering selling Wembley stadium to fund grassroots sport, and asks why this is. Ms Crouch says more money is being put in, she's helped negotiate that being increased and she's confident money will continue to be invested regardless of what happens with the stadium.

Labour's Justin Madders says Gary Neville has made compelling arguments against the sale of Wembley, to which Ms Crouch says that the FA sees it as a good opportunity to invest in sport further.

House of Commons
Parliament

Questions to Digital, Culture, Media and Sport ministers gets started, with Conservative MP Julian Knight asking what is being done to ensure public broadcasters reflect and provide for the whole of the UK.

Stepping up to speak for the first time since his appointment, Jeremy Wright responds, stating broadcasters should do what they can to reflect the whole of the UK. He refers to efforts to encourage broadcasters to move outside of London.

Pushed to support Channel 4's proposed move to Birmingham, Mr Wright says he has to be careful not to express support for any particular bid.

"The strongest bid should win, it's up to Channel 4 to decide which it will be," he adds.

Welcome to another day at Westminster, with plenty going on in the Commons and Lords chambers.

We're heading over to the Commons shortly, for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport questions. The Lords starts at 11am - we'll be covering them too, as well as a committee session, with a pre-appointment hearing with peer Lord Bew, who is the candidate for the House of Lords appointment Commission.

Thanks for joining us.

Two men accused of the Salisbury poisonings are believed to be from Russia's military intelligence service.

House of Commons
Parliament

Two Russian nationals have been named as suspects in the attempted murder of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

Theresa May made a statement to the Commons about the investigation and the steps the government would take in response.

The prime minister told MPs today that the two men, using the names Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, thought to be officers from Russia's military intelligence service, the GRU.

The poisoning was "not a rogue operation" and was "almost certainly" approved at a senior level of the Russian state, she said.

In March Mr Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok.

Police are connecting the attack to Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley who became unwell at a house in Amesbury, about eight miles from Salisbury.

Ms Sturgess died in hospital on 9 July. Mr Rowley was discharged from hospital on 20 July.

The Voyeurism (Offences) Bill passes third reading in the Commons and will now be considered by the House of Lords.

Next in the Commons is an adjournment debate led by Conservative MP Richard Drax on the training of nurses in England.

We'll be leaving our coverage here for today, but join us tomorrow morning when the new Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, Jeremy Wright takes his first question time.

We also have the weekly statement on forthcoming Commons business from the Leader of the House, Andrea Leadsom.

Liberal Democrat Norman Lamb will make a statement on his Science and Technology Committee's report on e-cigarettes and we'll cover a debate led by the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Tom Tugendhat, focusing on the idea of an alternative post-Brexit approach to world affairs.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Former Conservative justice minister Sir Mike Penning says it's been a real privilege to take part in the debate.

He says the review is "a real movement for women", but says he is still confused about when upskirting will be addressed by the legislation. He hopes the Lords can address this issue when it passes to the other place.

Sir Christopher Chope says "this is a good day for democracy", but says the amendment he had put forward was misrepresented by the minister.

The bill passes third reading and will now be considered by the House of Lords.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Maria Miller, chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, says she doesn't believe this bill would have passed in 2005, and welcomes the courage Parliament now has in passing bills such as these.

She thanks the minister for acknowledging that a long-needed review of sexually explicit images is needed, and stresses the positive effects the passing of this bill will have immediately.

Ms Miller urges the Lords to listen to the impassioned support for this legislation in the Commons today and to help ensure this bill is made law as soon as possible.

House of Commons
Parliament

Lib-Dem MP Wera Hobhouse says that the upskirting bill has, from the very beginning, "been about brave individuals, particularly women".

She thanks everyone that has supported and worked on the bill.

"To have the bill sponsored by five parties and the government... demonstrates what we can achieve when we work together."

House of Commons
Parliament

Shadow justicemMinister Yasmin Qureshi says she's heartened by the minister's announcement, and that she hopes it happens as soon as possible.

She points out many have remained in the chamber that don't need to be, and thanks them for staying.

House of Commons
Parliament

Justice Minister Lucy Frazer says Sir Christopher Chope never opposed this legislation on a matter of substance when he objected to the private member's bill earlier this year, and says it was done on a matter of procedure.

She says she has spoken to him and discussed his concerns and thoughts on the bill.

Ms Frazer says the government will look into the distribution of sexual images.

She says a review of the legislation in two years' time will ensure that the legislation is as effective and comprehensive as possible.

Ms Frazer says hate crime is an area which the government wishes to look at closely, and thanks the work of Maria Miller, Stella Creasy and the entire House for ensuring the quick passage of this legislation.

House of Commons
Parliament

Stella Creasy thanks the minister for listening and says that through the measures she has announced, the government is recognising the experience of women.

As a result, she withdraws her amendment.

The house proceeds to legislative grand committee stage, before entering third reading.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Justice Minister Lucy Frazer says there is a gap in the law which needs to be filled which refers to where an offence takes place.

She says currently, if an offence takes place in neither a private or public place, which includes schools and many workplaces, the offence is not covered by law. She says this is why this legislation needs passing immediately.

Lucy Frazer says the amendments suggested risk damaging the message of the bill.

Addressing Stella Creasy's suggested amendment that if misogyny is considered a motivating factor in an offence, it will be considered when assessing the seriousness of the crime, Ms Fraser said this narrow bill is not the time to debate misogyny becoming a hate crime.

Ms Frazer says that this amendment cannot be accepted as it makes the law less clear, and suggests that women are the only victims.

The justice minister announces that she will be ensuring the committee conducts a full review of all hate crime legislation, and misogyny will be looked at within this, removing the need for this amendment.

Ms Frazer says she shares the intention and desire to ensure the sharing of images will be robustly dealt with, but the best way to do this is not by legislation. She says the government is already looking in to this issue.

She says a review of the legislation will be offered in two years.

House of Commons
Parliament

Shadow justice minister Yasmin Qureshi says Labour is pleased the bill has been "catapulted" into government time.

She lists a number of occassions where upskirting offences have taken place but there was no punishment, including Gina Martin's own experience, and says this is why "we have been supporting the government on this throughout".

A quick internet search will bring up hundreds of sites and thousands of images from upskirting, she says, so the number of people the bill covers is surely far greater than some suggest.

The government urgently needs to review both hate crime and sexual offence legislation, Ms Qureshi adds, to ensure concerns around misogyny and anonymity are address.

She rejects Christopher Chope's amendment, arguing that whether an offender is added to the sexual offenders register should be at the judges' discretion, and not determined by age.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse says she is grateful that the government has taken the upskirting bill through the House so quickly.

Ms Hobhouse first introduced the legislation as a private member's bill earlier this year, before it was blocked by Conservative MP Sir Christopher Chope and introduced as a public bill today.

Ms Hobhouse says she believes that whether an offence has taken place should be determined by whether the person involved has consented. She says this process should include the distribution of images also.

"The large increase in sexually explicit images of women online is a big issue."

She says she will encourage the government to conduct a full review of the distribution of sexually explicit images as soon as possible, but that making the dissemination of upskirting images is progress.