House of Commons
Parliament

Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry asks how the government intends to respond if there are reports of chemical weapons attacks, and whether they will again take action in the form of airstrikes.

She points out that the House is shortly to be in recess and asks whether MPs will be consulted before action is taken, even if that means recalling Parliament. She adds that any suggestion of involvement in regime change "would be a gravely serious step".

She also asks for confirmation that the government will not be involved in any further air-strikes before the OPCW is able to investigate.

Mr Burt says previous air strikes were part of a co-ordinated action in response to the use of chemical weapons and to "alleviate human suffering". They were not about intervening in a civil war.

He says he is not prepared to say what the UK's detailed reaction might be in any future situation.

Image source, HoL

Liberal Democrat Lord Clement-Jones introduces his amendment which would prevent the sale of otherwise exempt items comprising or containing ivory from taking place online.

Lord Clement-Jones says the an online ban of selling and purchasing ivory should be included in the legislation, as it is difficult to police online transactions and nearly impossible to check every parcel dispatched from the UK.

He says that the issue of e-commerce in the illegal wildlife trade is huge and should be a priority in this bill, and hopes that the government will reconsider this.

The Boundary Commission's recommendations will reduce the number of MPs by 50.

The province is the last major stronghold of the rebel and jihadist groups which have been trying to overthrow President Assad for the past seven years.

Read more about Idlib here.

The UN says Idlib is home to some 2.9 million people, including 1 million children. More than half of the civilians in Idlib come from other previously rebel-held parts of Syria from which they either fled, or were evacuated.

The province also borders Turkey, to the north, and straddles major highways running south from Aleppo to Hama and the capital, Damascus, and west to the Mediterranean coastal city of Latakia.

House of Lords
Parliament

Conservative Lord Cormack says he is upset that little debate was had over a key issue which could stop the selling of genuine antique ivory items, the manufacture of which no elephant alive today suffered for.

Lord Cormack withdraws his amendment.

House of Commons
Parliament

Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt is now responding to an urgent question from Labour MP Stephen Doughty on the humanitarian situation in Idlib, Syria. He says the government is extremely concerned about military actions from Russia and the Syrian regime.

"Civilians, medical workers and aid agents must be protected - they are not a target," he says.

Syria and Russia resumed airstrikes yesterday, external.

He says the government is supporting diplomatic efforts by Turkey to achieve a ceasefire, and say it is disappointing Syria and Russia rejected to pause the fighting.

The UK has pledged continued humanitarian support and is helping develop new ways of responding to airstrikes.

Mr Doughty says the focus on Brexit means there is a risk that events such as in Syria are forgotten. He says: "We cannot and must not wring our hands and simply say 'oh its all very difficult'."

He says the UK led a fight against the use of cluster munitions, but they are being seen in Syria and Yemen. He asks what is being done to assist civilians, about sanctions on Russian individuals and about the use of chemical weapons.

Mr Burt says no suggestion has been made of any military invention being made, and that the UK is looking to improve and strengthen the channels used to assist Syrian civilians.

"We've made very clear that appropriate actions will be taken" if chemical weapons are used, he says.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

One of the most highly debated proposed amendments is the addition of an exception to the ban for ivory items created before 1918.

Supporters of this amendment include Conservative Lord Cormack, who argues that no elephants will be saved by the banning of items created over 100 years ago.

Labour's Baroness Jones, a shadow spokesperson on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, says there should be a blanket ban on selling any ivory as it would be too hard to detect the exact age of every antique ivory item in the UK.

Baroness Jones says it is only the commercial market which is under question, and a free flow of ivory pre-1918 would make the legislation ambiguous and limited in its impact.

She says this law does not ban the right to own or gift ivory, its purpose is to introduce one of the strongest ivory bans in the world to curtail the demand for ivory which currently threatens the elephant to extinction.

Select Committee
Parliament

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This afternoon, Network Rail’s Chief Executive Andrew Haines will give evidence to the Transport Committee.

Mr Haines is likely to be questioned on his priorities for the rail network, as well as the delays to Crossrail and the planned sale of thousands of railway arches in order to tackle Network Rail's debts.

Network Rail own and operate the railway infrastructure in England, Wales and Scotland.

House of Commons
Parliament

The SNP's Peter Grant says the Scottish government is the only country in the world that provides free sanitary products for schools and asks what discussions have been had about introducing a similar scheme in England. He suggests this may reduce school absenteeism.

Minister Nadhim Zahawi says the government has provided £1.5m for similar schemes to this from the Tampon Tax Fund. He adds that they are looking closely at the suggestion that access to sanitary products could affect the number of students missing schools.

House of Commons
Parliament

The House moves to topical questions - which is when MPs raise topics which are current.

Labour's Bridget Phillipson says her North East constituency has seen rising class sizes, but an increase in the number of teachers leaving the profession. She asks what is being done to tackle "the crisis in teacher retention".

Minister Nick Gibb says there is a record number of teachers in this country, with many more being recruited.

He adds that the government is working to improve retention around the country.

House of Lords
Parliament

The Lords have now moved on to discussing their main legislation of the day, a committee stage debate on the Ivory Bill.

The bill wants to prohibit dealing in ivory, and there are a number of Conservative backbench amendments aimed at focusing the ban on ivory trading on poached ivory, and exempting ivory created before 1918.

House of Commons
Parliament

Ruth Cadbury asks about the effects of a recent teachers' pay rise on the financial sustainability of school budgets.

Minister Nick Gibbs responds to the Labour MP, stating that funding is fully provided by a "teachers' pay grant", which will be on top of the money schools already receive from national funding.

Ms Cadbury says that's not the reality she's seen in Hounslow, with many schools concerned at how parts of the pay range will be paid for long term, and affected by the pay scales introduced.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Labour's Lord Foulkes asks what opportunities there will be for citizens who have reached the age of 18 since the European Union referendum to have a say on the UK’s future relationship with the European Union.

In response, Brexit Minister Lord Callanan says meetings with youth organisations that represent young people are happening, and that these will continue as negotiations progress.

Lord Foulkes invites the minister to join the growing tide of support for the people's vote.

"It matters so much more to 18 year olds than it does to us lot."

Liberal Democrat Lord Newby asks the minister what he makes of polls that show that the majority want to have a say in any deal that is produced.

The minister says it might surprise the House to know that the government doesn't make decisions on opinion poll.

Conservative Lord Lansley asks the minister if he has considered the fact that by spring next year, the number of young people who will have attained the age of 18 since June 2016 will exceed the number of the majority in the referendum - around two million people.

Lord Callanan says the UK is leaving the European Union - and if another vote was to happen involving newly-turned 18 year olds, this would involve chaos.

House of Commons
Parliament

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SNP MP Neil Gray says the number of Scottish students going to university has not seen the same decline as in England, and asks what the government can learn from the Scottish government's approach in not charging for university. He says this approach helps social mobility.

Damian Hinds says the Scottish approach includes caps on student numbers, which means fewer students can actually benefit from going to university. Mr Gray responds that concerns have been expressed that without caps on numbers in England, some universities could go bust. He suggests that will damage social mobility further.

Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner says it's nine months since members of government's social mobility board all resigned "in despair".

She asks for a guarantee that they will be replaced before the year is out.

Mr Hinds says social mobility is a priority for the government, and that the chair of the Social Mobility Commission has already been appointed. He hopes the remaining places will be filled by October.

House of Lords
Parliament

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Labour's Lord Kennedy of Southwark asks whether the government's immigration policy has led to the separation of children from their parents.

In response, Home Office Minister Baroness Williams says the government's family separation guidance notes that staff must consider the best interests of any children involved, including their needs and caring arrangements before taking enforcement action.

Baroness Williams says she cannot provide the number of cases of children being separated by their parents as the data is not available.

Labour's Lord Bassam asks if the minister will comment on the charity BIG's figure which suggests that 170 children have been separated from their parents.

Baroness Williams queries the figure and says in these decisions there may be other issues at play such as a parent illness.

House of Lords
Parliament

Labour's Lord Hunt asks the government what action they are taking to ensure that all former ministers seek advice from the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments before taking up appointments within two years of leaving ministerial office.

What does the advisory committee do? It advises on new jobs for former ministers and senior civil servants.

In response, Conservative Lord Young says that the ministerial code was updated in January 2018 to underline the important business appointments rules to both current and former ministers, and reiterating the requirement to seek advice from the Independent Advisory Committee before taking up new appointments.

Lord Hunt says that the committee is advisory and cannot impose a sanction on any former minister who does not seek the committees approval. He suggests that this code of honour is not enough and asks when the government will agree to make this a statutory agreement.

Lord Young says legislation would be too difficult to amend and bring it up to date, making it less flexible, and that decisions would take longer to be made.

Liberal Democrat Lord Wallace says no new appointments should be made until the committee has made an announcement. He says Boris Johnson has breached all these elements of the ministerial code by working for The Telegraph, and asks if there should be some comeback.

Lord Young replies that the rules are the rules, but he is not an apologist for Boris Johnson - which he says would "require a number of skills".

House of Commons
Parliament

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Shadow education minister Gordon Marsden says he has already raised a number of concerns about T-Levels in the past, which were "poo-pooed" by the education secretary. He asks if now, following the release of three reports expressing concern at the scheme, he will recognise the problems.

He says T-levels are "in a mess", suggesting the scheme "needs more government money, more information and more capacity."

"What is he doing about it?" he asks.

Education Secretary Damian Hinds says Mr Marsden will be pleased to hear that the government is providing more for each of the things he has suggested.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Responding to a question from Conservative Laurence Robertson about the promotion of apprenticeships to school pupils, Anne Milton says MPs should be holding schools to account in ensuring companies offering apprenticeships are being invited in to talk to students. She says the schools have a legal obligation to do so.

Mr Robertson says engineering firms in his constituency are finding it difficult to recruit young people to apprenticeships, and requests more government assistance for schools in promoting them.

Responding to a follow up question, Ms Milton says she is passionate about making sure young people are able to take full advantage of the opportunities available to them. She adds that part of that is helping parents advise their children on what is available.

House of Lords
Parliament

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The first question in the Lords today is asked by Liberal Democrat Baroness Walmsley.

Baroness Walmsley asks how the government plans to respond to the report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse regarding safeguarding failures at Downside and Ampleforth schools, published in August 2018.

Minister for Education, Lord Agnew of Oulton, responds, saying no specific recommendations were made for the department in the report of the independent inquiry, but the report's findings are being carefully considered.

He says the schools could face closure if they do not improve their safeguarding measures.

Baroness Walmsley asks if the government will follow the advice from the independent inquiry with legislation.

Lord Agnew says they are proceeding to look at the next steps.