The week ahead suggests it is the calm between Brexit storms in Parliament: but a quiet agenda can reveal hidden surprises.

House of Lords
Parliament

Peers approve second reading of the Parking (Code of Practice) Bill and it moves onto committee stage.

With that the Lords adjourn for the day.

Peers return on Monday - as do we, for more coverage of Parliament.

Thanks for joining us.

House of Lords
Parliament

Peers are now debating the Parking (Code of Practice) Bill at second reading.

This bill - which was introduced into the Commons by the Conservative MP Sir Greg Knight - regulates the operation and management of private parking facilities.

You can read more about the bill on the Parliament website, external.

House of Lords
Parliament

Conservative MP Sarah Wollaston, who introduced the bill in the Commons, told the campagning group, the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, that there was currently a gap in the law, especially for those stalked by strangers.

She said the bill aimed to introduce a new Stalking Protection Order to protect victims at the early stages of an investigation.

The order would be civil orders, making them easier to impose, breaching their requirements would be a criminal offence with serious consequences.

Read more about Dr Wollaston's aims here, external.

House of Lords
Parliament

Peers have moved on to the Stalking Protection Bill.

This bill was introduced to the Commons by Sarah Wollaston, the Tory MP and chair of the Health select committee.

It's designed to provide protection for those at risk of stalking.

House of Lords
Parliament

The Civil Partnerships, Marriages and Deaths Bill was introduced to the Commons by Tory MP Tim Laughton.

It makes provision for opposite sex couples to enter a civil partnership and it also allows for the mother of each party to a marriage or civil partnership to be a witness on the marriage certificate.

Welcome to our coverage of the House of Lords today - peers are going to be discussing three private members' bills.

The Stalking Protection Bill and the Parking (Code of Practice) Bill will both be debated at second reading later today.

But first, from 10am, it's the Civil Partnerships, Marriages and Deaths (Registration Etc.) Bill.

House of Lords
Parliament

There were three debates in the upper chamber today: two on Brexit, the first on steps required for another referendum, the second on its effect on the integrity of the UK.

A third debate on the threat to the health of young people by technology had peers wishing for more research in the area.

Questions were asked of the government on everything from the UK's nuclear power industry, to teaching art and design in schools.

The Lords returns on Monday at 2.30pm.

House of Lords
Parliament

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Labour's media spokesperson Lord Griffiths of Burry Port says that there needs to be research on online gambling and how it affects children.

He adds that children may well see nine junk food adverts during half an hour's worth of TV.

Culture Minister Lord Ashton of Hyde says the internet offers "opportunities" but there are concerns over the relationship children can develop with it.

"We do recognise that more research is required" to better understand new technologies, he adds.

He says he himself finds evidence on screen time in the media "confusing and contradictory".

House of Commons
Parliament

The debate on children's social care finished.

Labour MP Bill Esterson is concluding the parliamentary week with his adjournment debate, which focuses on awareness of foetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

That's it for our coverage of the Commons today, join us again on Monday from 2.30pm.

As Andrea Leadsom confirmed earlier today, that's when the government will table a motion outlining its new plan for breaking the deadlock over Brexit.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Responding for the government, Education Minister Nadhim Zahawi says the importance of children's social care "too often goes unrecognised".

He notes that the sector only grabs headlines "when things go wrong".

Mr Zahawi says interventions by the government in children's social services that are underperforming has "brought results".

He adds that there are "financial constraints on children's services", but it is being proven that local authorities can achieve great things.

He says the government hopes that by 2022, fewer than 10% of local authorities will be rated as 'inadequate' by Ofsted, and that they "intervene early and in the right way".

House of Lords
Parliament

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Crossbencher Viscount Colville of Culross says the World Health Organization is considering including gaming addiction in their official diagnostics as a condition.

In China and South Korea, gaming addiction is "widespread amongst young men", he says.

The government is working with schools, and game developers are now including time alert warnings, he warns.

Crossbencher and former civil servant Lord Bichard says that "very few live streaming sites" have taken steps to stop potential child abusers.

Fortnite has upwards of 45m players, he says, and children underneath the age rating of 12 can join and provide their email addresses as age verification is not performed by the game.

He says there should be an "independent regulator" as "every" attempt at self regulation has "failed".

House of Commons
Parliament

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Shadow families minister Emma Lewell-Buck - who was a children's social worker before becoming an MP - says the system is failing children and parents.

"The scale of this neglect toward our most vulnerable children is colossal", she says - with an "unprecedented rate of referrals" and falling numbers of foster carers.

41% of children's services are now unable to meet their statutory duties, she says, with 140,000 children on the fringe of services and not receiving the care they need.

"Children in desperate need of care are being neglected", she says, quoting Conservative MPs who are warning of a "fast approaching Baby P tragedy".

She says the children's minister has ignored her concerns repeatedly, adding: "it is clear to everybody except this government that their department lacks a cohesive strategy and is consumed by piecemeal, misguided measures."

"At the moment, the idea that every child matters could not be further from the reality".

House of Commons
Parliament

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Labour MP Laura Smith says respite care is an important aspect of children's social care: "everybody needs a break sometimes, and nobody more so than someone who is caring for a loved one with complex needs".

Many children's care services are provided by charities reliant on ever-decreasing government funding, forcing both organisations and parents to "battle" for survival, she says.

"I am a warrior, but I just want to be a mum", she quotes one constituent whose disabled child is supported by children's social care services.

She says the government must address the £3bn shortfall in social care funding, urging ministers to "put children at the heart of the upcoming spending review".

House of Lords
Parliament

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The Bishop of St Albans says that children see gambling adverts on the internet and TV.

"Digital natives" are "most at risk" from the "digital switch that the gambling industry" is currently undergoing, he says.

He warns that young people can follow gambling sites without age verification.

House of Lords
Parliament

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The Lords have now moved onto their final debate today, on the use of technology and the health and wellbeing of young people.

Crossbencher Baroness Kidron says that it is "ludicrous" that 61% of children under the minimum Facebook age of 13 have an account, and that Twitter has "half a million pornographic images posted to it daily, despite it being a news app".

Labour peer Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall says that all technology has "good sides and bad sides".

House of Commons
Parliament

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Labour MP Lyn Brown says 60% cuts to children's services have made it "so much harder" for organisations to work with vulnerable children and families "effectively and early".

It costs more money when you take a child into care than preventing a child from going into care, she says, referring to the cuts as a "massive mistake".

She adds that 130,000 children were homeless over Christmas, most put up in temporary accommodation and "torn from schools, families and support networks".

Ms Brown says the government must "do more" to help vulnerable children in society, and this should be something all MPs should push towards together.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Opening the debate, Conservative MP Tim Loughton says children's social care is the sort of "bread and butter" issue that Parliament "should be spending more time on".

He says government data shows the number of looked-after children is "at its highest ever," and in early 2018 there were 75,420 children in care in the UK.

More children are coming into care with more complex problems, he adds, noting that it is "an impending crisis".

Mr Loughton says more money needs to be invested in children's social care, as it costs "about £56,000 a year" to look after a child in care, and at the minute there is "a significant shortfall of funding", with poorer areas "most affected".

"We are failing to do enough early to prevent babies having to be taken into care because their parents have not had enough support", he adds.

House of Lords
Parliament

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Brexit Minister Lord Callanan says the 2016 referendum was "historic" because of the high turnout.

He says it is the government's "firm view" that there can be no second vote, which he adds would "disrespect" the result of the first referendum.

"There has been no significant change in public opinion", he says.

Labour's Lord Adonis asks if the Cabinet Office is making secret preparations for a second referendum.

Lord Callanan responds: "it is a matter of firm government policy that we will not be holding another referendum".

House of Lords
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Opposition spokeswoman Baroness Wheeler says while it may seem "premature", it is good that these questions are being raised by members of the Lords today.

She says that there is a "significant letter" in The Times today from 127 business leaders who are calling for a second referendum.

The priority for Labour at the moment, she says, is to try and "find a way through the impasse".

She says she hopes that the government will not fall back on the "usual responses" that a second referendum would be an "assault to democracy" in their response this afternoon.