The pick of the coming week's action in Parliament

With MPs back from the battlefront, serious business resumes in Westminster after some pretty thin fare in recent weeks. Not so much in the main chamber of the Commons, where the business looks pretty humdrum. But there are some enticing looking committee hearings and some substantial reports due out.

On the committee corridor the highlight will probably be a chastened Nick Clegg's appearance before the Political and Constitutional Reform Select Committee. With electoral reform off the agenda, perhaps for a generation, revamping the House of Lords will be his next target - and he may offer some glimpse of his plans for the Upper House, and perhaps unveil some other proposals. But just as interesting as the policy will be the DPM's demeanour - he's looked pretty listless and miserable recently. Will he have perked up by Thursday?

Report of the week could well be the Transport Committee's verdict on last winter's closure of Heathrow and Gatwick. Will they call for heads to roll?

On the legislative front, the most interesting action will probably come in the Lords, on Wednesday, where detailed consideration (and in the Lords it really is both detailed and actual consideration) of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill begins - and if they start at the beginning, they'll be straight into those contentious proposals to replace Police Authorities in England and Wales outside London with elected Policing and Crime Commissioners.

So what's happening day by day?

On Monday, business starts with questions to the Home Secretary Teresa May. Then there's an opposition half-day debate, and Labour have chosen the future of the NHS as the subject. That will be followed by a procedural motion on the Welfare Reform Bill, and a debate on a European Union document on People Trafficking. In the Lords Peers will be polishing off the Public Bodies Bill, which provides a streamlined way of killing off quangos, before moving on to detailed scrutiny of the European Union Bill - the bill to provide a "referendum lock" on transfers of sovereignty to the EU.

On the Committee Corridor, the financial watchdogs of the Public Accounts Committee will be pondering the circumstances under which National Express lost the East Coast Main Line Inter City rail franchise in 2009 - based on this http://www.nao.org.uk/publications/1011/east_coast_passenger_rail.aspx report from the National Audit Office. The Communities and Local Government Committee kicks off its inquiry into the Coalition's new approach to economic regeneration with various interest groups and think tanks (including the intriguingly-names "Urban Pollinators"). A second major evidence session will follow in a fortnight.

And the Joint Select Committee of MPs and Peers examining the Draft Defamation Bill - the Government's proposals to revamp the libel laws - will hear from two panels of solicitors, once from the claimants' side - including uber-libel lawyers Carter Ruck, and one from the defendants' side. Another session will follow on Wednesday (details below) and we're promised appearances by the Daily Mail's Paul Dacre and Private Eye's Ian Hislop later on in the inquiry.

Tuesday starts with questions to Chancellor George Osborne - and there will doubtless be a special prize for the most ingenious attempt to get him to say something about his famed Cabinet clash with Lib Dem Energy Secretary Chris Huhne. Labour's Ian Lavery has a ten-minute rule bill to classify lip-reading as an essential skill for the purposes of skills funding - and then it's the Energy Bill, a measure designed to help people pay for improvements to the energy efficiency of their homes from the savings that result to their gas and electricity bills. The Bill has already been processed by the House of Lords, and so it arrives in a well polished state, for MPs' delectation. Peers, meanwhile, will be debating the detail of the Fixed Term Parliaments Bill - which would set the date of the next general election for May 2015. Anyone in the Coalition who wants a snap election will have to engineer it before this passes.

And after the Easter/elections/wedding hiatus, there's a bumper crop of select committees of every hue. Highlights include the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee talking to TESCO in their inquiry into the Dairy Industry; the Health Committee getting a ministerial view of complaints and litigation in the NHS and the Culture Committee refighting England's bid for the 2018 World Cup. And the Treasury Committee is meeting members of the Independent Commission on Banking.

Wednesday opens with questions to the Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan, swiftly followed by the first post referendum PMQs. David Cameron is said to be discouraging gloating over the outcome if it has been rejected; will his backbenchers be able to resist temptation? The Conservative Laura Sandys has a ten minute rule bill on protecting agricultural land from development, before the House polishes off the Armed Forces Bill - the bill which since 1688 has been constitutionally required every five years to authorise the continuation of the Army, Navy and RAF. It also contains some bits of tidying-up on military discipline and a new clause on the Military Covenant, requiring an annual report on welfare issues for current and former service personnel.

Their Lordships start detailed work on the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill (see above) and hold a short debate on measures to encourage participation in the Big Society.

Once again it's a frenetic day in committee land. The Defence Committee will be hearing from the chiefs of the Defence Staff and the General Staff on operations in Afghanistan - will the death of Osama Bin Laden allow a more rapid British withdrawal? The Education Committee kicks off its new inquiry into youth unemployment and 16-19 year olds' participation in education and training and the Joint Committee on the Draft Defamation Bill is in action again, talking to Guardian Editor Alan Rusbridger, Phillip Johnson of the Telegraph and Alastair Brett who used to run the Times' in house arbitration system for complaints.

Thursday starts with Environment, Food and Rural Affairs questions - and then there are two backbench debates; the first is a debate on the revised system for MPs expenses proposed by the parliamentary standards watchdog, IPSA, led by the Conservative backbencher and long time campaigner for the reform of IPSA, Adam Afriye. Then there's a debate on reforming the Common Fisheries Policy led by green Conservative guru Zac Goldsmith. (There's also a backbench debate due in the parallel debating chamber, Westminster Hall, where policy wonk turned Conservative MP, Elizabeth Truss, will lead a discussion on education performance and school standards.) In the Lords peers have a succession of short-ish debates, starting with one on Global Food Security.

Few select committee's meet on a Thursday any more - but the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee will have Nick Clegg and his deputy Mark Harper before them. Which should make for fascinating watching, from a number of points of view.

Both Houses sit on Friday to discuss private members' bills - in the commons the indefatigable Chris Chope has bills on the charges levied by regulatory authorities and on access to criminal records, and then his Conservative colleague Nadim Zahawi will be introducing his St George's Day and St David's Day Bill.

Peers will be considering three Government supported bills which have now cleared the Commons - on sports ground safety, the law of inheritance and the international Wreck Removal Convention.