The week ahead

There is plenty of scope for party battles in this week's parliamentary agenda, with cuts to the police, housing policy and the EU referendum all up for debate in the various highways and byways of Westminster. What I can't spot is much scope for any new Lords /Commons clashes in the business before peers. There is plenty of room for disagreement over various aspects of the EU referendum bill, but at the moment we are in the relatively genteel committee stage, the knuckle dusters are normally only slipped on when it comes to report stage.

Here's my rundown of the week ahead:

Monday November 2nd

The Commons meets at 14.30 (GMT) for work and pensions questions There's also some talk that Labour may move the writ for the Oldham West and Royton by-election, following the death of Michael Meacher.

Expect a sharp clash at the second reading debate on the Housing and Planning Bill, where Labour's shadow housing minister, John Healey, will attack the bill as a smash and grab raid on local authorities, which will see millions of pounds worth of their most valuable properties sold off to fund subsidised starter homes, out of the reach of people on low or even middle incomes. The Government thinks many councils are sitting on under-used property portfolios which ought to be exploited.

It's also worth noting that the bill is the first to be "certified" by the Speaker as having England-only sections which, under the new English votes for English laws (EVEL) procedure, can only be passed with the approval of a majority of English MPs.

In the Lords (14:30 GMT) Labour's Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws is asking a question about the government inviting President of Egypt, General Sisi, to Britain. Labour has called for the visit to be cancelled.

The Committee stage (Day 2) of the European Union Referendum Bill will follow questions, the key issues, which will be debated across several days this week include Gibraltar, an OBR report on the effect on the economy of withdrawal and the UK's future relationship with the EU if we withdrew.

Tuesday November 3rd

The Commons opens at 11.30 (GMT) for justice questions, then the Conservative Bill Wiggin has a bill to add factors like environmental performance and health and safety to the criteria for listed buildings.

MPs then turn to the second reading of the European Union (Approvals) Bill, which implements draft decisions under Article 352 of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union.

It looks as if that's likely to be a fairly brief encounter, because then the House moves on to the report stage debate on the National Insurance Contributions (Rate Ceilings) Bill, which aims to ensure there are no rises in income tax rates, VAT rates or National Insurance contributions (NICs) for individuals, employees and employers during this Parliament.

Connoisseurs of parliamentary minutiae should watch out for the money resolution for the Access to Medical Treatments and Innovation Bill, the private members bill from the Conservative, Chris Heaton-Harris, includes elements of Lord Saatchi's controversial Medical Innovation Bill. Agreeing the money resolution allows the bill to start detailed scrutiny in committee. There could be 45 minutes debate, but probably won't be.

The day's Westminster Hall debates open (9.30 - 11:00 GMT) with one on prosecuting corporate economic crime, led by Labour's Stephen Pound.

The Conservative Amanda Milling will lead a debate (14:30 - 16:00 GMT) on police and fire shared services she's argued that major cost savings can be made by merging back-office functions of police forces and fire services.

And the Conservative Mike Freer will use his debate (16:00 - 16.30) to call for a timetable for the implementation of the prime minister's promised ban on gay conversion therapies being paid for by the NHS, he says, NHS GPs can still refer patients for therapies that he regards as dubious or downright quackery.

In the Lords after two introductions and questions, peers debate a series of select committee reports; the Arctic Committee Report which warns that average surface air temperatures in the Arctic have warmed at around twice the rate of the global average over the past few decades; the Science and Technology Committee report: The resilience of the electricity system, and the EU Committee report on the referendum on UK membership of the EU: Assessing the Reform Process.

Wednesday November 4th

The Commons opens (11.30 GMT) with Scotland questions, followed, at noon by Prime Minister's Question Time.

The main debate is on a Labour motion on policing, this marks the start of a Labour campaign in advance of the government's forthcoming comprehensive spending review, on the effects of further cuts in police budgets; they quote figures from the Association of Policie and Crime Commissioners, which warn that as many as 20,000 officers could be lost in the next five years if budget cuts of somewhere between 25 and 40 per cent are made.

A couple of the day's Westminster Hall debates have caught my eye. From 9.30- 11:00 ( GMT) the Conservative Damian Collins leads a debate on modern prefabricated housing. He wants to highlight the possibilities of the new breed of modern, low-cost, factory-made, prefabricated homes, which could provide part of the solution to the housing crisis. They can be built very rapidly, without the disruption to neighbours caused by conventional construction. Mr Collins will suggest that such homes could be subject to a fast-track planning permission process, and could have a real impact on housing supply in London and elsewhere.

At 16:00 - 16:30 ( GMT) John Mann, one of the MPs who has taken a close look at allegations of a child abuse network in Westminster, has a half hour debate on the Wanless Review and the Dickens file. He plans to detail the key allegations in the dossier handed to the 1980s Home Secretary Leon Brittan by the late Conservative MP Geoffrey Dickens, and talk about evidence that there was an earlier dossier, and about the original sources for his allegations.

In the Lords (from 15:00 GMT) after questions, peers move on to Day 3 of committee consideration of the European Union Referendum Bill, there are plenty of amendments from pro-EU and pro Brexit peers on subjects ranging from the voting rights of EU nationals resident in the UK to restrictions on campaigning by EU-funded bodies, government special advisors, and public authorities. As usual at Lords committee stage, it is rare for any of these to be pushed to a vote; the aim of amendments is to probe the government's position and perhaps sharpen up the arguments, and votes may follow at report stage.

Thursday November 5th

The Commons opens (09.30 GMT) with Environment, Food and Rural Affairs questions, followed by the weekly business statement from the leader of the House, Chris Grayling.

The main debates, on subjects selected by the Backbench Business Committee are on, first, a call to suspend further privatisation of the taxpayer's holding in the Royal Bank of Scotland and calling for a wider review of the UK financial sector and the establishment of new banking models, including regional banks. The motion has cross party backing, from Labour MPs like Kate Osamor and David Anderson, the Green MP Caroline Lucas and high powered Tory backbenchers like Kwasi Kwarteng and Mark Field. RBS is a major employer in Mr Field's Cities of London and Westminster seat, and he thinks its right to debate the future of the bank, although he does not buy into some of the ideas in the motion.

That's followed by a debate on the Dog meat trade, led by the Labour MP Rob Flello, who says he is revolted by the cruelty of the trade in dogs as meat animals: "they are crammed in cages, kept in squalor and then cruelly butchered".

In the Lords (11:00 GMT) yet more of the latest wave of new peers take their seats: former Liberal Democrat MPs Lord (Menzies) Campbell of Pittenweem and Lord (Don) Foster of Bath

The two main debates are on, first, the impact of pornography on society, led by the Bishop of Chester, the Rt Rev. Peter Foster, who has long campaigned on this issue, and then on the regeneration of east London since the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Final business of the day is more on the EU Referendum Bill.

Friday November 6th

The Commons meets (09.30 GMT) for a day devoted to private members bills. First up is the NHS (Charitable Trusts Etc) Bill, from the appropriately named Conservative, Wendy Morton. Appropriate because the aim of the bill is to to allow the revenue from the royalties from JM Barrie's Peter Pan stories to be transferred to the new independent Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity.

Next is the Labour MP Nick Thomas-Symonds' Off-patent Drugs Bill, it aims to improve access to low-cost treatments for conditions including breast cancer, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's.

If we get that far, the House of Lords (Maximum membership) Bill from Tory veteran Christopher Chope is suddenly rather topical.

The Lords will not be sitting.