Week ahead

The prime minister laid out the terms of his negotiation over the UK's membership of the EU to the House last Monday

From the EU referendum to the powers of our spooks, there's all manner of interesting action this week - opening with the long-awaited vote to set the date of the referendum on Monday.

The government's due to publish its Investigatory Powers Bill - the latest incarnation of the package of internet communications monitoring powers for the Security Services, that critics dub the "Snoopers Charter" - which would then come up for second reading shortly before the Easter break.

One interesting question will be the extent to which the latest version takes account of the three parliamentary committees, which examined the bill in draft: the Intelligence and Security Committee, which produced some tough criticisms of the original proposals; the special committee, under former Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy, set up to scrutinise the draft bill; and the Science and Technology Committee, which looked at the technical aspects.

It's a huge and complicated bill, and the government has to have something in place by the time the existing legislation expires, in December - so expect loud complaints, from its opponents, that a measure with important civil liberties implications is being rushed through.....

Meanwhile, over in the Lords, Armageddon looms over the Trade Union Bill.

Or does it?

With its tough new requirements for strike ballots, its new rules for collection of subscriptions and its highly controversial provisions about union funding for political parties - almost exclusively Labour - this promised to be the hardest-fought bill to come before their Lordships since the Parliamentary Voting and Constituencies Bill, of blessed memory, back in 2010.

Much revolves around the findings of the special select committee, set up to examine the party funding aspects of the bill, which is due to report on Monday.

It could go one of two ways - it might provide the Opposition parties in the Lords with a launch pad for an amendment - maybe one which will impose a "sunrise clause" ensuring that the restrictions on political funding by trade unions do not come into force until parallel restrictions on individual donations are enacted.

Alternatively it might suggest a fudge of the detail which ensures the Labour party does not lose out to the extent it currently fears.

If the "sunrise amendment" does emerge, the Opposition parties probably have the votes to force such an amendment through, but that would not be the end; the low scraping sound you may be able to detect in Westminster is the sound of the government unsheathing the Parliament Act, with a view to tanking the bill into law, minus any Lords amendments, at the start of the next session.

Some government ultras might quite fancy that, but it's not a cost-free exercise in terms of Parliamentary time, so both sides have every incentive to negotiate a compromise (although I still expect a battle royal over other parts of the bill).

Here's my rundown of the week ahead:

Monday

The Commons meets at 2.30pm for Defence questions. As ever, the end of question time at 3.30pm is the most probable moment for any post-weekend ministerial statements or urgent questions.

Then Europe returns to centre-stage, as the government puts forward the Statutory Instrument (SI) to set the date for the EU Referendum on 23 June. Expect strong opposition from the SNP, who have long argued that the proposed date is too close to the elections to the Scottish Parliament, and will overshadow the election campaign. SIs cannot be amended, so they will vote against.

That will be followed by an Opposition Day debate on the UK steel industry.

In the Lords (from 2.30pm) first, peers will deal with changes made by MPs to the Work and Welfare Bill - the Commons reversed the two defeats inflicted on the government by peers, requiring a report on child poverty and altering the rules on the payment of Employment Support Allowance to disabled people who have been assessed as capable of some work - the Work-Related Activities Group, or WRAG.

This encompasses around half a million people, split roughly evenly between those with physical and mental disabilities; they stand to lose £30 a week from a spending cut which would save the taxpayer £600m.

Although the government got its way in the Commons, critics of the bill may have been encouraged by a mini-rebellion by Conservative MPs, and by a number of critical speeches that were not followed-up by votes; the Crossbench peer and disability campaigner Lord Low of Dalston has put down a further amendment, calling for the changes to be postponed until the government can produce better evidence that they would indeed encourage disabled people into work.

If the amendment was passed, the bill would then return to the Commons, probably on Wednesday. This will probably be the only vote of the week.

After that, peers move onto the second day of report stage debate on the Scotland Bill - which did see a vote this week, at a quarter to midnight on Wednesday, on the British Transport Police's right to police railways and railway property in Scotland - just 29 peers voted, so the House was inquorate, and the issue will bounce back to the House today. Don't expect fireworks.

Tuesday

The Commons opens (11.30am) with Treasury questions, after which the Lib Dem Mark Williams has a Ten Minute Rule Bill, the Devolution (Bank Holidays) (Wales) Bill, which does exactly what it says on the tin.

Then MPs move onto the first of two Commons Estimates Days - these are debates on different aspects of government spending. First comes the Foreign Office and the 2015 Spending Review, and second is the reform of the police funding formula - which was the subject of this report from the Home Affairs Committee, which concluded that the current system is "widely recognised as being 'not fit for purpose'".

In Westminster Hall, the first debate on the future of high streets (9.30am -11am) caught my eye. The Conservative Mark Menzies will lead a wide-ranging look at the state of UK high streets, four years on from the Portas Review. One concern is the impact of charity shops; Mr Menzies is worried that the bigger charities can now outbid small traders for leaseholds, and may be squeezing them out in some areas.

In the Lords (at 2.30pm) the main event is detailed discussion of the Housing and Planning Bill at committee stage - peers will be looking at the clauses dealing with Starter Homes and Self-Build and Custom Housebuilding.

There will also be a short debate on the security of the EU's border and the documentation of those individuals EU member states accept as refugees.

Wednesday

The Commons kicks off (11.30am) with Northern Ireland questions, followed at noon by Prime Minister's question time.

There's a Ten Minute Rule Bill on Employment Status (Review) from Labour's Jim Cunningham, and two more Estimates Day debates follow - on the science budget, following this report from the Science and Technology Select Committee, which warned that the UK has fallen behind its competitors in terms of total R&D investment and this will put UK competitiveness, productivity and high-value jobs at risk if it is not reversed.

The second debate is on End of Life Care - looking back to a Health Select Committee report from the end of the previous Parliament.

Then MPs will be invited to rubber stamp the Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Bill, which provides Parliamentary authority for funds requested by the government. It is part of 'supply procedure', which is how Parliament grants the government's requests for money. There is no debate.

A slot has also been pencilled in to allow the Commons to respond to any Lords amendments sent back from the Welfare Reform and Work Bill (see above). A well-judged amendment might well tempt some backbench Conservative waverers.

The adjournment debate from the Conservative Gareth Johnson, is on sentencing in cases of dog theft - he's planning to highlight two issues. Firstly the growing numbers of dog thefts and second, the often premeditated and malicious nature of the crime.

He wants to raise awareness of the effect on the victim and call on the Home Office to to recognise a growing problem. He also wants increased penalties for those convicted of dog theft.

In the Lords (from 3pm) it's EU day - with a double-headed debate covering the motion to set the referendum date and the government's policy paper "The best of both worlds: the United Kingdom's special status in a reformed European Union".

Thursday

In the Commons (9.30am) the day opens with Culture Media and Sport questions, followed by questions to the Leader of the House and to the House of Commons Commission on in-house issues - and at 10.30am (or following any urgent questions or ministerial statements) the Leader, Chris Grayling will announce next week's Commons business.

The main events are two backbench business debates - first Chuka Umunna leads a debate on gangs and serious youth violence, which will focus upon the causes and effects of gang and serious youth violence which has increased in recent years. Information by Citizens Report, a not-for-profit independent organisation that carries out data research in this area, shows that in 2015, 17 teenagers lost their lives to gang and youth violence in London alone. That is an increase on the 11 young people who lost their lives in 2014. He wants the government to establish an independent all-party commission to get to investigate the issue.

Then Stephen Kinnock leads a general debate on Welsh affairs. An annual St David's Day Welsh affairs debate (or at any rate a debate held close to St David's Day) used to be a fixture in the Parliamentary calendar; but since the creation of the Backbench Business Committee, it has had to compete with other demands.

This debate looks set to be dominated by devolution issues, with Labour MPs unhappy with the development of Welsh devolution queuing up to weigh in. And there may also be calls for a UK Constitutional Convention to draw up a lasting devolution package. Another strong element will probably be the impact of benefit changes in Wales.

The Westminster Hall debate (1.30pm) is on the offshore oil and gas industry.

In the Lords (11am) the main event is day three of the marathon committee stage on the Housing and Planning Bill. Peers will cover the provisions on social housing, implementing the right to buy on a voluntary basis, and vacant high-value local council housing. (Normally, Lords Thursdays are used for backbench debates, but towards the end of the parliamentary year, convention allows them to be used for uncontroversial legislative debates).

That is followed by a short debate on the principles of the circular economy based on re-use, repair, refurbishment and recycling - led by Labour's Baroness Jones of Whitchurch.

Friday

It's private members' bill day in the Commons again with Peter Bone's intriguing Prime Minister (Temporary Appointment) Bill topping the bill for its second reading debate.

In the last parliament, he became very concerned at the prospect of Nick Clegg - the then deputy prime minister - entering No 10, if David Cameron had been run over by a bus - and this sounds like a continuation of that theme.

Private members bill usual suspect Christopher Chope has bills down for debate on Illegal Immigrants (Criminal Sanctions) and European Parliament Elections, and further down the agenda there are all kinds of Ten Minute Rule Bills and Presentation Bills, which probably won't be debated.

We're getting to the end of the Parliamentary year - which means the most the promoters of these bills can hope for is a debate in the House, followed by legislative oblivion - but the deep initiates of the private members' bill process scheme feverishly for the chance to get their pet issues onto the floor of the House, if only for the pleasure of goading government ministers.