What's happening in Parliament on Friday?

While the war in Ukraine continues to dominate events in Westminster, this week sees major bills near the end of their journey.

Friday 18 March

Commons: It's the final day set aside for considering private members' bills - new laws proposed by individual MPs, selected by a kind of lottery. There's a very long list of bills listed for consideration, but don't be fooled. Most of these will simply be ritually pole-axed at the end of proceedings, and only the first handful will actually be debated, starting with two bills that have made it through committee consideration. First there's former attorney-general Jeremy Wright's bill on making taxis more accessible, and then there's Labour MP Rosie Cooper's bill to give formal recognition to British Sign Language. Both can be expected to be signed off in the Commons and will then go to the Lords for rapid processing by peers. In practice, they will only become law if no one amends them there, because the congested parliamentary timetable means that there would probably not be a slot available for MPs to approve or reject any Lords amendments.

After those two, there is a long list of bills for what, at this stage of the parliamentary year, would be a fairly token second reading debate, starting with a bill from Lib Dem Munira Wilson on mental health provision for young people. She may get the chance to make a speech and get some ministerial response to the points she makes, but her bill has no prospect of becoming law in the current session. But like many of the other propositions lurking further down the order paper, it may re-surface in the next set of private members' bills.

Lords: It's also a private members' day for individual peers - starting with the third reading of Lib Dem Baroness Ludford's Refugees (Family Reunion) Bill. This will probably be a fairly brief encounter - but the Lords do go through all the bills listed for debate in their agenda, so there will also be third readings for Baroness Hayman's Onshore Wind Bill and Lord Young of Cookham's Cigarette Stick Health Warnings Bill.

But these are Lords private members' bills, which are essentially there to try and make a point rather than to become law, because they will have no priority for debate in the Commons (although they do offer MPs the chance to pick up a well-honed, thoroughly debated piece of legislation off the shelf, if they're so minded).

Then come a series of private members bills which have been through the Commons. This will include the second reading of the Cultural Objects (Protection from Seizure) Bill - which gives additional protection to objects loaned to UK museums that might be seized as the assets of governments unable to pay their debts. Then there's the second reading of the Down Syndrome Bill, the measure to guarantee lifelong care to people with that condition.

And here's what else happened earlier this week...

Thursday 17 March

Commons: The day begins at 09:30 with questions to transport ministers, followed by an urgent question from the SNP's Chris Stephen's on the closure of DWP offices. Commons leader Mark Spencer will also set out the Commons agenda for the coming week.

Main debates: Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Tony Lloyd will lead a general debate on the Irish diaspora in Britain. This will be followed by debate on paid miscarriage leave, led by the SNP's Angela Crawley. Her motion notes that leave is available for stillbirths, but not for miscarriages.

Statements: A Justice update from Dominic Raab, and a statement on the Commission on Race and Ethnic disparities from equalities minister Keri Badenoch. The report calls for substantial changes to law and policies, including stop and search powers, which disproportionately target young black men.

Westminster Hall: The DUP's Jim Shannon and the SNP's Dr Lisa Cameron lead a debate on gender-specific religious persecution.

Lords: The day opens (11:00) with questions to ministers on the exodus of barristers from criminal practice, and on making Covid vaccination available to competitors and support staff at this summer's Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

Main debate: It's the third day of committee-stage scrutiny of the government's Elections Bill. There's also a debate on a motion objecting to government plans to end Covid isolation from Lib Dem peer Baroness Brinton, who points to what she says is a clear dislocation between ministers' "Living With Covid" plan and NHS advice about what people should do if they test positive. She also points to figures showing cases and hospitalisations have increased.

Wednesday 16 March

Commons: Scottish Questions at 11:30 followed by Prime Minister's Questions - with the Deputy Prime Minister, Dominic Raab, er, deputising, while Boris Johnson visits Saudi Arabia, and Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner batting for the Opposition.

Ten minute rule bill: Conservative MP Dr Andrew Murrison presents a measure to deal with delayed hospital discharges in England.

Main debate: Opposition Day motions from the SNP: first, calling for an expansion of the refugee visa scheme, for people fleeing the invasion of Ukraine, and second, calling for VAT on energy bills to be scrapped, to help offset the rising costs of living, as well as for a windfall tax on companies benefiting from increased profits. The motion also calls for an energy rebate scheme and emergency cash payments for households.

Westminster Hall: Labour's Wayne David leads a debate on maintaining peace and stability in the Balkans at 09:35.

Sometimes Westminster Hall debates on what seem to be localised issues provide a kind of early warning mechanism highlighting what may become a more general issue, and Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran's debate at 11:00 on the proposed Abingdon Reservoir might be one of these - a massive infrastructure proposal to remedy the water shortages caused by a sharp increase in local house building.

Committees: The Work and Pensions Committee hears expert evidence on health assessments for benefits from 09:15.

Elsewhere on the committee corridor, Home Affairs quizzes Home Office Minister Kevin Foster - who has endured some bruising sessions in the Commons - on government policy on Ukrainian refugees from 10:00.

And at 15:00, Human Rights look at the adoption of children of unmarried women between 1949 and 1976, in the context of the right to family life. The committee will hear from some of those mothers who were separated from their children or saw them taken away for adoption between those years.

Lords: Questions on appointing a minister for the oceans and the impact of lifting the triple lock on the value of the state pension will start at 15:00.

Main debate: Health and Care Bill - Report (day four of four). This will see further votes on aspects of the proposed cap on care costs - the point at which the state picks up the tab .

But the widely-drawn nature of the Bill also allows a variety of other issues to be debated, so watch out for Lord Forsyth's amendment to require the government to draw up a bill on assisted dying for Parliament to debate.

This is not a direct attempt at legalisation, but an attempt to facilitate a decision, after years of fruitless attempts to get a private members bill through.

The idea is that the government would produce a legally watertight text which the Lords and Commons could consider and vote on.

It's ingenious, and the amendment could well be successful, but I'm not sure the government will like the precedent it would set - for a mechanism by which it could be forced to open any number of Pandora's boxes.

Then there's the amendment from the Conservative former sports minister, Lord Moynihan. He chaired a special select committee inquiry into creating a national plan for sport, and one product of that inquiry is this proposal to transfer the sports budget from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to the Department for Health and Social Care.

It would then fund a new Office for Health Promotion, designed to improve general health by encouraging exercise and sports at all levels.

Tuesday 15 March

Commons: Treasury Questions at 11:30.

Ten minute rule bill: Quad Bikes. Labour's Judith Cummins wants to require riders to wear helmets and clamp down on dangerous and anti-social use of quad bikes.

Main debate: A general debate on Ukraine.

Westminster Hall: Labour's Ian Byrne leads a debate on poor quality conditions and disrepair in private rented sector housing (14:30).

Committees: There's a great deal of action on the Committee Corridor. Highlights include:

Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs (10:00) continues its inquiry into Propriety of Governance in Light of Greensill (Ministerial Code) with evidence from Sir Alex Allan, the former independent advisor on ministerial standards. In 2012, he told a predecessor committee that if ever he were "bypassed", he would step down. He did so on 20 November 2020, after Prime Minister Boris Johnson backed Home Secretary Priti Patel following a report compiled by Sir Alex concluded that Ms Patel's approach "amounted to behaviour that can be described as bullying". The committee will also hear from his predecessor in the job, Sir Philip Mawer, who served under former prime ministers Gordon Brown and David Cameron.

Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy looks at Covid Loan Fraud (10:30), with evidence from the former Treasury Minister Lord Agnew, who resigned in protest at inaction against fraud (I think this will be his third committee appearance giving evidence on this issue, in as many weeks). Plus, witnesses from the British Business Bank, Barclays, NatWest/RBS, HSBC, Santander and Lloyds/Bank of Scotland will give evidence. In his recent appearance before the Treasury Committee, Lord Agnew dismissed the Treasury's approach to fraud as "a Dad's Army operation" and condemned banks for lending to businesses that didn't exist before the crisis.

Health and Social Care looks at the future of general practice (10:00) with evidence from GPs and health policy specialists on how to prevent a drain of experienced doctors due to workload and poor job satisfaction. A survey for the General Medical Council found that nearly a third of GPs were likely to leave general practice in the coming year.

Defence (14:30) hear from former Nato Secretary-General Lord Robertson, in its inquiry into the US, UK and Nato.

And the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport sub-committee on Online Harms and Disinformation looks at Russian disinformation (10:00), with witnesses from Ofcom, the Football League, the BBC World Service and DCMS minister Nigel Huddleston. The committee is expected to ask why it took so long to sanction Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich over his links to the Russian state. The session will also look more widely at the role of Russian money in both the ownership and sponsorship of football clubs. They will also look at upcoming legislation to combat Russian mis- and dis-information, and the regulation of Russia Today and Sputnik.

Lords: At 14:30, there will be questions on setting up a government task force on housing older people, and on the impact on train services of a 10% cut in subsidies.

There's a brief third reading debate on the not very controversial Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Bill, and then peers return to go through the detail of the Elections Bill, with the second of five committee days.

Monday 14 March

Commons: Education Questions at 14:30.

There's an urgent question on Saudi executions, followed by a statement on the Ukraine sponsorship scheme.

Main debates: MPs will rattle through a series of bills, starting with an hour's consideration of Lords amendments to the Dissolution and Calling of Parliaments Bill, the measure which seeks to replace the Coalition-era Fixed Terms Parliaments Act, and replace it with the previous system under which a prime minister can request a dissolution of Parliament and call a snap election at a time of their choosing. The government was defeated on an amendment which would require that the Commons must approve a motion agreeing that Parliament should be dissolved, before the prime minister could request a dissolution from the Sovereign.

Next up to three hours on the report and third reading consideration of the Professional Qualifications Bill.

And finally, a further three hours on the report and third reading of the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill. Watch out for a Conservative backbench amendment led by Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, with backbench activist Steve Baker and backbench 1922 Chairman Sir Graham Brady amongst the signatories. It seeks to replicate the mandate of the EU Committee on animal rights under the Lisbon Treaty, for the new animal sentience committee the government is proposing; this requires the committee to have regard to "balancing factors" including respect for local traditions. In practice, they believe this would prevent the committee acting against ritual slaughter practices or hunting.

There's a Labour amendment requiring the government to produce an animal sentience strategy, and provide an annual update to Parliament on progress against it.

The SNP's Deidre Brock is proposing a new clause requiring a report on the use of sentient animals in in scientific experiments and military exercises by the Ministry of Defence and its Defence Science and Technology Laboratory.

There's also a slot set aside to process Lords amendments to the Economic Crime Bill, pretty much as soon as peers have completed their debates on it (see below).

Westminster Hall: two Petitions Committee debates - first e-petition 333693, entitled "Ban the shooting of badgers immediately", which attracted 106,108 signatures (16:30); second, e-petition 601323, "Make self-employed people eligible for statutory adoption pay" which was signed by 14,691 people (18:00).

Committees: Treasury (15:15) looks at the economic sanctions against Russia, and the impact on the cost of living, with a panel of witnesses including Tony Danker, Director General of the CBI.

Public Accounts (16:00) takes evidence on Parliament's multi-billion pound Restoration and Renewal programme, which is currently in limbo, awaiting key decisions. Before the committee will be Sarah Johnson, the chief executive of the Restoration and Renewal Sponsor Body, David Goldstone of the Restoration and Renewal Delivery Body, the Clerk of the Commons, John Benger, and his Lords opposite number Simon Burton, the Clerk of the Parliaments.

PAC Chair Dame Meg Hillier is a strong backer of the plan to empty, or "decant", the Victorian gothic buildings which house Parliament, to allow vital repairs and restoration work to take place. This is the official policy of the Commons, endorsed in a vote in 2019, but it has effectively been shelved because of reservations about the massive cost and the likely decades long duration of their exile. The focus of the hearing is likely to be on the cost of attempting to do the work with MPs, peers and staff still in situ in their iconic home.

Lords: questions on the scientific advice underpinning the lifting of Covid restrictions, and on increasing the number of charging points for electric vehicles (14:30).

Main debates: There will be a brief third reading rubber-stamping of the Nationality and Borders Bill, which has been extensively rewritten, with 20 government defeats inflicted across the last two weeks. Many of them will doubtless be reversed in the Commons, so expect the bill to bounce back and forth between the two houses a number of times in the coming weeks.

Peers then get a chance to hone their parliamentary ping pong skills, when the National Insurance Contributions Bill is bounced back to them from the Commons, stripped of the various amendments they made.

Then it's on to the main event, the committee and report stages of the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill - this is the point in the life cycle of the bill where the Opposition parties have a genuine change of pushing through amendments, with changes to the bill being negotiated between the committee and report stages.

The government has been proposing its own tightening-up amendments, but there's a possibility of some opposition amendments being pushed to a vote at report stage, if agreement with ministers can't be reached. Look out for attempts to remove a power for the government to exempt individuals from the restrictions in the bill on grounds of "economic wellbeing". And watch for a push to reduce the timeframe for registration - originally it was 18 months; this has come down to six months, and may be further reduced. The buzz is that the Opposition want 28 days, but might settle at 60. As noted above, any amendments will go straight to the Commons to be considered immediately, although there is provision for them to be debated on Tuesday, if peers run very late.

During a break in the debate, peers will be asked to approve the Genetically Modified Organisms (Deliberate Release) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2022, and there's a rare attempt to strike them down from the Green Party's Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle. The regulations would allow the limited release of GM plants, but the Lords Secondary Legislation Committee the watchdog body which sifts through these kind of orders and regulations, is concerned that the key definitions which would underpin this one have not appeared and may not emerge for some time.