Next week's business
On Monday, the week in Westminster kicks off with Education questions and the second reading of the Terrorist Asset Freezing Bill in the Commons. The bill began life in the Lords - and was passed on 25 October. And David Cameron will be reporting back on the outcome of the G20 summit in Seoul.
Their lordships will be discussing the Parliamentary Voting and Constituencies Bill - where, as I've blogged before, the coalition could face amendments which would change the arrangements for redrawing constituency boundaries and possibly mean that the new boundaries were not in place in time for a 2015 General Election. Picking apart this kind of detailed legislation is meat and drink to the learned and noble members of the Upper House - particularly the Crossbenchers - and the Coalition will be watching with interest to see which parts of the bills emerge unscathed from their lordships' mauling.
Up on the committee corridor, the will be continuing its inquiry into Afghanistan and Pakistan - and this week MPs will be questioning Foreign Secretary William Hague. And with the Localism and Democracy Bill due before MPs soon, the will be quizzing academics and councillors about the snark-like concept of localism.
On Tuesday, the Commons turns its attention to constitutional matters: the Fixed-term Parliaments Bill. A committee of the whole house will be examining the Coalition's plan to fix parliamentary terms at five years - the first day of another run of detailed constitutional legislating (day 2 is on Wednesday 24). Blogging Labour MP Tom Harris will be introducing the evening's adjournment debate: on the Scotland Office policy on proposals to move away from Greenwich Mean Time - a hot topic north of Berwick.
As their numbers continue to rise inexorably towards 800, peers will be debating the interim report from the Leader's Group on members leaving the House. A menu of options to allow peers to resign has been drawn up by a committee under Lord Hunt of Wirral, and this debate is a taking of the voices.
Committee-wise, it's a busy day. The will be looking at the workings of the family courts, the will be talking to Lord Chancellor Kenneth Clarke and his Lib Dem deputy Lord McNally about the government's policy on human rights. Will the prime minister's latest foray to China come up? And the talks to two intimidating-looking panels of experts in its esoteric-sounding but important inquiry into NHS Commissioning.
David Cameron will be back at the despatch box for PMQs on Wednesday. The rest of the day in the Commons will include Opposition Day debates on health and education. Meanwhile, in the Lords, questions on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and the UK's relationship with Tajikistan precede discussion of the Contaminated Blood Bill and Identity Documents Bill.
MPs on the will be looking at cyber attacks, the will be considering the appointment of General Sir David Richards as chief of the defence staff and the - now led by Margaret Hodge - will be quizzing Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell about the government's use of consultants. Could be an interesting session.
On Thursday, the Backbench Business Committee flex their muscles again, as MPs are scheduled to discuss immigration - in a debate obtained by Frank Field and Nicholas Soames, who . And look out for Green MP Caroline Lucas's adjournment debate on deep water drilling for oil, off the Shetland Islands.
Over in the Lords, there are more crowd-pleasers: debates on the Common Agricultural Policy, the role of active citizenship in society (mentions of the Big Society?) and the work of the Council of Europe.
In the afternoon, though, many eyes will be turned to the - which meets only twice a year; and whose membership is made up of the chairs of other select committees. They will be questioning David Cameron - for the first time - and questions can range far and wide - although I understand the new chairman, the Lib Dem veteran Sir Alan Beith is working hard to get effective themed questioning, and is keen to avoid the session turning into a marathon version of PMQs. It will be interesting to see how Mr Cameron fares - Gordon Brown tended to bludgeon MPs into submission with facts and figures; how will his successor's smoother style go down?
And on Friday, the awkward squad will, no doubt, be back out in force for another round of private members' bills. For two Fridays now, David Nuttall, Christopher Chope et al have talked out bills which Labour MPs wanted to get into committee stage, to the evident frustration of supporters who gave up their constituency Fridays to try and push them through. The two bills debated so far have not attracted the 100 MPs necessary to vote through a closure motion when - will Chris White's Public services (Social Enterprise and Social Value) Bill? Or will it meet the same fate as the Industrial Action Bill and the Sustainable Livestock Bill?
But the highlight of my week will be Andrew Turner's Westminster Hall debate on Wednesday afternoon - on government policy on lion trophies and the protection of lions. Anything after that is going to feel rather flat...
I'm Mark D'Arcy and I'll be writing about what goes on in the chambers and committee rooms at Westminster.
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