Clear the Lobby: What Laws are MPs voting on this week? W/C 17th January 2022

Welcome to our weekly feature courtesy of Sebastian Salek, the brains behind Clear the Lobby, working to bring you all the laws MPs are voting on this week, and explained in plain English!

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Hey team.

Let’s face it, Parliament is not where the drama is this week.

The prime minister is under increasing pressure elsewhere, setting himself up for another interesting PMQs.

Sue Gray’s report into the Downing Street parties will probably land at the end of the week at the earliest, meaning any parliamentary debate on it will fall next week.

The Elections Bill gets another airing in the Commons on Monday.

The most controversial bit is probably the requirement to show ID when voting. Proposed amendments include removing that clause, as well as reducing the voting age to 16 in parliamentary elections and banning overseas electors from donating to UK parties.

And the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill arrives from the Lords.

This is the centrepiece of the government’s animal welfare agenda. It would legally recognise that vertebrate animals are sentient beings capable of feelings like pain and joy.

Until next week. In the meantime, feel free to tweet me, or just reply to this email.

Sebastian (@sebastiansalek)

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MONDAY 17 JANUARY

Elections Bill – report stage and 3rd reading
Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland
Introduces new measures aimed at strengthening the integrity of the electoral process, including requiring voters to show ID in General Elections. Scraps the 15-year limit on voting for UK citizens living overseas. Lays out new rules for EU citizens standing and voting in UK elections. Requires digital campaign materials to show details of the promoter of the materials (as is the case for printed materials).
Draft bill (PDF) / Commons Library briefing

TUESDAY 18 JANUARY

Digital Devices (Access for Next of Kin) Bill
Grants the next of kin a right of access to the digital devices of a dead or incapacitated person. Ten minute rule motion presented by Ian Paisley.

Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill – 2nd reading
Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland
Establishes in law the sentience of vertebrate animals. Also creates an animal sentience committee to report on whether government policymaking is taking into account the fact that animals are sentient beings capable of feeling emotions and pain. Started in the Lords.
Draft bill (PDF) / Lords Library briefing

WEDNESDAY 19 JANUARY

Prisons (Violence) Bill
Places a duty on the Prison and Probation Service and private prison operators to minimise violence in prisons. Ten minute rule motion presented by Grahame Morris.

Building Safety Bill – report stage and 3rd reading
Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland (part), Northern Ireland (part)
Implements recommendations from the Hackitt Review into building regulations and fire safety, commissioned after the Grenfell Tower fire. Among other things: creates the Building Safety Regulator, a body responsible for overseeing the safety and performance of all buildings. Introduces a “gateway” system, whereby building safety risks are considered at each stage of a building’s planning and design, construction, and pre-occupation.
Draft bill (PDF) / Commons Library briefing

THURSDAY 20 JANUARY

No votes scheduled

FRIDAY 21 JANUARY

Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (Safeguarding and Road Safety) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading
Applies to: England, Wales
Requires taxi and private hire vehicle licensing authorities to share information with each other to prevent unsuitable people from becoming licensed. Private members’ bill presented by Peter Gibson.
Draft bill (PDF)

Approved Premises (Substance Testing) Bill – report stage and 3rd reading
Applies to: England, Wales
Requires people granted bail in criminal proceedings and offenders undergoing rehabilitation to provide urine samples for drug testing on request. Private members’ bill presented by Rob Butler.
Draft bill (PDF)

Hare Coursing Bill – 2nd reading
Applies to: England, Wales
Toughens up the law around hare coursing (an illegal bloodsport that uses dogs to chase and kill hares). Includes stronger guidance on sentencing, harsher penalties, and the ability to recover costs from offenders for kenneling seized dogs. Private members’ bill presented by Richard Fuller.
Draft bill (PDF)

Human Trafficking (Child Protection) Bill – 2nd reading
Creates safe houses for children who have been the victims of trafficking. Private members’ bill presented by Peter Bone.

Barnett Formula (Replacement) Bill – 2nd reading
Requires the chancellor the report to Parliament on proposals to replace the Barnett Formula (the calculation used to decide how much public money is given to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) with a scheme based on an assessment of relative needs. Private members’ bill presented by Christopher Chope.

Housing Standards (Refugee and Asylum Seekers) Bill – 2nd reading
Introduces national minimum standards in accommodation offered to refugees and asylum seekers. Private members’ bill presented by Chris Stephens.

Asylum Seekers (Permission to Work) No. 2 Bill – 2nd reading
Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland
Grants asylum seekers permission to work if they have waited six months for a decision on their asylum application. Private members’ bill presented by Chris Stephens.
Draft bill (PDF)

Misuse of Fireworks Bill – 2nd reading
Creates new offences for misusing fireworks. Private members’ bill presented by Sarah Owen.

Immigration (Health and Social Care Staff) Bill – 2nd reading
Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland
Grants indefinite leave to remain to health and social care staff. Private members’ bill presented by Christine Jardine.
Draft bill (PDF)

Planning and Local Representation Bill – 2nd reading
Applies to: England and Wales
Aims to improve the process of creating development plans (documents written by local planning authorities setting out how an area should look in the future). Gives people who comment or object to them the right to take part in examination hearings (part of the independent scrutiny process). Requires public consultation on development plans. Gives local authorities the power to apply local design standards for permitted development and to refuse permitted development proposals that would be detrimental to the health and wellbeing of an individual or community. Makes planning permission for major housing schemes contingent on work starting within two years. Private members’ bill presented by Rachel Hopkins.
Draft bill (PDF)

Public Houses (Electrical Safety) Bill – 2nd reading
Requires pubs to have annual electrical safety tests. Private members’ bill presented by Andrew Rosindell. Follows the death of a child in Rosindell’s constituency from electrocution caused by a faulty pub garden light.

Microplastic Filters (Washing Machines) Bill – 2nd reading
Requires manufacturers to fit microplastic-catching filters to new domestic and commercial washing machines, among other things. Private members’ bill presented by Alberto Costa.

Company Transparency (Carbon in Supply Chains) Bill – 2nd reading
Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland
Requires companies to prepare an annual statement on carbon in their supply chains. Private members’ bill presented by Karen Bradley.
Draft bill (PDF)

Pedicabs (London) Bill – 2nd reading
Regulates pedicabs to the same degree as taxis and private hire services. Requires drivers to have a licence from Transport for London to operate, and gives TfL the power to regulate prices and vehicles used. Private members’ bill presented by Nickie Aiken.

Automated External Defibrillators (Public Access) Bill – 2nd reading
Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland
Requires the installation of automated external defibrillators in public buildings, sports facilities, schools, higher education establishments, and facilities that provide care to vulnerable people. Private members’ bill presented by Jim Shannon.
Draft bill (PDF)

NHS England (Alternative Treatment) Bill – 2nd reading
Entitles patients to non-NHS treatment if they have been on a waiting list for more than a year. Private members’ bill presented by Christopher Chope.

Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 (Amendment) Bill – 2nd reading
Amends the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 to change the law around parliamentary scrutiny of lockdowns. Private members’ bill presented by Christopher Chope.

Caravan Sites Bill – 2nd reading
Removes the requirement for planning permission when applying for a caravan site licence. Private members’ bill presented by Christopher Chope.

Public Sector Exit Payments (Limitation) Bill – 2nd reading
Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland
Caps exit payments made to outgoing employees of public sector organisations. Private members’ bill presented by Christopher Chope.
Draft bill

Hares (Closed Season) Bill – 2nd reading
Bans the killing or taking of hares during breeding season. Private members’ bill presented by Richard Fuller.

Child Criminal Exploitation Bill – 2nd reading
Makes involvement in child criminal exploitation an aggravating factor in sentencing for drug supply, production, importation and money laundering offences, meaning a stricter sentence is likely. Also makes being a victim of child criminal exploitation a mitigating factor in sentencing for these offences. Private members’ bill presented by Lyn Brown.

Kinship Care (Parental Leave) Bill – 2nd reading
Entitles kinship carers (people who take responsibility for children whose parents are unable to care for them) to the same level of parental leave as parents. Private members’ bill presented by Katherine Fletcher.

Homeless People (Current Accounts) Bill – 2nd reading
Requires banks to provide current accounts for homeless people seeking work. Private members’ bill presented by Peter Bone.

Electoral Candidates (Age) Bill – 2nd reading
Changes the minimum age of candidates in parliamentary and local elections to age 18 on the day of the election. It’s currently age 18 at time of nomination. Private members’ bill presented by Peter Bone.

Leader of the House of Commons (Election) Bill – 2nd reading
Requires MPs to elect the leader of the House of Commons. The prime minister may nominate someone who must be from the governing party. Private members’ bill presented by Peter Bone.

Registers of Births and Deaths Bill – report stage and 3rd reading
Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland (part), Northern Ireland (part)
Introduces an electronic register for recording births and deaths. Currently they are also recorded on paper, and this bill removes that aspect. Private members’ bill presented by Saqib Bhatti.
Draft bill (PDF)

Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (Powers) Bill – 2nd reading
Allows the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman to identify and investigate systemic problems in the benefits system and make relevant recommendations to the  government. Private members’ bill presented by Chris Stephens.

Under-Occupancy Penalty (Report) Bill – 2nd reading
Requires the government to report on the merits of repealing the so-called “bedroom tax” (a cut in benefits for those living in a council or housing association property deemed to have one or more spare bedrooms). Private members’ bill presented by Chris Stephens.

Social Security Benefits (Healthy Eating) Bill – 2nd reading
Requires the government to publish annual calculations of the benefit and tax credit rates needed for a representative household to afford to buy meals in accordance with the Eatwell Guide to eating healthily. Private members’ bill presented by Chris Stephens.

Benefit Sanctions (Warnings) Bill – 2nd reading
Requires benefit claimants to be given warnings before they are sanctioned. Private members’ bill presented by Chris Stephens.

Universal Credit Sanctions (Zero Hours Contracts) Bill – 2nd reading
Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland
Prevents a Universal Credit claimant from being sanctioned for refusing work on a zero-hours contract. Private members’ bill presented by Chris Stephens.
Draft bill

Asylum Seekers (Accommodation Eviction Procedures) Bill – 2nd reading
Allows asylum seekers to challenge a proposed eviction in an independent court or tribunal. Establishes asylum seeker accommodation eviction procedures for public authorities. Private members’ bill presented by Chris Stephens.

Disability Benefit Assessments (Recording) Bill – 2nd reading
Requires the government to allow Disability Benefit applicants to have their eligibility assessment recorded on audio. Private members’ bill presented by Chris Stephens.

Full Employment Bill – 2nd reading
Requires the chancellor to pursue a policy of full employment (one definition is when there are more vacancies than people seeking jobs). Creates an employment guarantee scheme for benefit claimants who have been unemployed and looking for work for longer than six months. Private members’ bill presented by Chris Stephens.

Health and Safety at Work Bill – 2nd reading
Amend the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 to make provision about civil liability for breaches of health and safety duties. More information not yet available. Private members’ bill presented by Chris Stephens.

Corporate Homicide Bill – 2nd reading
Makes changes to the criminal offence of corporate homicide. More information not yet published. Private members’ bill presented by Chris Stephens.

Workers (Rights and Definition) Bill – 2nd reading
Establishes a legal definition of employment, which includes zero-hours contracts and agency workers. The aim is to prevent abuse of people working under these arrangements. Private members’ bill presented by Chris Stephens.

Want more?
Check your MP’s voting record and read the day’s debates at TheyWorkForYou.

LAST WEEK’S VOTES

Passed

• Nuclear Energy (Financing) Bill – goes to the Lords
• Co-Operatives (Employee Company Ownership) Bill – goes to second reading
• Digitally Altered Body Images Bill – goes to second reading
• Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Bill – goes to the Lords
• Education (Careers Guidance in Schools) Bill – goes to the Lords
• Local Government (Disqualification) Bill – goes to the Lords
• Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (Safeguarding and Road Safety) Bill – goes to committee stage

Postponed

• All other private members’ bills

Click here to read details of the bills in last week’s newsletter.