Viewing guide: The week ahead in Parliament
There is a rush of contentious legislation in both the Lords and Commons in the week ahead.
On Monday, there's a bit of a localism theme running. Commons proceedings begin with questions to the Communities Secretary Eric Pickles and his team. Expect some fun over the Government's decision not to insist on weekly refuse collections by local councils. Then, with the row over public sector pension cuts gaining in intensity, the bill to bring forward the increase of the state pension age to 66 and its equalisation between men and women debuts in the Commons. The bill has already been through the Lords, where it was not particularly controversial - but there are concerns about the group of women who lose most from the changes.
Before that we could well have ministerial statements on a couple of current controversies. MPs have been demanding statements on the Greek/Euro economic crisis and on the Government's latest pronouncements on public sector pensions.
As usual Monday is a thin day on the Committee Corridor, but the Treasury Committee have a session with academics on the accountability of the Bank of England, and the Communities and Local Government Committee takes evidence from major construction companies and the third sector on regeneration and in particular the impact of central government funding cuts on housing improvement schemes
Over in the Lords, Peers start their detailed consideration of the Localism Bill - the Government's plan to give more powers to local people and local authorities. This could be a pretty robust process, given the kicking given to the bill in the Second Reading Debate on 7 June, when some peers clearly thought the bill didn't go far enough in promoting local power while others feared a massive infringement over property rights.
More heavy legislative delights await on Tuesday. First the chancellor and his team face Treasury Questions - and then the Scotland Bill returns to the Commons after a long hiatus caused by the Libyan intervention and the purdah period required because of the Scottish elections. The bill gives more powers to the Scottish Parliament, in particular over income tax, and buoyed by their triumph in May, the SNP are demanding further powers.
They want borrowing powers, control over company taxation (perhaps with a view to a tax-cutting strategy) and control over the Crown Estate in Scotland (which has implications for what goes on in coastal waters and harbours). That may collide with attempts to change the Barnett formula, which controls the distribution of public money between the nations of the UK, and which many MPs and the eponymous former Labour Treasury Minister, Lord Barnett, argue gives too much money to Scotland. And there may also be an amendment to switch elections to the Holyrood Parliament to first past the post, from the current variant of the additional member system.
There is some corking business on the Committee Corridor, where the Education Committee hears from some of the star-educators at Jamie's Dream School - including David Starkey Jazzie B and Robert Winston, in a one-off session on the issues around teaching "challenging" children.
And watch out for the Health Committee's new inquiry into Public Health - with a session on the Marmot Review of Health inequalities, and then a look at the proposal by drinks giant Diagio to fund nurses to warn pregnant women about the dangers of foetal alcohol poisoning. Watch out for the evidence from ethical marketing expert Chris Arnold who has been very outspoken about "healthwashing" - tokenistic programmes he believes have more to do with image than genuine health promotion.
The Transport Committee will be venturing into controversial territory when it opens its inquiry into HS2 - the plan for a high speed railway with assorted campaigners and railway executives. This is so controversial that fireworks are certain at some stage.
Another session to watch is the Committee scrutinising the Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures Bill --which replaces the system of control orders for terrorism suspects with TPIMs - Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures which will be imposed by the Home Secretary on individuals who he/she reasonably believes are involved in terrorism-related activity. There is a higher threshold for the imposition of a TPIM (reasonable belief that the individual is or has been involved in terrorism-related activity) than existed with control orders (reasonable suspicion of involvement in such activity). There's a pretty high powered panel of witnesses including: The Association of Chief Police Officers and Keir Starmer the Director of Public Prosecutions, followed by Lord Howard of Lympne (the artist formerly known as Michael Howard the former Home Secretary); and Lord Carlile the former Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation
The Lords are planning to start early to accommodate all the peers who want to speak in the marathon two-day debate on the Government's Lords Reform proposals. 113 Peers (and counting) have put in to speak - and a debate of penetrating predictability looms. Expect almost everyone to kick the living daylights out of the Clegg White Paper. On Wednesday the House will sit three hours early in order to allow the fun (sic) to continue.
And so to Wednesday, when MPs will question the Scottish Secretary Michael Moore and then the Prime Minister, before moving on to an Opposition Day debate on an as yet unannounced Labour motion. Will this week's PMQs plumb new depths of fatuous tribalism? Almost certainly.
But there's plenty of serious action on the Committee Corridor. The Public Accounts Committee will be looking at the impact of spending cuts in the Foreign Office - amidst concerns about the impact on British representation abroad. The National Audit Office report on the issue is here.
The Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee hold their second session of the week on the outcome of the Farming Regulation Task Force - having heard from the task force chair on Tuesday, the interested parties duke it out on Wednesday. To over-simplify, farmers love the proposals; greens are rather less happy. The Armed Forces Minister Nick Harvey and a supporting cast of senior officers appear before the Defence Committee who are investigating the Strategic Defence and Security Review and the National Security Strategy. And the Foreign Affairs committee will be looking at the issue of piracy off the coast of Somalia - with witnesses from Lloyds of London and the Chamber of Shipping, followed by Major General Buster Howes, Operation Commander European Union Naval Force Somalia. The Education Committee will explore the role of health visitors in helping children to be ready for school, taking into account recommendations made in recent reviews on Early Years, Early Intervention and Poverty and Life Chances.
In the Lords, it's Day 2 of the Lords Reform debate. Be afraid.
On Thursday MPs question the Transport Secretary Phillip Hammond and Teresa May in her role as Minister for Women and Equalities. And then there are two debates scheduled by the Backbench Business Committee on motions relating to the review of congenital cardiac services for children led by Conservative Stuart Andrew, and a motion to ban the use of wild animals in circuses led by the Conservative Mark Pritchard. And business ends with an adjournment debate led by practising dentist Sir Paul Beresford on dental bleaching materials and trading standards.
Top committee hearing of the day will be the Justice Committee's session when they venture into one of the hottest political controversies of the moment with Lord Justice Leveson Chairman of the Sentencing Council, giving evidence on the Draft Sentencing Guidelines for burglary and drug offences…
The Business Committee will be probing the Draft Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill - which despite it's dry-sounding title is a pretty controversial measure; it creates an official referee for disputes between farmers and supermarkets over the prices and terms of sale under which food is provided for the supermarket shelves. Both sides are taking a lively interest. The witnesses are Asda, British Retail Consortium, Sainsbury's and the Co-op.
The Political and Constitutional Reform Committee will be hearing from academic experts as they ponder the powers of the Prime Minister.
Those peers not exhausted and emotionally drained by the previous two days will turn their attention to two major Government bills. There's the Third Reading of the European Union Bill - which is designed to provide a "referendum lock" against further transfers of British sovereignty to Europe. The bill has been heavily amended by peers - most recently by imposing a five year "sunset clause" on it, and the Government will certainly be seeking to undo most of the changes made by what it regards as unrepresentative militant europhile peers. Then there's some detailed scrutiny of the Localism Bill.
Neither House is sitting on Friday.