House of Commons Votes and Proceedings
Thursday
12th February 2015

No. 110

The House met at 9.30 am.

PRAYERS.

1 Private Bills [Lords]: Transport for London Bill [Lords]: Consideration of the Bill, as amended

Motion made, That the Transport for London Bill [Lords] be now considered.-(Chairman of Ways and Means.)

Objection taken (Standing Order No. 20(2)).

Ordered, That the Bill be considered on Thursday 26 February.

2 Questions to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills

3 Business Question (Leader of the House)

4 Backbench Business (23rd allotted day (Standing Order No. 14))

(1) Pubs and planning legislation

Resolved, That this House notes New Economics Foundation research showing that local economies benefit twice as much from a pound spent in a pub rather than a supermarket; expresses concern that valued and viable pubs are being lost due to permitted development rights which allow pubs to be demolished or turned into supermarkets and other uses without planning permission, denying local people any say; notes that supermarket chains are deliberately targeting pubs and further notes CAMRA research that two pubs a week are converted into supermarkets; supports CAMRA’s Pub Matters campaign calling for an end to permitted development rights on pubs; notes that any change of use to a nightclub, laundrette or theatre requires planning permission, making it odd to refuse pubs the same status; notes plans to remove permitted development rights from pubs listed as Assets of Community Value (ACVs), and calls on the Government to announce how and when this will happen; notes, however, that pubs achieving ACV status is not as simple as Ministers have suggested, with the requirement for local communities to provide boundaries and plans and that every pub must be listed separately making it unrealistic for communities to protect all valued pubs; further notes that each ACV application costs local authorities over a thousand pounds, and listing all valued UK pubs as ACVs would cost millions of pounds and create significant bureaucracy; and therefore calls on the Government to make a simpler change and put pubs into the sui generis category so that communities can comment on a proposal to convert or demolish a pub.-(Charlotte Leslie.)

5 Royal Assent

The Deputy Speaker reported that the Queen had signified Royal Assent to the following Acts and Measures under the Royal Assent Act 1967:

Stamp Duty Land Tax Act 2015

Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015

Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism Act 2015

Insurance Act 2015

National Insurance Contributions Act 2015

Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015

Infrastructure Act 2015

Care of Churches and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction (Amendment) Measure 2015

Ecclesiastical Property Measure 2015

Church of England Pensions (Amendment) Measure 2015.

6 Backbench Business (23rd allotted day (Standing Order No. 14)) (resumed)

(2) Destruction and looting of historic sites in Syria and Iraq

Resolved, That this House has considered destruction and looting of historic sites in Syria and Iraq.-(Robert Jenrick.)

(3) Mental health and wellbeing of Londoners

Resolved, That this House has considered mental health and wellbeing of Londoners.-(Ms Diane Abbott.)

7 Public Petitions

A Public Petition from residents in the Southend West constituency relating to the stance of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on Hamas was presented and read by Sir David Amess.

A Public Petition from residents of St Agnes relating to the closure of Barclays Bank in St Agnes was presented and read by Sarah Newton.

8 Adjournment

Subject: Economic contribution of the Scotch whisky industry (Mr Alan Reid).

Resolved, That this House do now adjourn.-(Damian Hinds.)

Adjourned at 5.00 pm until Monday 23 February (Resolution, 21 October 2014).

_________________

Other proceedings

Lords Messages

9 Stamp Duty Land Tax Bill

The Lords agree to the Stamp Duty Land Tax Bill without amendment.

General Committees: Reports

10 Seventeenth Delegated Legislation Committee

Mr Andrew Turner (Chair) reported the draft European Union (Definition of Treaties) (Association Agreement) (Ukraine) Order 2015, the draft European Union (Definition of Treaties) (Association Agreement) (Georgia) Order 2015 and the draft European Union (Definition of Treaties) (Association Agreement) (Moldova) Order 2015.

General Committees: Appointments

The Speaker appoints the Chair of General Committees and members of Programming Sub-Committees, and allocates Statutory Instruments to Delegated Legislation Committees.

The Committee of Selection nominates Members to serve on General Committees (and certain Members to serve on Grand Committees).

11 Tenth Delegated Legislation Committee (Local Government (Transparency) (Descriptions of Information) (England) Order 2015)

Members: Bob Blackman discharged and Julian Sturdy nominated in substitution.

Reports from Select Committees

12 Privileges (Committee of)

Matter of Privilege referred to the Committee on 22 May 2012: First Special Report, to be printed (HC 1068) (Kevin Barron).

John Bercow

Speaker

The Speaker will take the Chair at 2.30 pm

Sitting in Westminster Hall

The sitting began at 1.30 pm.

Adjournment

Backbench Business (20th allotted day: Second half (Standing Order No. 14))

Subject: Effect of national infrastructure projects on local redevelopment.

Resolved, That the sitting be now adjourned.-(Kris Hopkins.)

Adjourned at 4.09 pm until Monday 23 February (Resolution, 21 October 2014).

Lindsay Hoyle

Deputy Speaker

APPENDIX

Papers presented or laid upon the Table:

Papers subject to Affirmative Resolution:

1 Financial Services and Markets

(1) Draft Bank of England Act 1998 (Macro-prudential Measures) Order 2015 (by Act), with an Explanatory Memorandum and an Impact Assessment (by Command) (Andrea Leadsom); and

(2) draft Bank of England Act 1998 (Macro-prudential Measures) (No. 2) Order 2015 (by Act), with an Explanatory Memorandum and an Impact Assessment (by Command) (Andrea Leadsom).

2 Prevention and Suppression of Terrorism

Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 (Code of Practice for Officers exercising functions under Schedule 1) Regulations 2015 (S.I., 2015, No. 217), dated 12 February 2015 (by Act), with an Explanatory Memorandum and an Impact Assessment (by Command) (Secretary Theresa May).

Papers subject to Negative Resolution:

3 Companies

Companies (Cross-Border Mergers) (Amendment) Regulations 2015 (S.I., 2015, No. 180), dated 9 February 2015 (by Act), with an Explanatory Memorandum (by Command) (Secretary Vince Cable).

4 National Health Service

(1) National Health Service (Licence Exemptions, etc.) Amendment Regulations 2015 (S.I., 2015, No. 190), dated 10 February 2015 (by Act), with an Explanatory Memorandum (by Command) (Secretary Jeremy Hunt);

(2) National Health Service Pension Scheme (Transitional and Consequential Provisions) Regulations 2015 (S.I., 2015, No. 95), dated 5 February 2015 (by Act), with an Explanatory Memorandum (by Command) (Secretary Jeremy Hunt); and

(3) National Health Service Pension Scheme, Injury Benefits and Additional Voluntary Contributions (Amendment) Regulations 2015 (S.I., 2015, No. 96), dated 5 February 2015 (by Act), with an Explanatory Memorandum (by Command) (Secretary Jeremy Hunt).

5 Public Service Pensions

National Health Service Pension Scheme Regulations 2015 (S.I., 2015, No. 94), dated 5 February 2015 (by Act), with an Explanatory Memorandum (by Command) (Secretary Jeremy Hunt).

6 Sea Fisheries

Sea Fishing (Enforcement and Miscellaneous Provisions) Order 2015 (S.I., 2015, No. 191), dated 8 February 2015 (by Act), with an Explanatory Memorandum (by Command) (Secretary Elizabeth Truss).

7 Social Security

(1) Social Fund Cold Weather Payments (General) Amendment Regulations 2015 (S.I., 2015, No. 183), dated 9 February 2015 (by Act), with an Explanatory Memorandum (by Command) (Secretary Iain Duncan Smith); and

(2) Social Security (Invalid Care Allowance) (Amendment) Regulations 2015 (S.I., 2015, No. 162), dated 8 February 2015 (by Act), with an Explanatory Memorandum (by Command) (Secretary Iain Duncan Smith).

8 Terms and Conditions of Employment

Statutory Shared Parental Pay (General) (Amendment) Regulations 2015 (S.I., 2015, No. 189), dated 9 February 2015 (by Act), with an Explanatory Memorandum and an Impact Assessment (by Command) (Secretary Vince Cable).

Other Papers:

9 Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning

Report to Parliament of Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) for 1 April 2011–31 December 2014 (by Act); to be printed (HC 1053) (Secretary Nicky Morgan).

10 Counter-Terrorism and Security

Draft Code of Practice for Officers exercising functions under Schedule 1 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 in connection with seizing and retaining travel documents (by Act) (Secretary Theresa May).

11 Public Accounts

Treasury Minutes on the Eighteenth, the Twenty-first to Twenty-fourth and the Thirty-third Reports from the Committee of Public Accounts, Session 2014–15 (by Command) (Cm. 9013) (Andrea Leadsom).

Withdrawn Papers:

12 Financial Services and Markets

(1) Draft Bank of England Act 1998 (Macro-prudential Measures) Order 2015 (by Act), with an Explanatory Memorandum and an Impact Assessment (by Command) (laid 2 February); and

(2) draft Bank of England Act 1998 (Macro-prudential Measures) (No. 2) Order 2015 (by Act), with an Explanatory Memorandum and an Impact Assessment (by Command) (laid 2 February).

CORRIGENDUM

Tuesday 11 February

The following item should have appeared between items 31 and 32:

Business, Innovation and Skills Committee

(1) Government Support for Business:

(i) Eighth Report, to be printed, with the Formal Minutes relating to the Report (HC 770);

(ii) Written evidence, to be published (HC 770)

(2) The Extractive Industries: Government Response to the Committee’s Sixth Report of Session 2014–15: Third Special Report, to be printed (HC 939)

(Mr Adrian Bailey).