BBC has a summary of the political events in Parliament next week including the Lords and Commons on legal aid. Extracts -
"BBC
Article written by Mark D'Arcy Parliamentary correspondent
Week ahead in Parliament
............So what delights lie ahead?
On Monday, Commons business begins with questions to Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith and his team - perhaps a chance for a final Labour thwack at the just-passed Welfare Reform Bill.
..............In the Lords, it's question time for half an hour - and then the House embarks on the first of four and a half days of report stage scrutiny of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill. This has been every bit as controversial and bitterly opposed as the Welfare Reform and Health and Social Care Bills, so expect more government defeats, compromises and promises of reviews as it inches through the Upper House.
Watch out for three key amendments emanating from the Conservative peer and former Master of the Rolls, Lord Woolf, and the crossbench peer and QC Lord Pannick. One would force the government to ensure that legal aid is available for all who require it. If this is voted for by peers, the bill and the cuts of £350m in legal aid will have to be scrapped.
Another calls for legal aid to be administered by an independent director - preventing the justice secretary from taking direct control of the legal aid budget, which would allow him to block funding for particular kinds of action, such as clinical negligence, welfare claims or miscarriages of justice against the police. Critics say the bill would allow ministers to block claims against the government and the state by the back door. The third calls for a pre-commencement impact assessment for the bill, and, if passed would probably mean a long delay before it could come into effect.
On Tuesday, MPs kick off with questions to the Chancellor George Osborne and his Treasury team...............
In Westminster Hall, the Commons parallel debating chamber, one of the subjects will pick up complaints about the Legal Aid etc Bill - the effect of changes to legal aid on the not-for-profit advice sector. Labour's Yvonne Fovargue will argue that the bill will stop more than half a million people accessing help with everyday legal problems over debt, benefits, family breakdown and disputes with employers.
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Elsewhere, the Committee on Human Rights (at 2.20pm) hears from Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke on the justice and security green paper.............
The Justice Committee (at 10:30am) continues its look at the budget and structure of the Ministry of Justice with Frances Done, chair of the Youth Justice Board; and Peter Handcock of HM Courts and Tribunals Service............
On Wednesday, Commons business opens with Northern Ireland questions, followed by questions to the prime minister - and then David Cameron remains in his place to open a debate on sending "an humble address" to the Queen on her Diamond Jubilee. In practice, this is an opportunity for MPs to make speeches congratulating the Sovereign on her long reign...................
The Lords are back on the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill. There is a panoply of amendments..................."
