House of Commons to hold debate on Armenian Genocide centenary

23:47, 21 Mar 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

On Monday, March 23, the UK House of Commons will hold an adjournment
debate on the centenary of the 1915 Armenian Genocide,

The discussion will be led by Labour MP Stephen Pound, according to
the BBC’s Week Ahead.

Week ahead BBC News

Monday

The Commons meets at 2.30pm for Home Office questions – after which
the prime minister will make a statement on the outcome of the latest
European Council. Any further statements or urgent question will be
taken when he is done.

Then the Lib Dem former health minister, Paul Burstow, will launch a
ten minute rule bill on Tobacco Manufacturers Producer Responsibility.

A consultation on a tobacco levy was announced by the Chancellor,
George Osborne, in the 2014 Autumn Statement, and this is part of a
cross-party campaign to direct the money – perhaps as much as £500m –
to pay for a programme of tobacco control measures including Stop
Smoking Services currently funded by local councils. The bill’s
supporters view it as an important way of boosting funding for
preventive health measures.

MPs will move on to the final stage of the Budget debate – where the
chosen theme is jobs, pensions and savings – which suggests the Work
and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, will be facing Labour’s
Rachel Reeves. And the day will end with an adjournment debate on the
centenary of the 1915 Armenian Genocide – led by Labour MP Stephen
Pound.

In Westminster Hall (4.30pm – 7.30pm) there will be a debate on an
e-petition relating to proposed increase in fees for nurses and
midwives – led by Labour’s David Anderson.

Over in the Lords (from 2.30pm) peers will rattle through a series of
legislative chores, setting the pattern for much of their work in this
final week. First up is the third reading of the House of Commons
Commission Bill – the measure which enacts the shake-up of the Commons
internal admin. It may well be simply nodded through.

Next come nine important Counter-Terrorism Statutory Instruments that
derive from the fast-track bill passed earlier this year.

For the record, these are the Draft Counter-Terrorism and Security Act
2015 (Risk of Being Drawn into Terrorism) (Amendment and Guidance)
Regulations 2015, the Draft Regulation of Investigatory Powers
(Acquisition and Disclosure of Communications Data: Code of Practice)
Order 2015; the Draft Retention of Communications Data (Code of
Practice) Order 2015, the Draft Counter-Terrorism and Security Act
2015 (Authority to Carry Scheme) Regulations 2015; the Draft Authority
to Carry Scheme (Civil Penalties) Regulations 2015; the Draft
Passenger, Crew and Service Information (Civil Penalties) Regulations
2015; the Draft Aviation Security Act 1982 (Civil Penalties)
Regulations 2015; the Draft Terrorism Act 2000 (Code of Practice for
Examining Officers and Review Officers) Order 2015; Counter-Terrorism
and Security Act 2015 (Code of Practice for Officers exercising
functions under Schedule 1) Regulations 2015; Civil Procedure
(Amendment) Rules 2015.

(I moaned about the difficulty of finding out exactly what SIs like
this actually do in my post last week – and I’m told the continuing
revamp of the parliamentary website includes attempts to make this
information move easily available. Good.)

And then the Labour peer Lord Collins will move a regret motion on the
Gaming Machine regulations – which cover Fixed Odds Betting Terminals.