Another busy week awaits in the Lords and so, without further ado…

There’s a bucketful of Liberal Democrat activity this week, and we’ll start with Oral Questions. On Tuesday, Mike Storey will be asking the Government what steps they are taking to deal with mental health problems in primary schools, whilst on Wednesday, William Wallace seeks clarity on Government plans for changes they are considering for citizenship education in schools to accompany proposals to reduce the voting age to 16. Alison Suttie quizzes the Minister on UK assessment of Russian interference in Moldovan politics on Thursday.

There are two Liberal Democrat-led Short Debates, with John Lee querying Government plans to encourage first-time investors in the stock market on Monday, and Olly Grender asking the Government what steps they are taking to ensure that fines paid by water companies are used to repair the damage done by sewage pollution.

The Bills up for debate this week include:

• the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill, a.k.a. “Martyn’s Law”, which will compel all UK venues with a capacity of more than 200 people to have plans for an attack on their premises, which is at its Committee Stage
• the Renters’ Rights Bill, which is due its Second Reading
• the Data (Use and Access) Bill, which will have its Third Reading
• the National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Bill, which is at its Committee Stage

Friday sees debate of three Private Members Bills from Liberal Democrat Peers. Tim Clement-Jones’s Public Authority Algorithmic and Automated Decision-Making Systems Bill is due its Third Reading, despite discouraging signals from the Government. Tim is trying to persuade the Government that, whilst AI and algorithms might offer promising benefits, we need more control over how they are put together, using Canadian legislation as its basis.

John Sharkey’s Mortgage Prisoners Inquiry Bill seeks to establish an inquiry into the events surrounding the creation of mortgage prisoners, whilst Lorely Burt’s Education (Assemblies) Bill seeks to change the way school assemblies are organised in non-religious schools. Both Bills will have their Second Reading, although we’ll see if the Government is any more welcoming.

Two weeks ago, I mentioned that four new Special Enquiry Committees were being proposed, and I can now confirm that Ros Scott will be chairing the Home-based Working Committee, tasked with considering the effects and future development of home-based working in the UK. Given the fuss that was made about this by the previous Government, and the reaction against it in some quarters of British business, it will be interesting indeed to see what they come up with. Ros posted on Bluesky:

Honoured and excited to have appointed Chair of a new Select Committee looking at working from home. Definitely a need for a balanced and evidence based look at this.

Ros will be joined by Lynne Featherstone from our benches.

The other Special Enquiry Committees will be graced by Liberal Democrats as follows:

• Autism Act 2009 – Dominic Addington and Paul Scriven
• Social Mobility Policy – Sue Garden and Meral Hussein-Ece
• UK Engagement with Space – Jane Bonham-Carter and Tim Clement-Jones

Good luck to all of them as they seek to come up with something credible by the end of the year.