A short week in Parliament, with the short November recess starting on Thursday, but there’s plenty of Liberal Democrat interest.

Monday starts with the usual oral questions, this time including a question from Shas Sheehan regarding Government steps, as President of COP26, to acknowledge and address greenhouse gas emissions by developed countries, in the light of recent flooding in Pakistan.

The Seafarers’ Wages Bill receives its Third Reading, with Ros Scott from our benches expected to pursue the issue of how the legislation sits with international agreements in the maritime sector. So far, there’s been little sense that the Government gets this, but given their persistent disregard for such things, it’s unlikely that they’ll change their mind at this stage. And there’s Day 4 of the Committee Stage of the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, with Jeremy Purvis, Alison Suttie, Sarah Ludford and Dee Doocey attempting to prevent a blatant power grab by the Government, allowing them to, effectively, rewrite the legisaltion as they go along.

In Grand Committee, the Electronic Trade Documents Bill has its Second Reading, with Chris Fox up for our benches.

There’s an interesting Select Committee meeting on Tuesday, as the European Affairs Committee continues its enquiry into the future UK-EU relationship. Those giving evidence include Sylvie Bermann, a former French Ambassador to China, Russia and the United Kingdom, and Michael Ignatieff, the former leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. Ros Scott and Jeremy Purvis will be amongst those posing the questions.

Down the Committee corridor, the Economic Affairs Committee will be holding an oral evidence session on UK labour supply and, as the Committee’s page on the Parliament website notes, they’ll be discussing:

• the impact of UK labour shortages on inflation and economic growth
• the risk of wage-price spiral
• long-term sickness
• economic inactivity of the over 50s since the start of the pandemic
• migration trends since Brexit
• the prediction of a UK recession until Summer 2023 (should that read Summer 2024?)

To be honest, I don’t know where Susan Kramer and Chris Fox will start with that list of topics…

In the Chamber, it’s a day for Regulations but the final business is a debate on the report from the Built Environment Committee ‘Meeting housing demand’, with Dorothy Thornhill and Andrew Stunell expected to speak.

Don Foster sees the Committee Stage of his Domestic Premises (Electrical Safety Certificate) Bill on Wednesday. There is already a requirement in the rental housing sector for five-yearly checks of electrical installations, and his Bill seeks to extend this to the owner-occupier sector. The week ends with a debate on the National Plan for Music Education, with well-known vocalist, Mike German, expected to wax lyrically from our benches.

* Mark Valladares is beginning to get back into the swing of this…