It’s a long week, although we’re not expecting much drama in terms of voting until the New Year. The next few weeks are about clearing the decks whilst the EU Withdrawal Bill weaves its increasingly uncertain way through the House of Commons.

Monday sets the tone, with only Day 5 of the Committee Stage of the Data Protection Bill on the legislative agenda. There is an oral question from Dee Doocey on the impact of the UK’s exit from the EU Open Skies Agreement on the UK’s tourism industry. Will the Minister have an answer? Don’t bet on it.

It’s more of a Liberal Democrat day on Tuesday, with three of the four oral questions coming from our benches. First up is Jenny Randerson, seeking information on possible legislation to control the use of drones, whilst Qurban Hussain is seeking the Government’s stance on the human rights situation in Indian-held Kashmir. John Shipley is asking about any target number of additional social homes to be built by 2022, perhaps in anticipation of the Budget?

Otherwise, it’s the Third Reading of the Financial Guidance and Claims Bill, and Day 1 of the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Bill.

Oh, and the Chair of the Independent Review Panel for DeepMind Health will be giving evidence to the Artifical Intelligence Committee. It’ll be nice to see Julian Huppert back on the Parliamentary Estate…

And strangely enough, another lost from the Liberal Democrat benches puts in a guest appearance on Wednesday. Yes, Sudbury’s very own Andrew Phillips, possibly one of the few people to tweak Paddy Ashdown’s ego publicly, is due to give evidence to the Citizenship and Civic Engagement Committee. You should never have retired, Andrew…

Elsewhere, Tony Greaves will be asking about the level of services for the collection of recycled materials and other refuse from domestic properties.

There’s no obvious Liberal Democrat interest on Thursday, although John Lee, a former defence minister, is expected to speak in a debate on maintaining UK defence forces at a sufficient level and Don Foster will be contributing his thoughts on issues relating to problem gambling.

Martin Thomas has, I’m pleased to see, returned safely from Madagascar (bubonic plague has broken out across the country, including its capital, Antananarivo) and will be taking part in a short debate on reviewing Section 42, Armed Forces Act 2006 – this relates to criminal acts by serving personnel.

Friday is a day for Private Members Bills, three of them, on home education, assessment of creditworthiness and disabled access. Party President, Sal Britton, will be joined by Celia Thomas and Lynne Featherstone in offering a Liberal Democrat view.

Finally, it was UK Parliament Week last week (what do you mean, you hadn’t noticed that?), and we end with a picture from a previous event for our Editor-in-Chief…

And that’s it for the week. Join us next week for more news from the red benches…

* Mark Valladares is the self-appointed House of Lords Correspondent for Liberal Democrat Voice.