The House met at half-past Eleven o'clock.

1    London Local Authorities and Transport for London Bill,—Ordered, That so much of the Lords Message [22nd October] as relates to the London Local Authorities and Transport for London Bill be now considered.

Lords Message considered accordingly.

Ordered, That the promoters of the London Local Authorities and Transport for London Bill which was originally introduced in this House, on 25th January 2005, should have leave to suspend any further proceedings on the bill in order to proceed with it, if they think fit, in the next session of Parliament according to the provisions of Private Business Standing Order 188A (Suspension of bills).—(Chairman of Ways and Means.)

Message to the Lords to acquaint them therewith.

2    Private Bills [Lords] (Suspension),—Ordered, That so much of the Lords Message [22nd October] as relates to the Bournemouth Borough Council Bill [Lords] be now considered.

Lords Message considered accordingly.

Resolved, That this House concurs with the Lords in their Resolution.

Message to the Lords to acquaint them therewith.

3    Private Bills [Lords] (Suspension),—Ordered, That so much of the Lords Message [22nd October] as relates to the Manchester City Council Bill [Lords] be now considered.

Lords Message considered accordingly.

Resolved, That this House concurs with the Lords in their Resolution.

Message to the Lords to acquaint them therewith.

4    Private Bills [Lords] (Suspension),—Ordered, That so much of the Lords Message [22nd October] as relates to the Transport for London (Supplemental Toll Provisions) Bill [Lords] be now considered.

Lords Message considered accordingly.

Resolved, That this House concurs with the Lords in their Resolution.

Message to the Lords to acquaint them therewith.

5    Message from the Lords,—A Message was brought from the Lords as follows:

The Lords agree without Amendment to the Amendments made by this House to the Serious Crime Bill [Lords].

6    Grandparents (Rights of Access),—Ordered, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to give grandparents rights of access to their grandchildren in certain circumstances; and for connected purposes: And that Mr Ian Cawsey, Nick Ainger, John Bercow, Jeff Ennis, Mr Roger Gale, Mr John Heppell, Shona McIsaac, Mr Eric Martlew, Mr Elliot Morley, Laura Moffatt, Kali Mountford and Mrs Linda Riordan do prepare and bring it in.

7    Grandparents (Rights of Access) Bill,—Mr Ian Cawsey accordingly presented a Bill to give grandparents rights of access to their grandchildren in certain circumstances; and for connected purposes: And the same was read the first time; and ordered to be read a second time on Friday 26th October and to be printed [Bill 166].

8    Legal Services Bill [Lords] (Programme) (No. 3),—A Motion was made, and the Question being put forthwith, pursuant to Standing Order No. 83A (Programme motions), That the following provisions shall apply to the Legal Services Bill [Lords] for the purpose of supplementing the Orders of 4th June and 15th October 2007 (Legal Services Bill [Lords] (Programme) and Legal Services Bill [Lords] (Programme) (No. 2))—

Consideration of Lords Message

1. Any message from the Lords may be considered forthwith without any Question being put.

2. Proceedings on that Message shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion one hour after their commencement at this day's sitting.

Subsequent stages

3. Any further Message from the Lords may be considered forthwith without any Question being put.

4. The proceedings on any further Message from the Lords shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion one hour after their commencement—(Mr Sadiq Khan):—It was agreed to.

9    Legal Services Bill [Lords],—The House, according to Order, proceeded to consider the Lords Message [18th October] relating to the Legal Services Bill [Lords].

A Motion was made, and the Question being put, That this House does not insist on Commons Amendment No. 4 to which the Lords have disagreed, disagrees to Lords Amendment No. 4A proposed in lieu of that Amendment and proposes Amendments ((a) to (c)) to the Bill in lieu thereof—(Bridget Prentice);

Tellers for the Ayes, Alison Seabeck, Mr Bob Blizzard: 301.

Tellers for the Noes, Mr Nick Hurd, Angela Watkinson: 145.

Resolved, That this House does not insist on its Amendment No. 12, to which the Lords have disagreed, and agrees to Lords Amendment No. 12A instead thereof.

Resolved, That this House does not insist on its Amendment No. 13, to which the Lords have disagreed, and agrees to Lords Amendment No 13A instead thereof.

Resolved, That this House does not insist on its Amendment No. 14, to which the Lords have disagreed, and agrees to Lords Amendments Nos. 14A and 14C instead thereof.

Resolved, That this House disagrees to Lords Amendment No. 15A but proposes Amendment (a) in lieu thereof.

A Motion was made, and the Question being proposed, That this House does not insist on Commons Amendments Nos. 74 to 77 and 81 to 88 to which the Lords have disagreed, but proposes Amendments ((a) to (l)) in lieu of Commons Amendments Nos. 74 to 77 and 81 to 88—(Bridget Prentice);

And it being one hour after the commencement of proceedings on the Lords Message, the Deputy Speaker put the Question, pursuant to Order [this day].

Tellers for the Ayes, Mr Bob Blizzard, Alison Seabeck: 277.

Tellers for the Noes, John Hemming, Mr Jeremy Browne: 50.

10    Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill (Programme) (No. 3),—A Motion was made, and the Question being put forthwith, pursuant to Standing Order No. 83A (Programme motions), That the following provisions shall apply to the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill for the purpose of supplementing the Orders of 22nd January and 17th May 2007 (Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill (Programme) and Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill (Programme) (No. 2)):

Consideration of Lords Amendments

1. Proceedings on Consideration of Lords Amendments shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion four hours after their commencement at this day's sitting.

Subsequent stages

2. Any further Message from the Lords may be considered forthwith without any Question being put.

3. The proceedings on any further Message from the Lords shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion one hour after their commencement—(Mr Alan Campbell):—It was agreed to.

11    Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill,—The House, according to Order, proceeded to consider the Lords Amendments to the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill.

Lords Amendments Nos. 1 to 47 were agreed to.

Lords Amendment No. 48.

An Amendment ((a)) was proposed to the Lords Amendment, in line 3, to leave out the word 'six' and insert the word 'twelve', instead thereof.—(Alistair Burt.)

And the Question being put, That the Amendment be made;

The House divided.

Tellers for the Ayes, Mr Richard Benyon, Michael Fabricant: 205.

Tellers for the Noes, Siobhain McDonagh, Mr Sadiq Khan: 283.

So the Question was negatived.

Lords Amendment Nos. 49 to 174 were agreed to.

Lords Amendment No. 175.

A Motion was made, and the Question being proposed, That this House agrees with the Lords in their Amendment—(John Healey);

And it being four hours after the commencement of proceedings on the Lords Amendments, the Deputy Speaker put the Question, pursuant to Order [this day]:—It was agreed to.

The Lords Amendment was accordingly agreed to.

The Deputy Speaker then put the remaining Questions to be disposed of at that hour.

Lords Amendments Nos. 176 to 251 were agreed to.

12    Transport,—A Motion was made, and the Question being put forthwith, pursuant to Standing Order No. 118 (Delegated Legislation Committees), That the draft Renewable Transport Fuel Obligations Order 2007, which was laid before this House on 9th October, be approved—(Mr Dave Watts);

Tellers for the Ayes, Mr Sadiq Khan, Siobhain McDonagh: 287.

Tellers for the Noes, Mr Richard Benyon, Mr John Baron: 155.

13    Police,—A Motion was made, and the Question being put forthwith, pursuant to Standing Order No. 118 (Delegated Legislation Committees), That the draft Police Reform Act 2002 (Standard Powers and Duties of Community Support Officers) Order 2007, which was laid before this House on 8th October, be approved—(Mr Dave Watts):—It was agreed to.

14    Excise,—A Motion was made, and the Question being put forthwith, pursuant to Standing Order No. 118 (Delegated Legislation Committees), That the Gaming Duty (Additional Games) Order 2007 (S.I., 2007, No. 2910), dated 8th October 2007, a copy of which was laid before this House on 8th October, be approved—(Mr Dave Watts):—It was agreed to.

15    Value Added Tax,—A Motion was made, and the Question being put forthwith, pursuant to Standing Order No. 118 (Delegated Legislation Committees), That the Value Added Tax (Betting, Gaming and Lotteries) Order 2007 (S.I., 2007, No. 2163), dated 25th July 2007, a copy of which was laid before this House on 25th July, be approved—(Mr Dave Watts):—It was agreed to.

16    Value Added Tax,—A Motion was made, and the Question being put forthwith, pursuant to Standing Order No. 118 (Delegated Legislation Committees), That the Value Added Tax (Supply of Services) (Amendment) Order 2007 (S.I., 2007, No. 2173), dated 25th July 2007, a copy of which was laid before this House on 25th July, be approved—(Mr Dave Watts):—It was agreed to.

17    EU-Africa Strategic Partnership,—A Motion was made, and the Question being put forthwith, pursuant to Standing Order No. 119 (European Standing Committees), That this House takes note of European Union Document No. 11326/07 and Addenda 1 and 2, Commission Communication: From Cairo to Lisbon—The EU-Africa Strategic Partnership; and welcomes the progress being made on development of the strategy in preparation for the December EU-Africa Summit—(Mr Dave Watts):—It was agreed to.

18    Adjournment,—Resolved, That this House do now adjourn.—(Mr Dave Watts.)

And accordingly, the House, having continued to sit till nineteen minutes to Seven o'clock, adjourned till to-morrow.

Michael J. Martin

Speaker

Mr Speaker will take the Chair at half-past Ten o'clock.

APPENDIX I

Papers presented or laid upon the Table:

Other Papers:

1    Customs and Excise,—Paper, entitled Agreement between the Government of the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man on Customs and Excise and associated matters [by Command] [Cm. 7238] [Jane Kennedy].

2    House of Commons Commission,—Report of the House of Commons Commission on the nomination of a Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards; to be printed [No. 1096] [The Speaker].

3    Science and Technology,—Government Reply to the Fifth Report from the House of Lords Committee on Science and Technology, Session 2006-07, on Personal Internet Security [by Command] [Cm. 7234] [Secretary Jacqui Smith].

4    Standards and Privileges,—Report of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards for 2006-07 [by Standing Order]; to be printed [No. 1012] [Clerk of the House].

APPENDIX II

General Committees

APPENDIX III

Reports from Select Committees

5    Education and Skills,—(1) Creative Partnerships and the Curriculum:

(i) Eleventh Report from the Education and Skills Committee, with Memoranda; to be printed, with the Minutes of Proceedings of the Committee relating to the Report [No. 1034];

(ii) Memorandum laid before the Committee; to be published;

(2) Post-16 Skills: Government Response to the Committee's Ninth Report of Session 2006-07: Seventh Special Report from the Committee; to be printed [No. 1101]; and

(3) The Work of the Education and Skills Committee: Eighth Special Report from the Committee; to be printed [No. 1102]

[Mr Barry Sheerman].

6    Environment, Food and Rural Affairs,—Badgers and cattle TB: Final Report of the Independent Scientific Group: Minutes of Evidence taken before the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee; to be printed [No. 725-iv] [Mr Michael Jack].

7    European Scrutiny,—(1) Thirty-eighth Report from the European Scrutiny Committee; to be printed, with the Minutes of Proceedings of the Committee relating to the Report [No. 41-xxxviii]; and

(2) Ministerial Correspondence: Memoranda laid before the Committee; to be published

[Michael Connarty].

8    Northern Ireland Affairs,—The Northern Ireland Prison Service: Minutes of Evidence taken before the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee; to be printed [No. 520-ix] [Sir Patrick Cormack].

9    Public Accounts,—Helping people from workless households into work: Minutes of Evidence taken before the Committee of Public Accounts; to be printed [No. 1105-i] [Mr Edward Leigh].

10    Science and Technology,—Scientific developments relating to the Abortion Act 1967: Minutes of Evidence taken before the Science and Technology Committee; to be printed [No. 1045-iii] [Mr Phil Willis].

11    Statutory Instruments,—(1) Twenty-eighth Report from the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments, with Memoranda; to be printed [No. 82-xxviii]; and

(2) Fourth Report from the Select Committee on Statutory Instruments; to be printed [No. 83-iv]

[David Maclean].

12    Transport,—Department for Transport Annual Report 2007: Minutes of Evidence taken before the Transport Committee; to be printed [No. 1104-i] [Mrs Gwyneth Dunwoody].

13    Work and Pensions,—(1) Full employment and world class skills: responding to the challenges: Eighth Report from the Work and Pensions Committee; to be printed, with the Minutes of Proceedings of the Committee relating to the Report [No. 939];

(2) The best start in life? Alleviating deprivation, improving social mobility and eradicating child poverty:

(i) Minutes of Evidence taken before the Committee; to be printed [No. 1069-i]; and

(ii) Memoranda laid before the Committee; to be published

[Mr Terry Rooney].

[W.H., No. 89]

Minutes of Proceedings of the Sitting in Westminster Hall

The sitting began at half-past Nine o'clock.

And accordingly the sitting was adjourned till to-morrow.

Sir Alan Haselhurst

Deputy Speaker