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

1    Political Parties and Elections Bill,—Frank Cook reported from the Political Parties and Elections Bill Committee:

(1) That it had come to the following Resolution: That, subject to the discretion of the Chair, any written evidence received by the Committee shall be reported to the House for publication; and

(2) a Memorandum.

Memorandum to lie upon the Table and to be published.

2    Fourth Delegated Legislation Committee,—Mr David Amess reported from the Fourth Delegated Legislation Committee the draft Pre-release Access to Official Statistics Order 2008.

Minutes of Proceedings of the Committee to lie upon the Table.

3    Fifth Delegated Legislation Committee,—Hywel Williams reported from the Fifth Delegated Legislation Committee the draft Immigration and Nationality (Fees) (Amendment No. 3) Regulations 2008.

Minutes of Proceedings of the Committee to lie upon the Table.

4    European Committee C,—David Taylor reported from European Committee C, nominated in respect of European Union Documents relating to Facing the challenge of higher oil prices, the following Resolution:

That the Committee takes note of European Union Document No. 10824/08, Commission Communication on Facing the challenge of higher oil prices; and welcomes the Government's support for appropriate action at the European level, where this would be effective in furthering energy efficiency, security of supply and the development of a liberalised energy market within the Union, and the Government's own response to higher oil prices, in particular the Global Energy Initiative.

Resolution to lie upon the Table.

Minutes of Proceedings of the Committee to lie upon the Table.

5    Food Labelling (Nutrition and Health),—Ordered, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to require simple, uniform nutritional labelling on the front of packaged foods; and for connected purposes: And that Helen Southworth, Mr Kevin Barron, Charlotte Atkins, Jim Dowd, Stephen Hesford, Christine Russell, David Taylor, Dr Howard Stoate, Mrs Janet Dean, Dr Doug Naysmith, Mr Paul Burstow and Mr David Amess do prepare and bring it in.

6    Food Labelling (Nutrition and Health) Bill,—Helen Southworth accordingly presented a Bill to require simple, uniform nutritional labelling on the front of packaged foods; and for connected purposes: And the same was read the first time; and ordered to be read a second time on Friday 14th November and to be printed [Bill 158].

7    Local Government,—A Motion was made, and the Question being put forthwith, pursuant to Standing Order No. 118 (Delegated Legislation Committees), That the draft Local Elections (Ordinary Day of Elections in 2009) Order 2008, which was laid before this House on 7th October, be approved—(Ms Dawn Butler):—It was agreed to.

8    Employment Bill [Lords],—The House, according to Order, proceeded to consider the Employment Bill [Lords], as amended in the Public Bill Committee.

A Clause (NC1) (Protection of those participating in lawful industrial action or a lawful strike)—(John McDonnell)—brought up and read the first time.

Question proposed, That the Clause be read a second time:—Clause, by leave, withdrawn.

Another Clause (NC2) (Employer's duties in relation to industrial action ballots)—(John McDonnell)—brought up and read the first time.

Question put, That the Clause be read a second time.

Tellers for the Ayes, Mr Andrew Dismore, David Taylor: 53.

Tellers for the Noes, Mark Tami, Steve McCabe: 408.

Another Clause (NC4) (Time off for Workplace environmental representatives)—(John McDonnell)—brought up and read the first time.

Question put, That the Clause be read a second time:—It was negatived.

It being Nine o'clock, the Deputy Speaker put the Question on an Amendment selected by the Speaker for separate decision, pursuant to Order [14th July].

Amendment (No. 10) proposed to the Bill, in page 18, line 15, at the end to add the words—

'(4) In section 177 (interpretation and other supplementary provision), after subsection (2) there is inserted—

"(2A) For the purposes of section 174 an individual will only be considered to be a member of a political party if for the 12 months prior to the date of an individual's application for membership of the trade union or at any point thereafter that individual is registered with the political party as a member."'.—(Mr Jonathan Djanogly.)

Question put, That the Amendment be made.

Tellers for the Ayes, James Duddridge, Jeremy Wright: 147.

Tellers for the Noes, Mr Bob Blizzard, Ian Lucas: 322.

The Bill was read the third time and passed, with Amendments.

9    Public Petition,—A Public Petition from the members of the Cheshire Federation of the Women's Institute relating to violence against women was presented and read.

10    Adjournment.

Subject: Security at Gatwick Airport (Ms Gisela Stuart).

A Motion was made and the Question being proposed, That this House do now adjourn—(Helen Goodman);

And it being Ten o'clock, the Motion for the adjournment of the House lapsed, without Question put.

Resolved, That this House do now adjourn.—(Chris Mole.)

And accordingly, the House, having continued to sit till eleven minutes past Ten o'clock, adjourned till to-morrow.

[Adjourned at 10.11 p.m.

Michael J. Martin

Speaker

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

APPENDIX I

Papers presented or laid upon the Table:

Papers subject to Negative Resolution:

1    Immigration,—Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules [by Act], with an Explanatory Memorandum [by Command]; to be printed [No. 1113] [Secretary Jacqui Smith].

2    Public Procurement,—Public Contracts and Utilities Contracts (Postal Services Amendments) Regulations 2008 (S.I., 2008, No. 2848), dated 3rd November 2008 [by Act], with an Explanatory Memorandum [by Command] [Angela Eagle].

3    Statistics of Trade,—Statistics of Trade (Customs and Excise) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2008 (S.I., 2008, No. 2847), dated 3rd November 2008 [by Act], with an Explanatory Memorandum [by Command] [Stephen Timms].

Other Papers:

4    Housing,—(1) Impact Assessment to the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 (Consequential Provisions) (No. 2) Order 2008 (S.I., 2008, No. 2831) [laid 3rd November]; and

(2) Impact Assessment to the Transfer of Housing Corporation Functions (Modifications and Transitional Provisions) Order 2008 (S.I., 2008, No. 2839) [laid 3rd November]

[by Command] [Secretary Hazel Blears].

5    National Audit,—Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General on Programmes to reduce household energy consumption [by Act]; to be printed [No. 1164] [Clerk of the House].

6    Transport,—Department for Transport Minute, dated 4th November, concerning non-statutory contingent liabilities in respect of Crossrail agreements [by Command] [Secretary Geoff Hoon].

Papers withdrawn:

7    National Audit,—Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General on Programmes to reduce household energy consumption; to be printed [No. 787] [Clerk of the House] [laid 30th June].

APPENDIX II

General Committees

1    Draft Pre-release Access to Official Statistics Order 2008,—The Committee of Selection has discharged Mr Austin Mitchell and Ian Stewart from the Fourth Delegated Legislation Committee (nominated in respect of the draft Order) and nominated in substitution Chris Ruane and Mr Don Touhig.

2    Draft Immigration and Nationality (Fees) (Amendment No. 3) Regulations 2008,—The Committee of Selection has discharged Mr Richard Caborn, Colin Challen, Mrs Anne McGuire, Paddy Tipping and Mr Phil Woolas from the Fifth Delegated Legislation Committee (nominated in respect of the draft Regulations) and nominated in substitution Mr Parmjit Dhanda, Mark Fisher, Andrew Gwynne, Meg Hillier and Mr Khalid Mahmood.

    European Committees

3    European Union Document No. 10824/08, relating to Facing the challenge of higher oil prices,—The Committee of Selection has discharged Mr Adrian Bailey from European Committee C (nominated in respect of the Document) and nominated in substitution Mr Denis Murphy.

APPENDIX III

Reports from Select Committees

1    Business and Enterprise,—Creating a Higher Value-Added Economy: Minutes of Evidence taken before the Business and Enterprise Committee; to be printed [No. 168-vi] [Peter Luff].

2    Culture, Media and Sport,—Commercial Activities of the BBC: Minutes of Evidence taken before the Culture, Media and Sport Committee; to be printed [No. 1166-i] [Mr John Whittingdale].

3    Defence,—Ministry of Defence Annual Report and Accounts 2007-08: Minutes of Evidence taken before the Defence Committee; to be printed [No. 1168-i] [Mr James Arbuthnot].

4    Home Affairs,—(1) Police and the Media: Minutes of Evidence taken before the Home Affairs Committee; to be printed [No. 1139-i];

(2) The rights of Gurkhas to settle in the UK: Minutes of Evidence taken before the Committee; to be printed [No. 1140-i]; and

(3) The Draft Immigration and Citizenship Bill: Memoranda laid before the Committee; to be published

[Keith Vaz].

5    Welsh Affairs,—The provision of cross-border public services for Wales: Minutes of Evidence taken before the Welsh Affairs Committee; to be printed [No. 401-xiii] [Dr Hywel Francis].

[W.H., No. 100]

Minutes of Proceedings of the Sitting in Westminster Hall

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

Subjects:

Government policy on international banking regulations (Mr James Plaskitt).

Funding of fire and rescue services in the South West region (Mr Mark Harper).

UK skills agenda (Eric Joyce).

Standards Board investigation into members of the Isle of Wight Council (Mr Andrew Turner).

Building schools for the future in Stoke-on-Trent South (Mr Robert Flello).

Resolved, That the sitting be now adjourned.—(Mr Dave Watts.)

And accordingly the sitting was adjourned till to-morrow.

[Adjourned at 1.59 p.m.

Sir Alan Haselhurst

Deputy Speaker