Science, environment and technology

A debate will be held in Westminster Hall on Tuesday 24 November 2020 at 9.30am on recognising and preserving the value of charity-funded medical research in the 2020 Spending Review. The subject for the debate has been nominated by the Backbench Business Committee and the debate will be opened by Dr James Davies MP and Chris Green MP.

This briefing from the House of Commons Library examines some of the recent concern and controversy about the Green Belt and discusses how the white paper Planning for the Future treats it. It applies only to England.

This Library briefing note summarises the levels of fuel poverty across the UK, policies to address fuel poverty, and stakeholder comment on the issue.

This Library briefing paper provides a summary of the UK energy market, a breakdown of the components of energy bills, and details of concerns and reforms in the market, including the tariff cap.

The Agriculture Bill 2019-21 (originally HC Bill 7) was published on 16 January 2020. The Bill has passed through both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, and subsequently went through the “ping-pong” process of amendments between the two Houses. The Lords agreed to the final Commons amendments on 9 November 2020.

Please note: for information on accessing food banks and food parcels during the pandemic please see our briefing Coronavirus: Support for household finances. For an account of developments in food bank activity over the crisis period see section 7 of this paper, Food Banks in the UK. Recent research means we have increasing amounts of data on food banks, giving us a fuller picture of their provision across the UK, and providing a more detailed picture of the characteristics of food bank users.

In February 2020, The Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Bill 2019-21, was reintroduced as a Private Members Bill with Government support. The First Reading took place on 5 February 2020 with the Second Reading scheduled to take place on 23 October 2020.

A debate will be held in Westminster Hall at 4.30pm on Monday 19th October 2020 on two e-petitions concerning pet theft. The debate will be opened by Tom Hunt MP.

This Commons Library briefing paper provides information on the single use carrier bag charge in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, examines the legal basis for the charge, the exemptions and what will be done with the proceeds of the charge. It also examines the impact of the charges to date.

This Commons Library briefing paper provides an overview of testing for Covid-19 in England. It covers the different types of test that are in use and in development, as well as testing capacity, the criteria for being tested, and the presentation of testing data.

This is a reading list of publications on the UK’s withdrawal from the EU and future UK-EU relations from library, research services and committees of the UK and devolved parliaments and assemblies.

The Fisheries Bill 2019-21 presented in the House of Lords on 29 January 2020. Report stage in the Commons is due on 13 October 2020.