Before we begin, I have a few preliminary announcements. First, Members may remove their jackets during sittings if they wish. Please will all Members ensure that mobile phones, pagers and such like are turned off or switched to silent mode during sittings? I should also tell Members that as a general rule, I and my fellow Chair do not intend to call starred amendments, which have not been tabled with adequate notice. The required notice period in Public Bill Committees is three working days, so amendments should be tabled by the rise of the House on Monday for consideration on Thursday, and by the rise of the House on Thursday for consideration on Tuesday.

Not everyone is familiar with the process of taking oral evidence in Public Bill Committees, so it may help if I briefly explain how we will proceed. The Committee will first be asked to consider the programme motion on the amendment paper, for which debate is limited to half an hour. We will then proceed to a motion to report written evidence, and then to a motion to permit the Committee to deliberate in private before the oral evidence sessions—I hope we can take those motions formally. Assuming that the second motion is agreed to, the Committee will move into private session. Once it has deliberated, witnesses and members of the public will be invited back into the room and our oral evidence session will begin. If the Committee agrees the programme motion, it will hear oral evidence this morning.