parliament in barcelona and in other towns against the detention of eight ousted catalan government ministers. a spanishjudge said they had to be detained because they might otherwise leave the country or destroy evidence. new details have emerged about the killing of four american special forces and four local troops in the west african country of niger last month. among those who died was army sergeant la david johnson, whose widow recently accused president trump of treating her insensitively during a condolence call. it's two days since the truck attack on new york city that killed eight people, and the bike path where the victims were mown down has just reopened. the suspect, sayfullo saipov, has been speaking to investigators about how he planned the attack for a year beforehand. he's appeared in federal court. now on bbc news, thursday in parliament. hello, and welcome to thursday

in parliament, our look at the best of the day in the commons and the lords. once again, the issue of harassment looms large in westminster. we will work with any colleagues across the house to make sure that we seize this opportunity to get it right once and for all. mps are told the brexit impact studies, which were the centre of debate on wednesday, will be made available as soon as conceivable. and are you desperate for a copy of the bible of parliamentary procedure? the people of this country are demanding it be made available without having to buy a copy of the book. but first, mps were back at westminster a little over 12 hours after the surprise news that the defence secretary had resigned. sir michael fallon said his past behaviour may have "fallen short" of the standards expected

by the british armed forces. the new defence secretary was named as gavin williamson, who had been in charge of party discipline as chief whip. he's been described as a rising star, who's trusted by number ten. as gavin williamson was settling himself in at the ministry of defence, in the commons the issue of harassment was still a main talking point. at her weekly question session, the leader of the house again broached the subject. this has been a difficult week for parliament. but it has been even harder for those who have come forward to report their experiences of inappropriate behaviour, harassment or abuse. their experiences are why we need to change. as i said on monday, it is a right, not a privilege, to work in a safe and respectful environment. the prime minister has written to all party leaders, and i'm pleased to say they have all agreed to meet to discuss a common, transparent and independent but a change of culture could take longer. that must be done by

education and training. every member, every employee, should go on an equality training course. for new mps it could be part of the induction process. existing members of staff should also undergo this. there are outside organisations who do this. will the leader of the house confirm measures for the house and ensure that the equalities and human rights commission have the resources to support this education and training? can i congratulate the leader of the house for her leadership that she has shown on the sexual harassment issue? we will work with her to put together this independent grievance procedure so that everybody will have a safe place to raise these complaints. it is encouraging to see people now coming forward, and firm and decisive action being taken. does she agree with me this is a real opportunity to effectively tackle the in—built patriarchal hierarchy in this institution

and the unsavoury entitlement culture that still pervades these corridors of power? any review should carefully consider other legislatures and what the hr processes, hiring processes, and staff grievance processes of other legislatures around the world are and we can maybe learn from them? my honourable friend is raising a very interesting point and of course as we look at how best we can improve taxpayers‘ value for money, at the same time as using best practice from around the world in hr processes, we will of course look at other legislatures, and in particular regard to resolving the issue around keeping people safe at work it would be essential that we look at what is done elsewhere. on the issue of standards, i am deeply concerned about the bullying culture within parliament. it is an issue that was dismissed by mr speaker when i previously have raised it with him, determining it to be a woman's issue. it clearly isn't.

this is vital that in this opportunity that we address the issue of bullying and that we bring forward mandatory training for everyone in this house. can i say i absolutely agree with the honourable lady, and will happily work with any colleagues across the house in making sure that we seize this opportunity to put things right and get it right, once and for all, and that there is nobody left out of that. so all political parties, those with no political party, all those who work in this place, and who come here to help us, as perhaps temporary work placements, interns, and so on, so that we get this right, once for all. the brexit secretary david davis has said the government intends to be "as open as we can be" over the release of its brexit impact

studies. on wednesday labour used an arcane parliamentary procedure to pass a motion calling for them to be released to the commons committee on exiting the eu. the 58 studies show the potential effects of brexit on different industrial sectors. when will the papers be handed over? the right honourable gentleman was present for yesterday's debate. i said that we would respond appropriately and we will do as soon as possible. a labour mp raised the issue with the brexit secretary. quoting conservative backbencher, jacob rees—mogg. does he agree that the papers must be given to the select committee, or does he not trust the select committee? i missed a very good

debate yesterday. i have already spoken to the chairman of the select committee. he sends his apologies for not being here today. i am organising to talk to him about how we handle confidentiality of the documentation or handover. i will reiterate what was said by my honourable friend, these documents are not some sort of grand plan, they are data about regulations and markets of individual sectors, and of course we will be as open as we can be with the select committee. but later the shadow leader of the commons pressed for a definite date for the release of the studies. the minister yesterday said members of the government are first and foremost parliamentarians, but they don't want to listen to parliament. he said, in the cool light of tomorrow we will revisit exactly what was said in hansard. in the cool light of today the minister got up this morning and said, in due course.

it is accepted that the motion passed by the house yesterday is binding and the information will be forthcoming, but as has been made very clear, it is the case that it is difficult to balance the conflicting obligation to protect the public interest through not disclosing information that could harm the national interest and the public interest, whilst at the same time ensuring that the resolution that the house passed yesterday is adhered to. deeply unsatisfactory, that has brought shame on this house once again. there is no doubt that this is binding and i am grateful to see the leader of the house confirming that today. what we therefore need today is a clear and unambiguous statement from the government that accepts what was decided last night, without qualification. just hand the papers over to the committee. if it does not do this, as you said, mr speaker, the government will be

in contempt of this house. if that happens we will be bringing proceedings to hold them to account on that very basis. well, a short time later, peers asked if the impact assessments would also be made available to the house of lords european union select committee. david davis has appeared before us on the european union select committee three times since the brexit vote, and on more than one occasion he has promised parity of information for us and also the committee in the house of commons.

we have now published 20 reports and there are more in the pipeline, therefore we are in a high state of knowledge about sectoral issues. can i ask the minister to go further in saying he will have a discussion with our chairman about things, but actually to undertake as i said, we still need to have further discussions with the chairman of the brexit select committee in another place. we will of course reflect further following those discussions on what information we will want to provide to comply with the motion. i have undertaken to have a similar discussion with the chairman of the committee in this place. i do not want to go further than that at the moment. lord calla nan. you're watching tuesday in parliament, with me, mandy baker. if you want to catch up with all the news from westminster on the go, don't forget our sister programme, today in parliament, is available as a download via the bbc radio 4 website. prosecutors in madrid have jailed eight sacked members of catalonia's regional government over their role in october's disputed independence referendum.

spain has been gripped by a constitutional crisis since a referendum on independence was held on october ist in defiance of a constitutional court ruling that declared it illegal. in the commons, a plaid cymru mp asked an urgent question about the situation. in this situation the uk government has a responsibility and an opportunity. firstly it must do all it can to ensure the safety and security of uk citizens living in catalonia. secondly, as a leading european power, member of the council of europe, of the eu, of nato, and the united nations security council, this is happening in our neighbourhood. thirdly, the uk government has recent experience of an independence referendum carried out here in scotland largely by agreement. we have some advice to offer. and of course, the hard—won peace agreement in northern ireland, rests partly on the opportunity for all to have their say in a referendum. in the debate on catalonia on the 10th of october, the minister replying said that no request for advice had been made by the spanish government and none offered by the uk government. i ask that that offer be made.

mr speaker, i do not share the honourable gentleman's view of how britain should take an interest in the internal affairs of spain. it is an internal matter. it is a legal matter. in the same way as we held an independence referendum, it was within the law, whereas in the case of spain it is not. in respect of uk citizens, i believe i am right in saying that we have had no reported consular problems and i hope that remains the case. we are currently in a very dangerous position. the future of catalonia has been turned into a binary choice. that is a false choice, an impossible choice,

between on the one hand, a unilateral declaration of independence, and on the other, direct rule from madrid. i do not believe that either of these choices offers a satisfactory solution to this crisis. and i do not believe that either choice is what the majority of catalans or spaniards actually want. i believe that what the majority want to see is a peaceful, sensible dialogue between the parties to try and find a resolution. that is what the socialist party of catalonia supports and the socialist party of spain. we support our sister parties in that endeavour. but what we are currently seeing, both in the government of spain, and the government of catalonia, is far from peaceful and sensible dialogue as it is possible to get. we call on both sides to step back, to ease the confrontational rhetoric and heavy—handed tactics, and start listening to what the majority of people in spain and catalonia actually want, which is peace, dialogue and an end to division.

what is the uk government doing to promote this? or does brexit suck such life from our ability to make any influence in europe that the honest answer is not a lot? i agree with the second part of the right honourable lady's response, which is as usual, not a lot, which is that this was illegal, and against the rule of law. but i do however disagree with her in the way she portrays this as a choice. this is not a binary choice, as the right honourable lady describes. it is a binary choice between upholding the rule of law or not. mps have urged the government to offer sanctuary to more unaccompanied child refugees in europe — in time for christmas. concerns were raised about children living in the "jungle" migrant camp in calais, which has since been cleared. underthe dublin iii european agreement the uk accepts refugees who have relatives in britain. in another scheme, the uk promised to take children who'd arrived — alone — in places such as greece or italy. mps had hoped that 3,000 children would be resettled, under what's called the dubs scheme. but the figure so far is 200 and ministers say the uk can only accept a further 280 youngsters.

but the figure so far is 200 and ministers say the uk can only accept a further 280 youngsters. in calais, still, children are sleeping outdoors. at the mercy of the elements and, dare i say, the police. because the official shelter that the french government have provided can only have 60. in greece, over 1800 children are waiting for space in such a shelter. and, when they make it, they'll actually find it is actually a disused prison. in italy, the situation is even more chaotic. whilst i understand our ability to influence local arrangements in those countries is limited, we do have a responsibility to set clear parameters with our foreign counterparts to allow them to rapidly identify every child who might be eligible for dubs or dublin. she said the remaining 280 places under the dubs scheme should be filled as soon as possible. can we aim for the end of the year? call me sentimental,

but can we aim for christmas? but this debate isn't just about dubs. i'm also seeking reassurance on what happens to dublin iii once we leave the eu and its legislation. despite textbook policy suggesting our domestic asylum legislation should already allow unaccompanied child refugees to be reunited with their wider family, their grandparents, siblings, uncles, aunts, in practice this is not happening. what the concern is today is that britain is still falling short on what it can do for these children and it is nine—year—olds sleeping in bushes, in calais, sleeping without shelters, in greece, in italy that are paying the price. these are our children to take responsibility for, to work with the greek authorities to work with the italian authorities. the minister is shaking his head. is he really saying he can be proud of the country that looks at children sleeping under the bushes without proper shelter and care and says it's somebody's else's problem, nothing to do with us. i understand that honourable members of this house who, like me, are deeply concerned about the plight of all refugees

across the whole wide world, 50 million people have been displaced by conflict. yes, we've taken 3000. but what is the right number of children to take if it's not 3000. is it 30,000? is it 300,000? should we take all the children across the whole of europe? orjust children who have a connection to britain? and i think the right policy, is that we should do our bit particularly on reunification. i don't agree that we can be responsible for all the refugees, all the children across the whole of europe. we can't take in every child. i'll tell you why. i get complaints from my constituents in kent that we have about a quarter of the unaccompanied asylum seeking children in the whole of this country. and they are concerned about the pressure on public services that that places on kent. the minister said the uk was working with france to implement the dubs scheme. we do work closely with france to deliver and transfer 480 unaccompanied children from europe to the uk under section 67

of the 2016 immigration act, quite the opposite of what some members this afternoon said about that process having stopped. it hasn't. it never has. it is still open. will he then agree now to contact local councils across the country and ask them what further places they could provide under the dubs scheme for next year. as i've just said, the court has outlined that the process used is lawful. children have arrived in recent weeks from france and we've been working with greece as well for that safe transfer of eligible children to the uk and rishi expect further referrals in the coming weeks. he added that the uk couldn't simply remove children from other countries — it had to respect their sovereignty

and child protection laws. next year it will be the centenary of the first british women to get the vote. it was in 1918 the representation of the people act was passed, allowing women over the age of 30 who met a property qualification to have a say in general elections. the government has already established a five million pound fund to support projects to mark the anniversary. have the government got any more broad ideas, both here in parliament about how they will celebrate the role of women in public life over the last 100 years, perhaps to encourage more to come forward. well, on that last point the government will certainly be thinking about how they can celebrate the role of women both in parliament and more broadly in public life. a former conservative cabinet minister was in mischievious mood. would we take the opportunity of the centenary to reflect on the fact that the bending government refuse to give women the vote because they were worried

that they would lose the votes the votes of the men. my noble friend is absolutely correct. lady williams. the shadow northern ireland secretary has criticised the prime minister for not taking a greater role in brokering a deal to restore power—sharing at stormont. northern ireland's executive collapsed injanuary over the handling of a botched renewable energy scheme. since then, talks between the democratic unionist party and sinn fein have failed to reach an agreement on the restoration of devolved government. the northern ireland secretary, james brokenshire, said the impasse meant the government would have to set a budget for northern ireland. while important progress has been made, the parties have not yet reached an agreement. i'm not in a position to bring before the house the legislation necessary for an executive to be formed this week. the consequence of this is that it is now highly unlikely that an executive could be in place within a timetable to be insured of passing a budget before

the end of november. which is the point at which we and the northern ireland civil service assessed that northern ireland will begin to run out of resources. no government could simply stand by and allow that to happen and we would you shirking our responsibilities to the people of northern ireland were we to do so. james brokenshire's opposite number used the opportunity to attack theresa may. we believe that the prime minister of great britain and northern ireland could get stuck into this problem and try and bring about a resolution over the impasse. it is, in my view, inexcusable and completely inexplicable that she's only visited northern ireland once during her 15 months in office and that for a 15 minute photocall during the elections at an agricultural show. james brokenshire insisted theresa may had been talking to the parties. the dup‘s deputy leader predicted that direct rule wasn't far off. we would set the government up tomorrow. sinn fein are blocking it.

so, the secretary of state is perfectly right to come to this house, as we have been urging, to get the budget set and i would also say to them that we cannot allow the drift to continue. that, at some point in the very near future, we will need to have ministers and if they are not northern ireland executive ministers, which is what we want and other parties want, but sinn fein are blocking that, then it will have to be ministers from here. earlier this week, the justice secretary, david lidington, indicated that the government was about to make a concession on prisoner voting and bring to an end a long running legal battle. in 2005 the european court of human rights ruled against the uk's blanket ban on allowing prisoners to vote. david lidington returned to the commons to announce his plans. we will amend guidance to address an anomaly in the current system where offenders who are released back in the community on licence using an electronic tag, under the home detention curfew scheme, can vote under the present arrangements but those

who are in the community on temporary licence cannot vote. release on temporary licence is a tool typically used to allow offenders to commute from prison to employment in the community and so prepare themselves for their return to society. we believe that reinstating the civic rights of voting at this point is consistent with that approach. i think we need to know what these discussions and what assurances the minister, secretary of state, has had with lawyers to ensure that his proposal today does bring us in line with human rights law because the last thing that his house wants is a secretary of state having to come back to the house at some point in the future and explain that, unfortunately, this hasn't satisfied the test and isn't fulfilling our international obligations. may i add my congratulations to my right honourable friend who, after many years, has arrived

at what i think is an elegant and sensible solution. he will be aware that in the council of europe it caused great consternation that the uk was unable to comply with these judgments and it led to talk of the uk even leaving the council of europe, which after all we were a founding member of by the treaty of london. can he just confirm that we now leave the company of the countries of armenia, bulgaria, estonia, jordan, hungary and russia that remain the only countries in the council of europe that still have a blanket ban. the government has instituted a system of universal credit on the basis that it mirrors the world of work so, why then, not use the same logic and consider that prisoners should be prepared for life outside of prison by maintaining their civic right to a vote? a very tiny concession by the government is the bare minimum it could get away with and i believe that when you imprison somebody, you deprive them of their liberty,

you don't deprive them of their rights. i don't understand, perhaps the minister can tell me why he feels so threatened by that. the act of depriving someone of his or her liberty when they are sentenced to custody, i would have thought by definition, deprives them of some absolutely vital civic rights. i think giving the vote to any prisoners is idiotic, unjustifiable, and is about as popular with the general public as finding a rattlesnake in a lucky dip. philip davies, not mincing his words. and finally, you may not have heard of erskine may but — and you can trust me on this — it is considered to be the most authoritative reference book on parliamentary procedure. the question exercising mps was — is it available online? one labour mp — who's interested in this sort of thing — had the answer. it is available on the intranet in a 1000 page pdf which expresses that it is not to be

used for the public. what i'm asking, and i hope that the commitment from the leader of the house is clear, that we will now be making it available to the whole of the country because the people of this country are demanding erskine may be made available to them without having to buy a copy of the book. and the good news is the leader of the house is looking into it and perhaps in the not too distant future we'll all be able to read up on parliamentary procedure on the go. that's all we've time for, but dojoin me on friday night at 11, for our round up of the week at westminster. but for now from me, mandy baker, goodbye. fog of could be a real issue across

the southern counties of england. some quite dense and lingering through the later part of the morning. drive weather around. through the later part of the morning. drive weatheraround. one of two spots in england and east anglia. by breezy in the north—west of scotland. temperatures could get as high as possibly 15 degrees in the far south—east. make the most of the far south—east. make the most of the dry weather. we spawn a more extensive area of rain across england and wales as we start the new day on saturday. this area will ta ke new day on saturday. this area will take quite a while to push off towards the eastern shores. do not hold me to the exact time but the general principle is, cooler conditions will be from the west. the rest of us only spells and showers. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers

in north america and around the globe. my name's mike embley. our top stories: tens of thousands protest in catalonia, as eight regional leaders are held in custody on charges of rebellion and sedition. new details emerge about the killing of four american servicemen in niger. we have a special report from the battlefield. as the site of the new york terror attack reopens, federal investigators question the suspect. and donald trump prepares for his first presidential tour of asia, with the shadow of a rising china looming large. hello. spain's constitutional crisis has ramped up,