Then there was a contingent from the Defence Select Committee bidding for a general debate on defence.

BBC: MPs' demand for backbench debating time exceeds supply

Mr Hammond later told the defence select committee that the deployment request had come "as no great surprise".

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Across in Westminster Hall there are debates on two recent select committee reports - Environmental Audit Committee on Protecting the Arctic and the Defence Select Committee report on Future of Maritime Surveillance.

BBC: Week ahead

In July the Commons defence select committee said a lack of helicopters was undermining UK forces' operations and troop protection in Afghanistan, although their report stopped short of saying soldiers were dying due to a lack of helicopters.

BBC: Grieving mother's challenge to PM

Then Peter Luff, the Conservative former Defence Minister and former chair of the Business Select Committee, presents a ten minute rule bill on enabling pupils in primary, middle, high and secondary schools to gain greater understanding of careers in science, technology and engineering.

BBC: Week ahead

The group - foreign affairs and defence spokesman Menzies Campbell, chief whip Paul Tyler, campaigns chief Nick Harvey and social security select committee chairman Archy Kirkwood - are expected to back the same candidate.

BBC: News | UK Politics | Lib Dem contenders compete for MPs' support

The Quadripartite Committee - comprising members of the defence, foreign affairs, international development and trade and industry select committees - is demanding the same powers of prior scrutiny afforded to their counterparts in the US and Sweden.

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