Changes set to be made to the contracts of education support officers in the island’s schools are set to come under the spotlight in the House of Keys today.

It is understood that education support officers (ESOs) have been told that, from January, they will be transferred from the Department of Education, Sport and Culture, to the Public Service Commission.

That would affect hundreds of ESOs and it is also understood that not all the unions who represent them are happy at the level of consultation.

Julie Edge (Onchan) will ask Education Minister Graham Cregeen if he has decided to review the contracts of ESOs.

Mr Cregeen is fresh from an inquiry clearing him of bullying accusations made by the head teachers’ union, albeit the findings were critical of his ’errors of judgement’.

Back in March, he pledged that there would be consultation ahead of any changes to terms and conditions for ESOs. So there will be plenty of interest on how that consultation has been conducted.

Mr Cregeen will also be questioned by Ralph Peake (Douglas North) about the costs of repair and maintenance of the moveable swimming pool floor at the National Sports Centre.

For a day earlier this month, school swimming lessons were cancelled due to problems with the mechanism. This came only weeks after lessons had been restarted at the NSC pool.

For good measure Mr Cregeen will also face a written question about student qualification for tuition fees.

The issue of free TV licences for the over-75s will resurface, as Jason Moorhouse (Arbory, Castletown and Malew) is seeking figures how many are provided, along with details of overall figures.

In addition to her question about the ESOs, Ms Edge will also ask Health Minister David Ashford what his department’s policy is for holding in-patients’ personal cash and has a query about work permits exemptions in the hospitality sector.

Meanwhile, Martyn Perkins (Garff) wants to know the impact of the Laxey floods on water bosses’ plans to meet water quality standards,

The legislative part of the Keys sitting will be dominated by the Domestic Abuse Bill, which will undergo the close scrutiny of the clauses stage.

It is unlikely that this will be completed at one sitting. One option might be to take the clauses in chunks, at different sittings, concentrating on different aspects of the bill on each occasion. The legislation defines in law, for the first time, domestic abuse and will also give the police powers to issue prevention orders - effectively telling people to stay away from a house or property - to protect alleged victims.

There are three other bills at the clauses stage but they are unlikely to get a look in today unless the above scenario plays out. They are the Income Tax Bill, the Property Services Charges (Amendment) Bill and the Registration of Business Names (Amendment) Bill.

Back to the Domestic Abuse Bill and the Department of Home Affairs has already lined up a number of amendments to its own legislation. They include new wording for definitions of vulnerable adult and relative and a number of other amendments that appear designed to tighten up the wording of the bill in response to concerns raised at the second reading stage.

Before they get to any of those bills, however, MHKs will be asked to debate the principle of the Regulation of Care (Amendment) Bill and complete third readings of the Children and Young Persons (Amendment) Bill - which deals with processes for investigating the deaths of children - and the Limitation (Childhood Abuse) Bill, which will remove restrictions on when a damages claim.

If the latter two are granted third readings, they will then move onto the Legislative Council for further consideration at future sittings.

Speaking of which, as you can read elsewhere on this page, the ping-pong progress of the Communications Bill sees it back with the upper chamber today for consideration of the Keys’ amendments. If the branches of Tynwald don’t get a move on and resolve their differences, technology will have advanced again and the whole bill will be redundant.

The upper chamber will also take a first reading of the Public Sector Pensions (Amendment) Bill, which also arrives from the Keys.