New planning legislation is set to make its first appearance in the House of Keys today (Tuesday).

The Town and Country Planning (Amendment) Bill, which will be guided by Policy and Reform Minister Chris Thomas, is down for a first reading.

That means it is not due for debate. At the time of writing, the final version of the Bill had not been formally published.

A draft Bill was released last year and then put out for consultation. It sought to create a provision for ’national policy directives’ and to clarify some of the rules about when a planning application should be referred to the Council of Ministers, as well as provision or a ’community infrastructure levy’.

Similarly, the Council of Ministers (Amendment) Bill is down for a first reading and, similarly, the final version had not yet been published at the point the House of Keys agenda was issued, but it is understood to include a duty to support the independence of the judiciary.

The Bill will be guided by Home Affairs Minister Bill Malarkey.

Bills that will be the subject of debate include the Highways (Amendment) Bill and the Communications Bill.

The latter, a weighty document, has gone through the detailed scrutiny stage, taking MHKs way beyond their afternoon nap time at last week’s sitting. Today, as with the former, it is down for a third and final reading before heading up to Legislative Council.

The question paper for this week’s sitting is light compared with last week. Assuming he makes it back from his jet-set mission to talk some sense into meddling MPs in the Westminster, Chief Minister Howard Quayle is due to be asked about the EU settlement scheme and the Manx guide to a no-deal Brexit.

Education Minister Graham Cregeen faces questions about the terms and conditions for education support officers, compulsory areas of study in life skills lessons and how he’s getting on with measuring the height and weight of all year six pupils - well, not him personally, but his department.

Written questions will cover the SAVE programme to improve government efficiency, why the Child Death Overview Panel is now not being put on a statutory footing, work permits and driving licences.

Upstairs, the Legislative Council, having granted a first reading to the Dormant Assets Bill, which will allow money left untouched in bank accounts for 15 years to be put to good causes, is due for a second reading and then its clauses stage.