Very odd departure from usual convention in the Commons on Monday. The Overseas Operations Bill did not have a “tag” on the order paper drawing the attention of MPs to the report of the @HumanRightsCtte published last week - as would normally be the case...

... that is the long, detailed and scathing report - headlined ‘Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill is unjustifiable, ineffective and will prevent justice from being done’ (available here https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/93/human-rights-joint-committee/news/120321/operations-service-personnel-and-veterans-bill-is-unjustifiable-ineffective-and-will-prevent-justice-from-being-done-say-joint-committee-on-human-rights/)

... was this an oversight? Doubtful. Did the chair of the committee @HarrietHarman not request a tag? Highly unlikely. The government controls the order paper so could they have refused to allow a tag?..

If so that would be a very troubling exercise of Executive control over Parliament, especially when there was very little chance of the government losing a vote on the bill (which it did not)...

... Tags are an important mechanism for ensuring the work of expert cites can inform the whole House in its debates. If the link between ctte work and the chamber is broken then most MPs will remain unaware of the detailed work of their colleagues, to the detriment of scrutiny.

Whatever the reason for the absence of tag, it is a departure from convention which should not be repeated.