has paid a brief visit to iraq to reassure it of us support. after talks with the prime minister — mr pompeo said he didn't want iraq to be beholden to its neighbour — iran. there's growing tension between washington and teheran. venezuela's supreme court has ordered the prosecution of six leading opposition lawmakers for treason. the court said the prosecutor—general should open criminal cases against the mps. although the group does not include the current president of the country's national assembly — juan guaido. it follows an uprising last week. an 18—year—old student has died and at least eight people have been injured in a school shooting in colorado. police have arrested two pupils from the school — which is just about five miles from columbine — scene of one of america's deadliest school shootings — 20 years ago. now on bbc news, tuesday in parliament.

hello again, and welcome to tuesday in parliament. as ministers are warned pupils excluded from schools too often end up on a conveyor belt. a conveyor belt that leads to people referral units, which too often our county lines recruiting grounds and villain academies. a cabinet rising star faces questions about his ambition. you've got a lot of work on your plate, three and half days into the job, you are saying that you want to be prime minister. and peers do their best to save the planet: but it is enormously difficult to buy fruit and vegetables without plastic containers. all that to come and more. but first: schools in england

are being told they'll have to stay accountable for pupils they expell. it could mean school league table rankings having to include the exam results of pupils who have been excluded and moved elsewhere. the intention is to stop so called "off rolling", where schools remove difficult or low achieving pupils. that's the main conclusion of a government backed review into the use of exclusion. ministers have accepted all thirty recommendations from the timpson review which was chaired by the former tory education minister, edward timpson. the education secretary told mps the government would make it clearer when it was appropriate to exclude children from school. we will work with... to define, so there is greater greater clarity for school leaders, and tackle the practice of offering.

in ways that are in the interest of the school rather than the people. we believe this practice is rare but we are clear that where it happens it is unacceptable. the minister played down links between exclusion and knife crime. this is why we are working with the education and care sectors, the home office and other departments as part ofa office and other departments as part of a comprehensive, multiagency response. while exclusion is a marker for increased risk, both at being a victim and of being a perpetrator of crime we must be careful not to draw a simple causal link between exclusions and knife crime. there is no clear evidence to support that. i am clear though, that engagement with and success in education is a protective factor for children. the measures outlined in our response to tim singh will play a key role in ensuring that every young person is safe and free to fulfill their potential,

away from violent crime. let me ask the honourable member about the obvious question that this review poses, but fails to answer. both schools and all other services that support the most venerable children are faced in the worst courts in a generation. the secretary of state and the review have danced around the impact of these cuts. but it's no good holding schools to account for obligations they don't have the resources to meet. does he not accept that pupils are at greater risk of exclusion when support staff have been lost as a resort of funding cuts? how can we implement early intervention when the very services that are provided have been stripped away? the s&p said england could learn from scotland. scotland is very proud of the work we have done, and exclusions have dropped by 59% since 2007. and in 2016, just five young people were permanently

excluded from the register. but this is needed a lot of intervention, use of things like timeout rooms, pupil supports, links to local further education, colleges. but in contrast in england, the exclusion rates are increasing, and it's right that this is dealt with. secretary of state said that 85% of schools do not permanently exclude, but that means 15% do, off rolling is passing on problems, and it's a practice that must stop. off rolling, it's often just a start of a conveyor belt, a conveyor belt that leads to pupil referral units, which too often our county lines recruiting grounds, and villain academies. what is he going to do to make sure that rehabilitation is not just a glimpse service, and we enable all students a second chance? i totally agree. it is the chance for a second chance, and what happens in alternate provision is an exceptionally pivotal moment in that young person's lie.

it's why the quality of what happens, and as i say it is very high quality, but the quality of it is so important, as is attendance. mps were concerned about support with children with special education needs. i'm really worried by the number of cases of families coming to me, because of real problems with their children not getting support in schools. as a result, the parents ending up having to try to home—school them instead, without the crucial support that they need, we've had a 40% increase in the number of permanent exclusions in our area injust a small number of years. i can't see what the secretary of state has said today, what the reassurance is for those families, that they are going to get that sem support by this time next year, and what is going to have changed in the next 12 months to bring those exclusions down.

well those are two, two different subjects, which have some relationship to each other, but they are not the same, they are not the same subject. so she's absolutely right that we have to have it the right support to be able to provide a tailored, and fully enabling education for all children. of course our reforms in 2014 were possibly the most important for a generation in that regard, and education health and care plans i think are an important step forward, there is more money also being spent on high needs, than there used to be, then of course she's absolutely right we need to continue to strive to do better. damian hinds. the money available to protect people in places of worship has been doubled following the attacks in new zealand and sri lanka. 51 people died and dozens more were injured in the attacks on two mosques in christchurch in march. in sri lanka, suicide bombers killed more than 200 people in churches and top end hotels in sri lanka on easter sunday. making a statement,

the home secretary sajid javid condemned those attacks but told mps there had been hate crimes in the uk too. he said the "places of worship protective security fund" had been doubled to 1.6 million pounds. since the scheme was launched in 2016 money had been used by churches, mosques, hindu temples and sikh gurdwaras. they have paid for security equipment such as cctv, security lighting, new locks, or fences. many more places of worship will now benefit after we have made it even easier to apply this year, by removing the need to find multiple quote and contractors. secondly, a new £5 million fund will provide security training for places of worship across england and wales. this funding will support the physical security measures provided by the places of worship fund. it will share best practice, and help faith organizations understand how best to protect their worshipers. ramadan began on may the 5th,

and more help was being made available to mosques. we are providing immediate help with the ramadan package for support for mosques. we know that muslims are anxious for their safety after christchurch, intentions are heightened during religious festivals. so we are supporting faith associates to provide security training and advice for the islamic holy month. support is being given in 12 workshops around england and wales, and guidance as being just a beaded to over 2000 mosques, community centers. the concern must be that in this era of online, when you can literally live stream your terror, that there is a danger of copycat incidents, and that's one of the things that has inspired fear in different communities. and we want to make it clear on this side of the house, that these terror attacks are murderous and vile,

whether they come from admirers of al-qaeda or isis, or whether they come from admirers of tinpot, and adolf hitler. it's a tragedy mr speaker that we have to have this discussion, on how to protect places of worship in 2019. but one reason we are having to do that is of course, there is now an online space that has been ruthlessly exploited by those that hate, and encourage such attacks. we've welcomed that the government has published its white paper on online harm, but we cannot wait for legislative reform, it still seems that we are struggling to come up with a complete and quantitative response on how to police online hate. stuart mcdonald. you're watching tuesday in parliament with me, david cornock. don't forget that if you miss our daily round up or the week in parliament you can catch up via the bbc iplayer. the government's been accused of short—changing thousands of severely disabled people when they transferred to the new welfare payment universal credit.

some recipients of severe disability premium saw their incomes drop by £180 a month. the department for work and pensions has offered back payments of £80 a month as compensation but is only offering full reimbursements to people switching to universal credit after january the 16th this year. the high court ruled on friday that having two different payments was unlawful. severe disability premium doesn't exist in universal credit, so in transferring, we lost about £180 a month. after that, it was just because they moved home, the postcode changed, but their needs didn't. yet the government plan to play them on the £80 a month in compensation. far less than they would've received if they were to transfer under managed migration. little wonder that the high court said in its damning judgment on friday that the government's decision had no logicalfoundation. we have not taken any money out of the system. we are rightly targeting support of those who need it the most. for example, under legacy benefits,

those on esa support would've expected to get 106 £2.05 per month. but under universal credit, it is significantly higher, in fact more than double, at £336.20 a month. which is why over a million households with disabled people will be on average over £100 a month better off. on january the 16th, new regulations came into force, guaranteeing that severely disabled people would not have their payments reduced when moving to universal credit. i welcomed the introduction of the gateway back injanuary, so can my right honourable friend confirm that this means existing recipients of severe disability payments will be moved on to universal credit with transitional protections, so that they are fully protected as they move across? i know that i pay tribute to my former minister, who did a huge amount of work in this area, making sure that there was suitable transition

protection for some of the most vulnerable people in the system, and it is absolutely the case that those that are past the managed migration will get full transitional protection. justin tomlinson. rory stewart, the new international development secretary, has promised he's committed to the job despite admitting he'd like the prime minister's job. he said on sky news at the weekend that he would throw his hat into the ring in the event of a leadership contest. rory stewart was promoted to the cabinet last week in the mini reshuffle that followed the sacking of the defence secretary, gavin williamson. mr stewart was appearing before the international development committee to talk about stamping out sexual exploitation in the aid sector. but a conservative wondered if his mind was on thejob. so you've got a lot of work on your plate and yet three and a half days into the job, you are telling sophie rich you want to be prime minister. how can we be absolutely convinced that you are committed totally to the job that you have just been put into and that part of your mind, because we could be in a leadership

election in a few weeks... i'm going to stop you because we said we want to devote today to this important matter and allow the secretary of state to reply to what is essentially... so, i think i understand where you're coming from. i have some advantages taking thisjob. i'm probably the only secretary of state who occupied every commons junior ministerial role in this department before i took it over. i understand therefore our programmes in east asia and africa in enormous detail and without being too defensive, i have spent much more of my working life in international development than i assume that anyone else has taken this job. so i have some advantages. it is true that the prime minister has signalled that she is stepping down, and therefore i and at least

half a dozen other cabinet colleagues have expressed an interest in succeeding her. but i'm sure they, like me, will remain entirely committed to doing ourjobs as powerfully as possible. and i want to be judged on how well i do thisjob. i feel very well—equipped to take it over and i think i can make an enormous difference with important issues like climate. as for the scandal over sexual exploitation by aid workers, what progress had been made? a lack of emergency about it and in the past, we had visitors at some charities that have actually helped to confirm charities ——to burn with a lack of urgency and almost disregard for what was going on under their watch. we have all seen that. i think the real sense for us is that, if we have heard that in the private sector are not even looking at these commitments, what faith can we have

that there is now been an absolute sea change since this news broke that so many vulnerable people were being abused? i think on the sense of urgency, my predecessor moved very rapidly, as soon as she came into office came to grip the situation. the changes that i have seen in this department during the short period i have been away, i've been away for three months, have been very dramatic. one mp suggested the so—called dbs checks carried out on teachers and care assistants should apply to aid workers, too. only relevant on this issues, i accept, but if somebody has a history of abuse, they may have some dealings with the law so that might help the situation a bit. not something that think dfid suggests they could do. so i'd like to know about that possibility? we know that what we hear about is just the tip of an iceberg or suspect is only the tip

of an iceberg. would it not be a good idea for dfid to commission a study of exactly how widespread this abuse is because if it is the tip of an iceberg and when you know how much is under the water and notjust a bit we can see. for this issue we can reflect off of it this perhaps whenjudging because simply to say what we're talking about. in a big intervention in afghanistan for example, at the height of it there were over 100,000 international civilian consultants on the ground and over a million afghans working directly or indirectly in the ngo central office. and trying to really work your way through these sorts of checks which are pretty, i don't want to say onerous, but are significant things even within the context of the uk if you want to work for a school, or going out into a developing country, i think it is going to be tough but i'm have to look at it. the aerospace firm bombardier

is putting its northern ireland operation up for sale as part of a reorganisation of the business. the canadian aircraft manufacturer employs about 3600 people across several locations. bombardier is also selling its moroccan operation as part of a process of streamlining its business. responding to an urgent question in the commons, a minister said the news was unwelcome and the uncertainty for the workforce "deeply regrettable". we have been assured by bombardier that they are committed to finding the right buyer and will not rush to sell at any price. they have said that they will secure a buyer that will operate responsibly and help them achieve their full growth potential. the belfast plant, its expertise and its highly skilled and dedicated staff will be highly sought after and we will be working with potential buyers to take this successful and ambitious business forward. labour said the moroccan authorities had said bombardier‘s site there would remain open.

we do look now to the minister to give the same kind of assurance to the people of northern ireland, the people of the united kingdom and beyond that bombardier will make sure that the present workforce, the present skills base and of course the present production will continue unscathed. 3600 jobs is a massive figure when put in context in terms of northern ireland, that represents 4.5% of the entire workforce in northern ireland and when we take into account the supply chain, it becomes even greater. this is a sign of what is going to happen in tech industries and the car industry, they are moving out of britain, they are taking out their investment and this is a disaster. every minister should be aware that this is not a canary singing, it is a canary falling off its perch.

like other companies in the growing aerospace sector, bombardier are transforming themselves. the company in 2015, way before brexit, announced a five—year plan to transfer the business to reduce costs, improve profitability and competitiveness whilst also launching commercial and business jet programmes. they have been very clear the decision to sell off the northern irish site and the morocco site, definitely not to do with brexit, has nothing to do with brexit. the minister will know the importance of bombardier, he will know the significance of bombardier to our economy and can he assure us that he will maintain the jobs in belfast and surrounding areas, the industry, the innovation and the skill that we are benefiting from and the whole world will? i know how important aerospace jobs are, how they are highly skilled, well—paid jobs and i will do everything i can working with him and his honourable friends to ensure that we secure all the jobs at the bombardier belfast site.

can the minister set out what it might be possible for the government to do in terms of facilitating a new buyer, and on the subject of retraining, although hopefully it will not be necessary what sort of a package will the government be willing to put into place if that proves necessary in the future? i very much hope never get into a situation where we have to look at any sort of retraining package for the site. if we do, i will come out of the house and say this is a growing profitable business, one of those jewels in the crown of british aerospace and i will imagine that buyers for the site will actually be lining up to buy this and invest in the jobs and skills of northern ireland. andrew stephenson. david attenborough's bbc series blue planet is widely seen as having led to changes in our behaviour as consumers, particularly when it comes to single—use plastic items. politicians are changing their behaviour, too, with the government planning to ban

plastic straws, cotton buds and stirrers. almost 5 billion plastic straws are used each year in england. details of the ban are due to be published shortly. in the lords, ministers were urged to do more. we know, and the minister will be fully aware, of the statistics about the dangers to marine life, the thousands of years it takes for plastic to degrade and plastic has been found north and south on this planet from the arctic to the antarctic. surely, we require more drastic action than that. could we develop a clear, visible kite mark on all packaging to indicate whether it contains plastic or not and whether it meets standards? a mark agreed to by industry? and secondly, what about an annual award to industry? without his permission, i'd love to call the award the david attenborough award, for the company or the business that does the best each year in getting rid of plastic.

my lords, there were quite a few questions there, but i agree with the thrust of what the noble lord has said and that is why i say we are working internationally as well as at home and i share your lordships' frustration that we do need to take action. it is why the uk plastics pact is so important, indeed the target for 2025 will be 100% plastics packaging to be reusable, recyclable or compostable. eliminate by 2025 unnecessary single—use packaging, 70% of plastic packaging effectively recycled and composited. i agree with the noble lord we want to take action and this government is taking action through research, which is obviously going to be important to find alternatives for the far too extensive use of plastics. my lords, i know many consumers are choosing to use by biodegradable bags rather than plastic bags, believing these are preferable,

yet researchers from the university of plymouth show that many of these biodegradable bags are not in fact biodegradable. will her majesty's government undertake to produce clear standards and guidelines so we really can be sure whether they are by biodegradable so we really can make improvements to the environment and not be misled? my lords, it's essential in all of us wanting to the right thing that we are in a position to do the right thing. if i could refer in a sense to the noble lord, morrison's are replacing plastic bags with paper ones for loose fruits and vegetables. those are the sorts of things that are happening up and down the country with retailers who understand their responsibilities to ensure that we have a better planet for the next generations. i don't know if the noble lord does his own weekly shopping, but it is enormously difficult to buy fruit and vegetables without plastic containers.

i say to the noble lord the lady has raised the point consistently and his own side has resisted it overand overagain about the disposables. i'm a little confused about what the noble baroness said. when i go into ourfruit rows, i pick up and look at the fruit and i pick it up and am given it in plastic, not in a plastic bag, in a paper bag. i have already said that morrison's are using paper bags instead of plastic bags. this is happening more often and that is why i certainly think and as i've said to my earlier question, we recognise the need to be consistent, but we need to enable people to recycle more but we also need to reduce the use of plastic and i have been very clear about that, my lords. lord gardiner sharing the details of his trip to the fruiterer there. finally, you may have heard that the duchess of sussex, better known as meghan markle, has given birth to a baby son. announcing the news, prince harry appeared as excited as any new dad.

and when mps returned from their long weekend, the birth of the seventh in line to the throne did not go unnoticed in the chamber. order, order. i'm sure the whole house will want to join me in sending their royal highnesses the duke and duchess of sussex oui’ warmest congratulations on the birth of their son. the speaker, john bercow, offering his congratulations, as is traditional. one political tradition has changed over the generations, though. before the arrival of prince charles, the home secretary of the day was present at royal births. meghan markle may have been relieved to know that sajid javid shows no sign of wanting to revive this tradition. thank you for watching tuesday in parliament. i hope you can join me at the same time tomorrow for the latest from the commons and the lords. bye for now.

hello there. there was some warmth in the sunshine as we saw yesterday but generally through the rest of this week it will stay on the chilly side and we have rain and showers. look at this school of cloud. look at this curl of cloud. an area of low pressure pushing the cloud up from the south—west bringing outbreaks of rain. we still have rain further north, a little snow over the tops of the mountains and that wet weather will be joined by this heavy rain pushing up on the south—west heading towards scotland and northern ireland and continuing to rain in northern england. following that there is sunshine and showers which could be heavy and thundery. wind changes to a south—westerly afterwards but ahead of an easterly wind. so an easterly wind in eastern scotland and the rains there, it will be cold. temperature 6—8 degrees. not so bad for western scotland where all it will not be so wet and double figures in northern ireland but rain is not far away. a cold day for northern england with heavy rain over the pennines.

these are heavy showers, potentially sundry, heading these are heavy showers, potentially thundery, heading up towards the home counties and east anglia. low pressure is in charge of the weather. that was the curl of cloud we saw in the centre of the low was drifting eastwards across the uk. the weather front in the north is still there, that is the main focus for the rain and that should move away from scotland allowing sunshine from the north but the damp weather continues to feed into northern england and north wales showers for northern ireland and further south across england and wales heavy showers especially in the south—east of england. underneath the cloud it will be another chilly day. temperatures below average for this time of year. low pressure tends to pull away and takes away the rain on the weather front as well. low pressure there, low pressure here, high pressure there and there. without sort of weather pattern you get showers. difficult to say where they will be.

this is our best forecast at the moment. some showers could be heavy and possibly thundery again but large parts of the uk will be dry with some sunshine. again, temperatures below average. as we head into the weekend it starts off chilly but temperatures are set to rise over the weekend, turning warmer and into next week. drier with more sunshine on the way.

welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name's mike embley. our top stories: the us secretary of state visits iraq, as trump administration officials claim iran may try to attack american forces. venezuela's supreme court orders the criminal prosecution of six leading opposition assembly members — accusing them of treason. as south africa prepares to go to the polls, claims of corruption still dominate the campaign. adding another grandchild to the family, the queen shares her delight at news of the new royal baby.