last night, i asked my officials to in response to the call in china, a further 4,000 cases for the independent inquiry to, of the new coronavirus and 116 last night, i asked my officials deaths have been confirmed. if they could look into, the world health organization has sending the independent health requested "further clarity" service investigation board back in, about a recent change in how the cases are diagnosed. to do a deep dive had to look back there are now over 50,000 cases over historic cases. of the disease in hubei province. the us senate has voted to limit president trump's ability to wage waragainst iran. and existing cases at the trust. eight republican senators sided with democrats in requiring i want to reiterate that the trust president trump to seek authorisation from congress before is a safe place for any woman starting hostilities against iran. who is pregnant now or will be giving birth at the trust. mr trump has promised we have some very best people and clinicians working in that trust right now. i would just like to add the nhs to veto the measure. england and improvements are commissioning themselves an independent review into east kent maternity services. so, i think my honourable friend's question has been answered. that is news i have just been given now. the un says 800,000 people have been we are taking this very seriously, displaced in syria since december the reports of the last two weeks, in the offensive by government forces. and cqcs we will be publishing the un says that some 60% of those the findings and due course, fleeing the fighting in idlib because we take this matter, and neighbouring aleppo province i personally take this matter very seriously. are believed to be children.

labour asked why it has taken this long to get to this point. you are up—to—date on the headlines. now on bbc news — it was reported earlier this month that despite evidence in the report back in 2016, the trust had thursday in parliament. the same mistakes were made in subsequent years. we need an explanation as to why four years ago these warnings were allowed to go i noticed an unaddressed. i understand the trust will not be putting in the special measures hello again, and welcome and it seems that the chief medical to thursday in parliament. director will be staying in post. as boris johnson takes given the trust's failure to deal with these identified failings the axe to his cabinet. at the first opportunity, there must surely be questions can we have a statement on the surprising news about the local leadership. that the chancellor of the exchequer has been sacked? ministers promise a watchdog with teeth for social media, but when? the first online suicide was over ten years ago and still, victims await legislation. and a review of maternity services amid concern over preventable baby deaths. i think the worries members of the public, the nhs appears to be a much better at being transparent there's so many questions about care failures, for my constituents, but not always much better dozens of whom are now really at learning from those failures. terrified about their future does she agree with me that that pregnancies and having underlines the vital importance babies in the area. of the independent investigations that are now done into each but first... baby counts incident? now, who said politics the need for safe spaces so that was going to be dull after brexit doctors, and nurses,

and boris johnson's election victory? and midwives can talk openly on another day of extraordinary and freely about what they think drama here at westminster, it went wrong? sajid javid resigned and which also consider publishing as chancellor rather than agree the report that the cqc had already to the prime minister's terms for staying on. done into what is happening, and several other cabinet ministers to reassure families were fired including julian smith, that we are indeed confronting only weeks after the northern ireland secretary played a key role in restoring devolution to stormont. as the reshuffle got under way, all these different issues? the commons carried on as normal. i'm really grateful that you are talking about these questions to minister inquiries and investigations, for the department of digital, so many things that brought up culture, media and sport — by the reports that we have just seen. so many questions in my constituency robert courts. dozens of whom are now very terrified about their there was culture questions minus future pregnancies. the outgoing culture secretary, lady morgan, who's no longer an mp. will the minister now be able to make that committing to the safe 0ral questions — attorney general, alex norris. staffing levels that have been attorney general questions raised, because they are so many issues coming in our trust? without the attorney general. that is one way to ensure geoffrey cox was among the reshuffle casualties. staff and patients. others were not taking their survival chances for granted. i look forward to working i think the honourable lady and her commitment for working with him and his committee, with her constituents. i hope, in this... and my honourable friend laughter. in this important... from dovertoo, i don't... in this... i think we should refrain from using words like terrified because as i said in my statement, it is a safe place for any woman to give birth.

we have the best midwives, and obstetricians, and the nhr i'll put my phone on speaker outstanding trust working there now. she will know as well as i do, on the despatch box. mps, well some of them, the location of the trust finally caught up with the news being slightly remote. recruitment, when it is not during questions to in the major cities the leader of the commons. is a difficult issue. given the events of the day, that is something we have to look i suppose we should congratulate the leader of the house at in terms of maternity services for surviving the current cabinet going forward for those of us who are outlying cull that is under way in geographical terms. and that is absolutely right. but i would reiterate at least thus far. to her that it is very important that she lets her constituents now, laughter. it is a safe and welcoming place we should be grateful for women to go and give birth. that our business is led by someone who has proven his indispensability some of the very best staff to the prime minister. in the country are working that mr speaker, i'm most grateful right now i'm making sure to the honourable gentleman that that is the case. for his gracious welcome a nadine dorries. of my continuing presence here. if i am suddenly called away, i am sure my honourable friend will be more than able to take over for the rest of the session. the number of women and girls can we have a statement on the surprising news that the chancellor murdered in england and wales has of the exchequer has been sacked? mr speaker, madam deputy speaker, increased to its highest the honourable gentleman is ahead of me on the news cycle. level for 1h years. jacob rees—mogg. there were 241 female victims of murder, manslaughter & infanticide in 12 months more from him later. to end of march 2019. lady morgan's last act before the solicitor general, stepping down as culture secretary

was to announce plans michael ellis, was challenged to give the watchdog, 0fcom, new powers to regulate social media firms. it follows the death of 14—year—old molly russell, on the issue at question time. who took her own life in 2017. nearly three quarters of the million domestic abuse related cases, when herfamily looked that were recorded in total into her instagram account, a rise in almost a quarter they found distressing material about depression and suicide. than the previous year. instagram has said it doesn't allow what is the attorney general content that promotes suicide doing to combat this? and removes anything that does. and to ensure that many cases are prosecuted? at culture questions, has been an 8%, over 8% rise labour wanted to know why the government hadn't acted sooner. in prosecutions for violence against women and girls. crimes and the conviction rate has risen. it is now 78.2%. but i agree with her, recent figures from 0fcom show that but more needs to be done half of all parents are worried about online safety and will be. of their children and sadly as we've heard, they are right to be worried. the government's online harms consultation closed more than 200 days ago. the number of the abuse incidents so, if the nspcc estimates and crimes recorded by the police in england and wales increased by over 118,000 on the previous year. however, over that same period, police and referrals to the crime are right, that is over 20,000 prosecution service fell by 11%. what is the government going to do about this? for government is working unspeakable child offence abuses in the time it's taken for the government to string very hard in this area. together an initial response.

we are told legislation in fact i have personally dealt is on its way. how many more days will anxious parents have to wait and, to be quite frank, who is going to take responsibility for children harmed while this with a case and the court of appeal government dithers? thank you, mr speaker. the nspcc has come out very in view of the sentencing in trying strongly and welcomed to get the sentence raised what we announced yesterday. that is a hugely important step. on a domestic violence rate. she is right that there is never i understand the reduction of the number of suspects charged, an excuse for delaying in this together with a falling charge rate kind of area. but as the nspcc said to me is a cause for concern. yesterday, bad regulation is worse than no regulation. statistics show that over that we will take our time to get this right but we will not delay period, 2.1 million people for a second longer. that is why we will be experienced domestic violence, 1.4 million women and 700,000 men. legislating in this session. there's also this shocking disparity between the number of incidents and the number later, the new chair of the culture committee asked of subjects charged. an urgent question about the new regulator and whether the watchdog would have real teeth. the solicitor general talks about a cause for concern, what assurances can the minister give the house that the proposed 0fcom—plus regulator can genuinely he talks about reviews, bring social media companies to account with simply a bit but surely we need action now. of public shaming and fines? well actually it is being taken down does the minister also agree with me at mr speaker, and the policy

that there needs to be a tech levy for charging these matters including charging every planner set at 2% of uk revenues has not changed. in order to properly fund because the test has not changed, it still applies to all cases. this super regulator? the chair of the select committee no matter how minor. is absolutely right that regulation no matter how serious. without teeth is not prosecutors do not apply a a valuable form of regulation. bookmaker's test on this, we will be talking to 0fcom they do not try to about what they believe the most second—guess the jury. effective form of regulation will be and we will obviously be feeding where there is sufficient evidence in our own thoughts as well. to prosecute they do and the nhs —— cps. won't hesitate to do that. michael ellis. the sports minister has hinted that the government could introduce a levy on gambling in sports other than horse racing. the decision we made yesterday speaking at culture questions said he'd keep an open mind allows us to start having those on the idea. formal conversations at the moment, horse and for 0fcom to start talking racing is the only sport to the industry as well. where there is a levy from gambling. is the government considering taking mr speaker, this response on online harms is overdue, a levy from gambling and other weak, and ultimately ineffective. sports in order to pay social media companies will have a duty of care which 0fcom will regulate. good. tech companies always had a duty of care in my opinion. for grassroots sports participation but the first online suicide was over ten years ago and still, victims await legislation. when will these proposals be law? given there is a 20% drop from 2010 in grassroots cricket and tennis? well, she will be aware that there is huge investment going into grassroots support,

no more so than the £550 million that we announced for she is right, this grassroots football. legislation is overdue. parliament should have acted many of course currently the lottery years ago to address this issue. does play a big part but the reality is that what she referred to as the duty in grassroots support. of care that social media companies have to their users in her opinion, it is this parliament that will put that duty of care into law exchequer funding goes in. she asks about a levy, and that is progress, we currently have no plans to introduce a levy currently on other sports. and i think we should welcome that. like any government, we keep an open mind. the question came as mps asked what they were doing will he confirm that to tackle problem gambling. if the government will be giving 0fcom powers to make directors we know that around 1% of the population of social media companies personally are problem gamblers. i want to make sure this group liable, including facing prosecution for harmful content, is helped, not harmed. and that these proposals have not been removed from the government's that is why i've asked the gambling plans in the face of lobbying by tech execs? commission to use their powers i want to be absolutely clear — to make sure gamblers whatever he might have read in some newspapers, not a single word of the response that we published are not taken advantage of. yesterday was watered down at the request of tech companies. for instance through exploitative vip schemes. that is why we recently banned gambling with credit cards. and that is why we are going it is something where we have gone to review the gambling act to make faster than many have suggested sure that it is fit that we might have been able to. we will certainly not be delaying, for the modern age. and my appetite is only to go

as quickly as we possibly can. thank you for her answer. too many people have turned their lives upside down for their addictions. i note what the minister said i can enter from a decision. about watering down, essentially gambling but there is a suspicion abroad not with money they did not have. just on these benches, can i ask a lot more that there has been a change the government will do of direction in government on this to discourage problem gambling. we had all seen constituents policy, and that things in surgeries to tackle this like penalties for prosecution miscarriage of problem gambling. for directors and things like the banning of companies that egregiously breach the new approach are going to be dropped when the final proposals come out. we had all seen constituents and surgeries that relent with a problem gambling. can ijust say, if that happens, we had all seen constituents it will mean this policy isn't and surgeries are the topics that relent with this terrible problem. being run from westminster. it will mean it's being run i thank my honourable friend for his support for the benefit gambling with credit cards which was a deep important decision. from the west coast of america. i don't want to tackle a problem gambling continues. the intention and began playing after review it and make playing after review the right legislation to protect people mr speaker, he could effectively from harm. not be more wrong. in the meantime for those struggling what we will be making sure we do with public deadline, is deliver a sanctions regime -my — my problem gambling. the department for how pension that is effective. this is a world—leading approach, still can't have specialised nhs clinics will be out working and we will take a world—leading on a cross strategy approach when it comes to sanctions as well. which will include fiction. the response that we published as chair of the appg. yesterday mentions direct liability, to take just one example. the suggestion that it is off and has adopted so many patients that we have come up from 18 months. the latest one is me the table is simply not true. would like to see not

at sports activity. with an insert to me matt warman. you're watching thursday in parliament with me, that this is the way forward? david cornock. still to come, jacob rees—mogg on peppa pig. yes, really. they're already now, there's to be an independent review into maternity services controls other sports. at east kent nhs trust amid concern over a number a step forward, as i said revealed of preventable baby deaths. to we currently there is a way the trust's chief executive has said there could have been 15 cases over of the waves, resulting in increased the course of the last decade. heart and even suicides better that includes harry richford, this resembles something like the who was born in 2017 at the queen elizabeth wild west, it is resulted in the queen mother hospital in margate, and died seven days increased harm and even suicides. later after complications rather than taking towards the with his delivery and aftercare. the local mp told of a telephone call he'd had that very morning. gambling act, we need a new one for the 215t century and also in doing i spoke for half an hour with a husband and wife living now so, engage with those people with in australia, who two months lived experience. after the death of harry richford, absolutely we intend to engage lost their own child. people with experience and a wide under similarly tragic circumstances range of stakeholders it was the most harrowing call as they reviewed the act. i have ever taken. we must live here, between getting in 36 years of this house of commons. we get on update that legislation they deserve and need had so that the legislations the opportunity to achieve closure and move forward. these parents need to know, that the failures in protocol, that the failures in clinical judgement, and the failures in management have been addressed. for modern names. he told the minister there should be a full independent inquiry —— the modern age. the government has been urged to do

much more to protect the uk's so that these parents and others woodland especially native tree species from the increasing threat would know that their children had 00:10:06,817 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 not "died in vain". from pests and diseases. according to the woodland trust, ash dieback is predicted to kill up to 95% of ash trees. 0aks are in decline and dutch elm disease has already led to the loss of millions of trees. in a debate in the house of lords, several peers called for much tighter controls on imports of plants and trees. look out too for lord hume's unusual solution to problems posed by squirrels. i think we have something to learn from the way that controls are imposed by the authorities in new zealand on the importation into that country of any plants, seeds, or other vegetable material. their bio—security controls at their airports far exceed those in operation in the united kingdom as i once discovered when i arrived in that country having in my bag a rather attractive and innocent looking pine cone. i had picked it up on holiday

in southern california. i was warned by a form which i had to complete to declare any such items on our arrival. i duly did so. and notified that i was entreated almost as if i was a criminal. the arrival of sweet chestnut blight has given us cause for huge concern. and whilst it seems to be contained currently, it has brought home the need for the proper monitoring of imports, and also to endless infield, inwood vigilance. action was also needed against pests such as the grey squirrel and deer. there are said to be more deer in england now than any time in our history. which being the case will have a severely detrimental effect on self sown and self—selecting species. those who are advocates of re—wilding and who want to include the introduction of deer in that process should realise the disadvantages this could produce.

the british public on a whole don't realise how destructive grey squirrels could be, and it will be helpful if the government could in some way sponsor programmes or information to educate the person in the street. it might also be helpful if people knew that grey squirrels are extremely good to eat. i actually don't... and i have eaten them but in my mind, the best place for a grey squirrel is in one cage in london zoo. references being made to grey squirrels, we actually know that supporting the spread of pine mounds will actually help red squirrels compete against grey squirrels. and dare i say if we are thinking about the idea, perhaps we should —— dear. also be thinking about reintroducing the lynx as a natural control mechanism. i'm talking of course about rewilding of the uk. the noble lord said, "copy nature and you will succeed." and that's essentially

the agro—ecological approach. there were calls too for a move from the postwar approach of planting a single type of tree when reforesting. 0n former coalfield sites, the same error has been made in more recent times. cheap and cheerful monolithic planting. attempting purely to cover the spoil. rather than to fertilise the environment. tree planting is fundamental to reducing net emissions and responding to climate change. we are committed to increasing planting across the united kingdom to 30,000 hectares per year by 2025. supported by our nature for climate fund we will overhaul our approach to tree—planting and in the spring, we will launch a consultation on the english tree strategy. 0ur proposals for environmental land

management will be one of the most important environment reforms in 40 years. and he said improved bio—security was essential. we are all united as lords in our determination to protect our trees. we must invest and use scientific expertise we have in this country. also, with other countries across the world and of course i will say absolutely closely with the devolved administration. lord gardiner. finally, earlier this week the prime minister's key adviser, dominic cummings, baffled westminster with a reference to pj masks apparently a children's tv programme. his suggestion that the cartoon characters could do a betterjob than some ministers may or may not have influenced the reshuffle. but it certainly prompted questions in the house. mr speaker, i want to ask the leader of the house what he feels like to be replaced by three cartoon characters? it's "classic dom" asjohn crace said who was one of the journalists

who was banned from a number ten briefing. we say we want pugh, pugh, barney mcgrew, cuthbert, dibble and grubb. at least there's more of them, and that is classic bbc. pugh, pugh, barney mcgrew, cuthbert, dibble and grubb made up as you know the trumpton fire brigade. but jacob rees—mogg — who else — was able to offer a more contemporary reference. as regards to cartoon characters, mr speaker i am quite an expert in that. as he can and often, with six children i watch a lot of contents. —— cartoons. i expect i am quoting daddy pig. laughs so much in common, why will try because a very badly wrong. any diy i try goes badly wrong. it is best left to others. my children had me wrapped around their finger. jacob rees—mogg. not the first father to see

something of himself in daddy pig, father of the famous peppa pig. that's it for thursday in parliament. thank you for watching. i do hope you canjoin me at the same time tomorrow for the highlights from the week in parliament. until then, bye for now. hello. storm dennis on the way this weekend, nowhere escaping the strong winds, disruptive in places but concern growing aboutjust how much rain coming from it as well. 0ne rain band bearing south on friday but look how much rain is going to come from dennis on the weekend. this trailing weather front has along it several spells of prolonged rain, particularly into parts of england and wales and areas that have seen a lot of rain recently and some flooding. we are going to see some furtherflooding in places. the met office has a number of amber warnings in force for the rain and we'll look at those and other warnings injust a moment.

and for friday, another spell of a rain moving south. quickly through northern ireland across scotland, coupled with snowmelt in southern scotland and a bit of flooding in some spots. rain becoming patchy in places as it works further south across england and wales. gusty winds though, particularly towards the north and north—west of scotland with further blustery showers moving in here. by friday evening, the rain peps up a bit once it reaches south—east england and east anglia. for man overnight and into saturday morning, it is the lull before the storm and still some dry weather first thing on saturday but it's not going to last. storm dennis then does bring rain in right across the uk during saturday. outbreaks of heavy rain at times and the wind strengthening particularly for the afternoon and into the evening before easing a bit into overnight and into sunday morning. wind gusts around 50 mph around the coast towards the west and south touching 70 mph perhaps in a few spots. really difficult travelling conditions. 0n the face of it, mild, but very wet and windy in places. heavy rain continuing across large parts of england and wales on through the night and into sunday.

slowly clearings southward on sunday but it looks like the winds will pick up again this on sunday. bright skys and a few showers following on behind, turning a bit cooler too. looking at the weather warnings. the met office, amber warnings for rain across a large part of southern and western england and into wales, 20 to 40 millimetres. higher amounts, particularly in these areas and some of the hills of wales and south—west england could end up with over 100 millimetres of rain, so that risk of flooding increasing over the weekend. another amber warning area kicking in on sunday too forfurther prolonged rain across this part of southern england. in terms of the wind, well, widely, we're going to see some gusts inland around 50 mph or so but is the coast that we'll see stronger winds this time — touching 70 mph. then as storm dennis gets closer to scotland to end sunday and here into northern ireland, we could well see a number swathe of potentially damaging winds moving on through. that is your latest about storm dennis.

welcome to bbc news. i'm mike embley. our top stories: china deploys the military as concern grows over the true scale of the coronavirus in hubei province. the us senate votes to limit president trump's ability to wage war against iran. the un says 800,000 people have been displaced in syria since december in the offensive by government forces. antarctica registers

a temperature of more than 20 celsius for the first time since records began. hello to