this is bbc news. a crushing blow to the high street how unions have described boots‘ decision to shed 4000 jobs. the chancellor says the bonuses he has announced four companies will protect millions ofjobs but he will not be able to help everyone. protect millions ofjobs but he will not be able to help everyonem protect millions ofjobs but he will not be able to help everyone. if you ask me if i can protect every single job, the answer is no. is unemployment going to rise? are people going to lose theirjobs? yes. we are entering one of the most severe recessions this country has ever seen. a top hmrc official has questioned whether the chancellor's

offers value for money and keir starmer says the money should be carefully targeted. taxi drivers, shop workers and cleaners, thousands of people in england who put them at high risk of catching covid—i9 are to be tested for the virus in a new pilot. it is confirmed the number of infections has fallen. a further easing of lockdown restrictions in scotland. people will be able to visit other households indoors on larger groups will be able to meet outside over the coming days. the lockdown died, how the director of bend it like beckham lost weight to stop her children worrying during the pandemic. bring your propensity to diabetes down and obesity down, just enjoyed better food.

hello and welcome to the special programme from bbc news. in a few minutes we will go to a live downing street briefing, which will be given by the secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, oliver dowden. at first, a day after the chancellor unveiled a plan to stem job losses because of the coronavirus pandemic, two of the biggest high street retailers have announced they are cutting more than £5,000. boots has had 4000 jobs will go well john lewis is shutting down eight stores, putting 1300 jobs at risk. meanwhile, new nhs figures show the number of planned operations in england fell by 80% in may, compared with the same in 2019. two reports charting current virus cases in england showed people in the

community with the disease is falling. as a 5pm yesterday, a further 85 people who tested positive have died in the uk. also today, a top official has warned the schemes unveiled by the chancellor yesterday to help the economy recover, may not be value for money for taxpayers. jonathan blake reports. how are you? a socially distance hello from the chancellor in worcester this morning, pitching his policy to pay companies a bonus for every fellow worker kept on. as well as explaining how he hopes to get the economy moving, he had a warning. are people going to lose their jobs, warning. are people going to lose theirjobs, yes. we are entering one of the most severe recessions this country has ever seen. that is going to have a significant impact on unemployment and job losses. i am acting to try and mitigate much of

thatis acting to try and mitigate much of that is possible and provide as many opportunities as possible. also on a factory floor, the labour leader in harlow, making his argument the government's approach is too broad and there's difficult time the talked about mean more specific support is needed. our concern is, the action they have taken is not focused on the right places so the job retention bonus is a bonus for alljobs and job retention bonus is a bonus for all jobs and many job retention bonus is a bonus for alljobs and many of those jobs, many of those people would have been brought back in any event. some are at risk of losing theirjobs, so it should be targeted in the areas that are most needed, not across the piece. officials also have concerns. the head of hmrc wrote to the chancellor warning there was surrounding the value for money of the eat out to help out scheme and said he was unable to reach the view that the job retention said he was unable to reach the view that thejob retention bonus said he was unable to reach the view that the job retention bonus scheme represented value for money. there may be signs people are ready to spend money again and help get the economy moving, but most of the

chancellor's announcements are incentives, whether it is a discount on eating out or paying companies to keep workers on. how well they work well be key to demand, how keen companies are to take up the offer. can we make sure the costs of doing business are kept as low as possible and we rebuild consumer confidence so we can stay in business. there may be hope for those working for big employers, but some including the newly self—employed, argue they have been overlooked. the newly self—employed, argue they have been overlookedlj the newly self—employed, argue they have been overlooked. i cannot get my head around how the chancellor expects any person, any citizen of this country to survive on a zero income. how is that possible? could he manage it? coronavirus remains a risk and for those businesses not yet able to open, an update is expected soon. jonathan blake, bbc news, westminster. let's get more on those thousands of high

street job losses now, from our business correspondent simon gompertz. a real blow, these figures? yes, particularly atjohn lewis, staff we re particularly atjohn lewis, staff were braced for this because they had had warnings from management that some stores would not reopen. they did not know how many, now they know it is eight and amongst them some big stores. the one in birmingham, which was only opened five years ago, real flagship for john lewis, that is going, so that isa john lewis, that is going, so that is a big shock. watford as well and several other stores. at boots, a lot of thejob several other stores. at boots, a lot of the job losses will be at the nottingham headquarters and that operation supporting the stores. but still, in many of the stores, deputy and assistant manager jobs still, in many of the stores, deputy and assistant managerjobs will be cut. shop floorjobs, beauty advisors and they are closing 48 boots opticians. so they will have job losses with those as well.|j

boots opticians. so they will have job losses with those as well. i was speaking earlier to the general secretary of the shop workers union, usdaw. they said the chancellor should have given more money for business rates, for example. it is a to psy—tu rvy world business rates, for example. it is a topsy—turvy world and the chancellor is trying to stop job losses and the union is saying businesses should be helped but regardless, thesejobs are going. there has been no change of heart from the chancellor at which thejob retention of heart from the chancellor at which the job retention scheme, the scheme paying people their furloughed wages, starting next month and will be phased out com pletely month and will be phased out completely by october. and these stores are mindful of that, if they are going to cutjobs, then they have to give their staff notice of 30 or 45 days, depending on the numbers they are going to cut. so

they are doing that now in a real cascade of announcements from different companies, laying out and giving people notice of what is going to happen if they are not going to happen if they are not going to happen if they are not going to keep them on when they reopen stores. let me give you a couple of indicative figures, boots said today that nearly half of its trade had disappeared during the crisis, more than that in the opticians. and john lewis said that before the virus struck, 40% of its business had gone online. now, this year and next year it could be as much as 70%. so it is this combination of the huge impact of the virus and people switching to internet shopping in any case, which is really taking its toll on the high street. i wasjust going to ask you that, has the coronavirus crisis just accelerated what was happening anyway? i think it has. john lewis said some of these big department stores it is closing were already

struggling before the virus hit. boots itself, it had a shake—up plan in place already that it was going to execute. that is happening much more quickly now, mines have been concentrated. they simply are not making money because so much of their business has simply gone out their business has simply gone out the door. ok, simon, thank you very much. we can get more now about the chancellor's economic rescue package from vicki young in westminster. some honesty from the chancellor saying there will be some dead weight, as he called it in terms of his rescue package and also saying he cannot help everyone. but he is underfire for he cannot help everyone. but he is under fire for not targeting his help more? labour is saying it should have been far more targeted and this idea of dead weight, which effectively means the government is using taxpayer's money to pay things

they might have done anyway. for example, going out for meals, giving us example, going out for meals, giving us 50% discount, is it going to make any difference? equally paying firms £1000 to bring back furloughed star. you get this bonus if you keep them in january. would you get this bonus if you keep them injanuary. would they have done it anyway? what is interesting, there is no evidence, if you like, on modelling to back up what effect it might have and that has led to criticism from the head of hmrc, as we we re criticism from the head of hmrc, as we were hearing about, saying he could not sign it off because he wasn't sure it was value for money or not. but the honesty from the chancellor to say, we accept we don't entirely know if this is going to work, but in the circumstances, because things are so serious they are willing to give it a go. a lot of this is about confidence, so some have called it a gimmick, giving out half priced meals, but on the other hand, some people think it is worth it because it can encourage people to go out, give them confidence to go out and in some cases, spend

money which they have saved during lockdown. we have got a downing street briefing today, a rarer event than they used to be, any idea what we're going to hear? it is oliver dowden, the secretary and we know he will be speaking about the next stage of re—opening up parts of the economy. we are at the final stage of all of that, but there are still businesses, places that have not reopen. gyms, and we had an indication earlierfrom reopen. gyms, and we had an indication earlier from other cabinet ministers, that could be on the cards. swimming pools are not open and beauty salons, one that has been a lot of talk about amongst mps, a lot of lobbying saying it is time they opened up, it is a huge business, employs thousands of people and brings in a lot of money. they want to know why they haven't been allowed to open. it is obvious in some cases, it is pretty much face—to—face, nail bars for example, the risks will be higher. but they do feel they want to know at least a

day when they will be able to get back to business. of course, theatres, indoor concert halls, all that kind of thing still waiting to know when they can get back and reopen to people. so we may well hear much more about that later. ok, we will talk to you again around the time the briefing is starting. thousands of people in england in occupations deemed at high risk of coronavirus are to be tested as part of a pilot scheme, even if they have no symptoms. taxi drivers, shop workers and cleaners are among those included. at the same time, figures have been released showing a huge fall in the number of routine operations carried out by the nhs during the lockdown. lauren moss reports. lorraine has osteoarthritis. she was due to have any replacement in april, but a few weeks before the surgery, it was cancelled. coming up stairs, it is painful and surgery, it was cancelled. coming up stairs, it is painfuland i surgery, it was cancelled. coming up stairs, it is painful and i have to

think, can i get up the stairs with what i am carrying. she is 54 and she cares for her husband who has cancer at the home, near coventry. she says not knowing when her operation will be makes her situation harder. how is this going to affect you, the longer it goes on? a mood comes on, ori go to affect you, the longer it goes on? a mood comes on, or i go into tea rs on? a mood comes on, or i go into tears and it is not like me. it is a lwa ys tears and it is not like me. it is always at the back of my mind because i know i need to do things, but i can't. she is one of many, latest figures reveal the effect covid—19 is continuing to have on health care. 55,000 planned operations were carried out in may, more than 80% fewer than last year. 106,000 people were seen by cancer specialist, a drop of almost half. although a&e attendances have gone up although a&e attendances have gone up with one point for visiting in june, it is a third lower than the same time last year. the capacity in hospital and other care settings

will be limited. they are having to deal with the unprecedented pressure of the coronavirus. today a new pilot to understand the spread of coronavirus among those without any symptoms have been announced. thousands of people in high—risk jobs in england including taxi drivers, cleaners and shop workers are to be tested. the nhs says 100,000 people have been treated in hospital with coronavirus. but 1.4 million have now been waiting more than four months for other treatments. it is a way for those like lorraine, that is difficult to bear. public health england and the office for national statistics have released new data this afternoon showing a drop in the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in england, and looking at the prevalence of the infection in communities across the country. our head of statistics, robert cuffe, has been looking at the data and is here

to tell us more. what does the infection survey from the office for national statistics show us? that infections are broadly far lower than they were in may and that they have declined, slow down but it is still looking good. they went into 25,000 people, selected at random and asked them to swap themselves. they got eight positive test back, so very few. we can show that to the audience what that means if you scale it up to the whole population of england. about 14,000 people across all of england in homes the estimate are testing positive. you can see the trend over the last few weeks, it may have bounced up and down a little bit in the last few weeks, but that broad trend is one of big decline that is may be flattening out a little bit. we see more information that confirms this when we turn to the public health england data when we look at the actual number of confirmed cases. that has fallen by a quarter over the course of the last week for which we have data,

despite there being more tests carried out. it is two spreadsheets bringing us good news about the direction of travel for the number of infections. lovely, thank you very much indeed. the figures showing the regional picture, what do they reveal? probably about three quarters of local authorities across the uk now are seeing their case numbers flat or falling. are seeing their case numbers flat orfalling. if we go back are seeing their case numbers flat or falling. if we go back about two weeks ago, we were looking at merthyr tydfil and wrexham and the outbreaks there and the community outbreaks there and the community outbreak in leicester. if you strip away the labels, we can see that the number of infections in those areas we re number of infections in those areas were about 90 plants per 100,000 people. there were some areas that we re people. there were some areas that were following up on them, the dark blue areas, but they were miles away and it was 50 cases per 100,000

people. you can see the band in the north of wales has disappeared and the map is generally looking with a lot of light blue and that means cases have fallen from week to week, notjust nationally, but in local authorities in the uk in places that were in the top ten. it is a day of good news in terms of infections. scotland's first minister has announced a further easing of lockdown restrictions with people able to visit other households indoors and larger groups able to meet outside over the coming days. nicola sturgeon says it represents the most significant milestone so far in scotland's progress out of lockdown. dr linda bauld is professor of public health, at the university of edinburgh and shejoins me now.

good afternoon. first of all, what do you make of this move by nicola sturgeon to a further relaxation of the restrictions? well, as viewers will know, we have been moving at a far slower pace in scotland than in england in terms of releasing our lockdown. however, our numbers have been far lower and today we have only six new cases for the whole of scotland, over 5 million people, and we have had no deaths. in the last ten days or so there have been one or two deaths reported, so very low. so the trends are moving in the right direction and it is inevitable we need to open up more of our economy. nonessential shops only opened last week and now we are only talking about restaurants, bars and hospitality in the middle of this month. it is welcome and the data suggest we are in a position to do this. i don't know if you heardjust before you, i was big into our head of statistics about the other data

thatis of statistics about the other data that is out more generally about the uk, and it does seem to suggest that numbers are moving in the right direction, they are going down. one thing i would emphasise is we have a lot of data in the uk, we have got far better quality data than in many countries. the combination of the 0ns, countries. the combination of the ons, which is a pilot, going into people's households and testing individuals, or them testing themselves, and the second data released today, surveillance, which is people being tested because they have symptoms, and when you put those two data sets together, it gives us a big picture and it is clear the rate of infection in the community are declining. but from the 0ns community are declining. but from the ons survey you have still got about 1700 cases in england, which is not a small number in terms of a wea k‘s is not a small number in terms of a weak‘s worth, is not a small number in terms of a wea k‘s worth, and is not a small number in terms of a weak‘s worth, and that is new cases per day, and that should still send

a message to all of us that the virus has not gone away, it is still present in the community, even if it is at much lower levels than a few weeks ago. can i also ask you about the consequences of the focus on the coronavirus. we learnt that planned operations in england fell by 80% in may, compared with the same month in 2019. that is very worrying. it is and what concerns me is we have been talking about this for three months. we knew in the early weeks of lockdown, data coming out from a&e, admissions down by half, surgeons, the royal college of surgeons producing a report showing that there was a huge decline in planned surgery. in the early days we were sending a clear message to stay home, protect the nhs and huge shifts away from routine care. i think the pace of getting things up and going again in the nhs,

non—covid 19 related, is slower. i understand why. for patients it is not only frustrating, it is also potentially harming their health in the longer term. thank you so much. thank you so much. all pupils in wales will be able to return to school in september. the welsh education minister, kirsty williams, said schools would be able to operate at full capacity at the start of the next academic year due to the decline of coronavirus across the country. the autumn term in wales will start on tuesday september the 1st. all schools that can accommodate all pupils from the start of the term should do so. there will be a period of flexibility in recognition that schools may want to focus on priority year groups, such as those new to secondary school, those sitting exams next summer or those beginning in reception classes. this already happens in many schools and we have been learning

from practice elsewhere. it will also allow time of up to a fortnight for any planning and reorganisation. schools and local authorities, i know, have already been working on their plans, and i know that many will use the opportunity to welcome all pupils back at the very start of september. from tomorrow, gyms in northern ireland will be the first in the uk allowed to open. the rest of the country will have to wait. earlier the leader of the house of commons, jacob rees—mogg, said the government hopes to open gyms in england by the middle of the month with the reopening of beauty salons to follow "as soon as possible". sarah campbell is at a sports club in north london. yes, good afternoon. like many sports clubs and gyms across the country, ever since lockdown began they have had to be pretty creative in order to get anybody on site. this is the david lloyd centre in

finchley and they have got an outdoor spin class on a day like this, when it is a bit damp. it is not quite the same as being indoors, but everybody is hoping those doors will be open properly soon. let's bring in james willis. will be open properly soon. let's bring injames willis. ifeel terrible that we have turned down the music. some members have come to say hello. how difficult have the last few months been? it has been challenging, we have not been able to open our doors and for that time our members have not been charged for their our members have not been charged fortheir membership, our members have not been charged for their membership, but they are very excited to be returning soon if we get the announcement this afternoon at 5pm. most of your staff have been furloughed for the last few months, but there has been a lot of work going on behind—the—scenes. what kind of things have you had to do? we have done a huge amount of work already to ensure that when we are work already to ensure that when we a re allowed work already to ensure that when we are allowed to open that we will be ready for our members to welcome them safely. we are following all of

them safely. we are following all of the social distancing principles. we have halved our class capacity and we have installed thermal imaging technology in some of the clubs to measure the temperature of our members when they arrive. we have got sanitiser stations throughout our clubs and all of our clubs are quite large, so we have a huge amount of space for our members to socially distance throughout. one of the real benefits we have had over the real benefits we have had over the last few weeks is we have been able to offer a small amount of outdoor exercise classes for our members and in doing so we have seen how positive our members are to be backin how positive our members are to be back in the clubs and they are happy with the safety measures we have put in place. that must be a concern, you have to build up the sense it is safe to come back. that is clear, we don't expect all members to flood in on the first day, we expect them to come back to see the measures we have put in place and to feel safe. that is the feedback we have had so far, and then they are happy to return. they are looking forward to it because for many of them it is a

huge part of their lifestyle. how much are you looking forward to a potential announcement by the government? can't wait, very excited. we thought we would be open on the 4th ofjuly and now we are hoping we can open as soon as possible. we are ready to go. let's talk to one of your members, fiona. keep spinning. it has not been the same for you. what do you think about going back? there will be smaller classes and sanitisers.|j about going back? there will be smaller classes and sanitisers. i am really looking forward to going back, i have missed it so much. i came back and did my first class la st came back and did my first class last thursday and it was great. people have not been paying their subs for the past few months. but are you worried about coming back and being close to people?” are you worried about coming back and being close to people? i felt like that when i came back last week, even to do the outdoor class. but once i came back it feels safe

because they have thought about everything and it is lovely to be back. how important has it been to you to not be able to come out and exercise, to come to your local gym? it has been a huge loss, i really found it very hard, it is a big part of my life. will it be the same with everything that is happening here? nothing is exactly the same, life will not go straight back to normal, but this will be as good as it can be under the circumstances. shall we let them turn the music back up and you can get on with your spin class. a lot of people here waiting for that announcement and hoping that after a ll that announcement and hoping that after all these months they can get back into the gym proper. back to you. sarah, many thanks, sarah campbell. sarah, many thanks, sarah campbell. let's speak to our chief political correspondent vicki young. some people they are exercising vigorously outside, but all desperate to get back insight into

their gyms. what do we expect from their gyms. what do we expect from the sport secretary this afternoon? the point is that these press conferences the point is that these press co nfe re nces a re the point is that these press conferences are not updates every day, so they would not be calling what if they did not have something to say. there were some strong hints earlierfrom to say. there were some strong hints earlier from other cabinet ministers that the likelihood is that places like james will be given a date to reopen. so there are various businesses, it is the business side of it, it is people's jobs and people wanting to go and do exercise, to do classes. then there is the other aspect as well, oliver dowden covers all of those at culture, media and sport. you have got beauty salons, theatres, all of these waiting on desperately wanting to know when they can open and invite people back through their doors. you can see why these have been towards the end of this, what they call a road map, for opening.

the fact you are indoors and in james you are exercising and people touch all sorts of equipment, so all of that you can see would be a problem when it comes to transmitting a virus. there have been questions from people saying, hang on, why aren't theatres open when you have decided to open pubs? they want to be given the chance to do this and maybe still have social distancing in place. the key thing will be if they outline these measures, what are the restrictions? how will they make it work and make it covid—19 secure as they say? there are reams and reams of guidelines for all the businesses that have opened so far and i would expect that to be the same for these. no doubt there may well be an announcement on that coming up very shortly. in the meantime, the government continues to get some flack over the chancellor's and is met yesterday about help for businesses and employees, with

criticism that that help has not been targeted enough. yes, labour is saying it needs to be more targeted. what has been interesting is ministers have said publicly and privately that we do know that in some cases we will be subsidising people to do things they would have done anyway, so going out for a meal, for example, taking back staff from the furlough scheme. but they think the situation is so dire when it comes to the economy that in the end that does not too much. labour is saying they think that some of these projects are gimmicks and it isa these projects are gimmicks and it is a waste of taxpayer's money. they are getting some criticism, but it isa sign are getting some criticism, but it is a sign of the times as well that they feel they have to take more action and it is striking today that the day after rishi sunak did a whole statement about how you want to try and save jobs we have had this news of thousands more job losses, just really showing how difficult it is going to be. they

are desperate to try and keep businesses afloat and keep that connection between the employee and the employer, so that when demand does come back up there will still be business there who can get going again. that is the problem, but they do have to encourage demand and that is what they are trying to do, trying to coax people back out. some people are keen to get back to the gym, but others are still full of trepidation about the virus and are not so keen. i think that is part of the measures that were outlined yesterday, it is about giving people confidence and some people are saying, yes, they might be gimmicks, but they are symbolic in some ways to try and say to people it is safe to try and say to people it is safe to go back out there. we have had the latest numbers today from the 0ns the latest numbers today from the ons and they have been doing this survey, pointing out that they think 0.03% of the population in england probably has coronavirus at the moment. those numbers really coming

down and the government will say now is the time to start opening up the rest of the economy that has been shut down. labour were making a point yesterday the part of any recovery has to be consumers being confident to go out there, go shopping or go to the gym and restaurants, but that can only happen with a proper comprehensive test and tray system which labour says isn't there. the government would say there is a test and trace system, but not what we were originally led to believe it might be. they said it would be world beating and they talked about an app. they have gone back to the basic way it has always been done by public england and other health professionals by human contact races. it is happening but the latest figures showing.|j races. it is happening but the latest figures showing. i am going tojump in, here is oliver dowden.

hello, welcome to the downing street press co nfe re nce . hello, welcome to the downing street press conference. for months, our lives have been on hold and that we pressed pools on things that brighten our lives. meals with friends, trips to the theatre or cinema, cancel our holidays and postpone some of our favourite events. but as we have made huge progress against this disease, we have gradually seen the things we love return. and today, i am very pleased to announce we can go a little bit further. as of this weekend are artists, musicians and dancers can start performing live outside to an outdoor audience. we will also have the resumption of recreational sport, followed later by the reopening of our gyms, swimming pools and leisure centres. normal life is slowly returning. this is an important milestone for our performing artists, who have been waiting patiently in the wings since march. of course we won't see

crowds flooding into their venues, but from the 11th ofjuly, our theatres, operas, dance and music shows can start putting on now draw performances to socially distance audiences. theatre—goers can experience a live play for the first time in months and in places like the stunning theatre in cornwall. music lovers can attend the summer. the new capacity will be reduced and organisations are encouraged to move to electronic ticketing to help test and trace. but performing artists deserve an audience and now they will be getting on. while those outdoor performances get under way we will be working with public health experts to carefully pilot a number of indoor performances. from the london symphony orchestra at saint lukes, the london symphony orchestra at saint lu kes, to the london symphony orchestra at saint lukes, to butlins, to work out how we can confidently usher

socially distance to audiences indoors as soon as possible. at the same time, we are funding scientific studies to help understand and mitigate some specific public health risks like the impact of singing, wind and brass instruments on transmission. the more we know about the coronavirus in every setting, the coronavirus in every setting, the safer we will be. we are also taking steps through the planning system to protect theatres and venues from demolition or change of use and all of this comes on top of the unprecedented 1.5 to £75 billion package of emergency support to help cultural institutions whether the coveid cultural institutions whether the cove id storm. of course, we want to see all of our venues open as soon as it is to do so and this announcement brings is a step closer to that reality. having allowed hairdressers to reopen, beauticians, tattooists, spas and tanning salons and other close contact services can

now do the same, i am pleased to say from monday. that will be subject to some restrictions on particularly high risk services. as i have seen for myself at the royal academy this morning, the national gallery and as we will see shortly from the national museums liverpool, our cultural institutions are beginning to welcome back visitors. as these places begin to reopen their doors, iam places begin to reopen their doors, i am really urging people to get out there and to play their part. buy there and to play their part. buy the tickets for outdoor plays and music recitals, get to your local gallery and support your local businesses. we have seen in recent weeks have landlords, waiters and shop assistants have welcomed customers back whilst doing so much to keep the community say. it is time to give other businesses those same opportunities. the chancellor this week set out a bumper package of tourism and hospitality tax brea ks to of tourism and hospitality tax breaks to get these industries firing on all cylinders once more and protect the millions of people

who work for them. that means a vat cut and everything from tickets to shows, theatres, amusement parks, museums and zoos. lower shows, theatres, amusement parks, museums and zoos. lower costs for hotels, campsites and vouchers for food and nonalcoholic drinks. i am urging british people to make the most of this summer safely. we need them to support the places that we all them to support the places that we a ll love. them to support the places that we all love. and today there is good news for our nation's fitness. as we all know, exercise is incredibly important for both physical and mental health. even at the height of the lockdown, it was considered an essential activity, with countless people hitting their parks for their daily run or transforming their living rooms into temporary gyms. and from this weekend, millions of people will be able to rejoin their local sports teams as soon as they organisations publish approve guidance. recreational cricket is back on this weekend, five aside

football, hockey and countless other sports will follow shortly after. from the saturday they will also be able to enjoy outdoor pools and water parks. from saturday the 25th, people will no longer have to work out in their park or on the living room floor, they will be able to get back into their gyms, their indoor swimming pools, their leisure centres and jumped on the spin bike or treadmill for the first time in months. now, we have made a number of positive visits to gyms in recent weeks and we had hoped to do this sooner, but we really do have to face this properly. we will be giving gyms the certainty, clarity and time they need to reopen safely, so that the maximum number can open their doors injust two so that the maximum number can open their doors in just two weeks. again, we have worked intensively with both professional bodies and the experts to get us to this point and facilities will have to take a number of measures to protect their communities, that includes using

timed booking systems to limit the number of people using the facility at any one time, reduced class sizes, equipment will be spaced out and there will be enhanced cleaning throughout. as always, the public will need to do their bit and follow the guidance sensibly and safely. all of these measures we are taking are conditional and they are reversible. and we will not hesitate to impose lockdown is where there are local spikes, as we saw in leicester where things remain closed and in any other place when that is necessary. but the return of gyms and recreational sport is a vital pa rt and recreational sport is a vital part of our battle against coronavirus. we need to get the nation match fit to defeat this disease. and our fight nation match fit to defeat this disease. and ourfight began nation match fit to defeat this disease. and our fight began with a collective effort and i really hope it will end with one. at the beginning, we all stayed at home to protect the nhs and save lives. now the british public has a new part to play. it is time to eat out to help

out, enjoy the arts to help out and to work out to help out. it is over to work out to help out. it is over to all of you to help the country recover safely. thank you. and with that, i will now turn to the questions. first of all, we have two questions. first of all, we have two questions from the public, starting with stephanie from birmingham on video. what is going to be done to support the retail sector during this trying time? redundancies are being made across retail stores and the reduction in vat seems to be aimed at the leisure and hospitality sector. the high street are struggling and many jobs sector. the high street are struggling and manyjobs are at risk. what is the government going to do to try to turn this around? stephanie, thank you for your question and you are absolutely right to highlight the importance of supporting our retail sector. the chancellor announced a large number of measures that will benefit the retail sector in his statementjust

yesterday. for example, we will be encouraging people to get back to work by having the £1000 bonus for businesses that take their staff off furlough. we are investing in traineeships and apprenticeships and all of this is about getting the economy moving. when you think of a measure like the chancellor announced yesterday, the eat out to help out, we very much hope that when people go to their local pub other restaurant to eat out, often in the centre of towns, hopefully that will encourage the footfall to those areas so we get more people going to the shops as well. in addition, if you look at the stamp duty cut introduced, it is usually the case that azamoum home, and we hope a lot more people will move home because of the duty cuts, more people will go to the shops to refurbish their homes, whether it is buying a new sofa, or buying some wallpaper, paint and all those sorts of things will help kick—start the economy and generate morejobs,

which is exactly what we are about. thank you for that question, stephanie. now over to victoria from iver heath, who has written a question. with all children being expected back into school in september 2020, what precautions will be taken with social distancing as you say children only experience mild symptoms, but in a household of five children, this is very worrying. our tests available to the entire family if one child has symptoms? victoria, you are absolutely right to have concerns. we all have concerns, i have two young children myself, one of whom is back at school and the other will be back in september. we all care about our children who we love so much and we wa nt to children who we love so much and we want to do the best for them. that is why i am absolutely confident the education secretary and the health secretary and the prime minister would not have permitted this to happen were it not safe to do so.

that is why we have got very rigorous regimes in schools, for example in relation to cleaning, in relation to keeping year groups self—contained in order to minimise those risks. on your point about testing, we have said that anyone who has symptoms, they should immediately call test and trace and they will get back to straightaway, so that is available to everyone. thank you for that question, victoria. now we are going to questions from the media and we are starting with laura kuenssberg from the bbc. thank you very much, secretary of state. you are announcing a lot of the openings today, but will there be sanctions for businesses or consumers who flout the rules you have put in place to allow people to open safely