‘of ‘ of storms ‘of storms or ‘ of storms or lengthy a number of storms or lengthy outbreaks of rain to come in, scotla nd outbreaks of rain to come in, scotland and ireland quite a bit of cloud and a few brighter spells but feeling fresher here, temperature 20 degrees or so in glasgow were still very humid across england and wales and we have a similar weather pattern on into the weekend with low pressure bringing quite a bit of cloud into england and wales, rain oi’ cloud into england and wales, rain or showers around, feeling humid england and wales but if you've sunny spells with scotland and northern ireland. this is bbc news, i'm ben brown. the headlines: the number of people in work

falls by the largest amount in over a decade, more evidence of the impact of the lockdown. they are laying off more people like myself who have got years of experience looking injob adverts every day and thinking, there is just nothing there. there is no end in sight. obviously we want to see is a return to economic vitality and health and some parts of the economy undoubtedly showing great resilience but clearly there are going to be bumpy months ahead and a long, long way to go. back to school in scotland, as the government there sets out what it's doing about thousands of pupils who've had their exam results downgraded. the uk and france meet to discuss a new plan to deter migrants from crossing the channel to the uk. we have reaffirmed our unshakeable, shared commitment to making sure this rate of crossing the channel is made on viable.

—— this route of crossing the channel is made unviable. russia claims to have produced the world's first coronavirus vaccine — and president putin's daughter has been given it. after more than 100 days with no new coronavirus cases, new zealand puts its biggest city auckland back into lockdown as a family become infected. and an environmental disaster unfolds amid the coral reefs of mauritius as a stricken tanker leaks thousands of tonnes of oil. hello, good afternoon. there's stark new evidence today of the devastating economic damage done by the pandemic. employment in the uk has seen the biggest fall in over a decade.

the number of people in work has dropped by nearly three quarters of a million since the lockdown began. the office for national statistics said the worst hit workers were the youngest and oldest workers, and those in manual occupations. and at lunchtime, it was announced that 2500 jobs have been lost at debenhams. sarah corker reports. no part of the economy has been left unscathed, from restaurant chains to retailers. some of the uk's biggest names have been cutting thousands ofjobs. 0ur streets and offices are still far from normal. i have already applied for that one. the party and events company that julie worked for in dorset went bust in may. she is frustrated she rarely hears back from job applications. as more and more businesses every day are collapsing, they are laying out more and more people like myself who have years of experience who are looking in job adverts every day and thinking, there is just nothing there. there is no end in sight. there has been a big drop in the number of people

on the payroll of british companies. since march, 730,000 people left the payroll. last month alone, around 81,000 jobs were lost. the overall unemployment rate was estimated at 3.9%, largely unchanged. this is cushioned by the furlough scheme. unemployment will start to rise in the autumn as people start to look for work. i think it is well possible we will see unemployment above 3 million, potentially reaching 4 million by the end of the year. there were more warnings from the aviation sector with passenger traffic at heathrow plunging 88%. but the hospitality sector is improving. the eat out to help 0ut scheme has given the hospitality sector a welcome boost. in its first week it was used 10.5 million times. but will it be enough to persuade

businesses to hang on to staff in the months ahead? and this lunchtime there is more grim news for the high street, debenhams is cutting 2,500 jobs. that is that stores and warehouses. while figures suggest older workers are often the hardest hit. we wa nt we want to see a return to economic vitality and health and some parts of the economy are showing great resilience but clearly there will be bumpy months ahead and a long, long way to go. after a lifetime in work, at 63 keith was furloughed in march and then made redundant injuly. he had worked as a financial controller for 14 years. someone said if you're looking for experience, you're looking for experience, but how many years experience ? ten, 20, 30. most companies would look at the long—term prospect. how does that make you

feel? it makes me feel i have got to fight a bit harder. the chancellor said today the government has a clear plan to support and create jobs to ensure no one is left without hope. but economists have warned that unemployment will continue to rise in the months ahead. with me now is the labour shadow minister for employment, seema malhotra. thank you forjoining us. many would say the figures are inevitable given the lockdown we have said. we are in the midst of a tremendous jobs crisis and it is extremely worrying as well today that the increase that we have seen is also bringing older workers into the numbers of unemployed, the self—employed and also the part—time workers have seen a drop in their

employment. this is very worrying and what it does suggest is that whilst we have seen some successes to date as well and we have supported the furlough scheme, and they many measures that the chancellor has ta ken, they many measures that the chancellor has taken, going forward we are going to need a different approach. we will need to see more flexibility and much less of a one size fits all different sectors are being hit harder than others and what we need to see is more targeted support so that we do see the opportunities coming to those who have lost their jobs opportunities coming to those who have lost theirjobs to try and get more employed in the future. but to prevent the jobless is where we can —— thejob prevent the jobless is where we can —— the job losses as well where we can. borisjohnson said there were been bumpy months ahead given all the government doing, he is comfortable that country will get through it and sugar than other before —— he is confident. what surprises me is that the

industries that have been hard ahead have said the government has not been listening to what they have been listening to what they have been saying and where they do feel the need to be more targeted support and aviation is one example that she did raise. this is because the recovery tale is likely to be longer and therefore for the jobs that may not see the demand in the shorter term, the government needs to allow for more flexibility to stop but also to support places that are hard ahead. that is why that as well as making sure that we have that targeted support, that we are preventing job losses where we can, that we are providing the right support and there is enough support in my view for those who are seeking work, we have seen the time that those who are unemployed are spending withjob those who are unemployed are spending with job coaches that can help advise them and give them side direction, they have been cut. —— there isn't enough support in my view for those who are seeking work. we need to see a government that is

showing us that it is on the site, it is listening to industry and employers, working with members of parliament across different parties, making sure the country is doing all that it can and working together. i think it is very important to say as well that we have also seen a rise in insecure employment, rising zero—hour contracts. if we see the country coming out together and all are involved and included in our recovery, it needs a different approach from government. it is not too late but they need to start now. seema malhotra, labour's shadow minister for employment, thank you very much. pupils in scotland have begun returning to classes for the first time since lockdown began nearly five months ago. schools in the borders and shetland are the first to reopen. it comes as the scottish government sets out today how it will deal with the growing row over downgraded exam results. alexandra mackenzie reports. morning, everyone.

are you all right? do you know where you are going? back to classes this morning, at kelso high school. most pupils were happy to return for the first time in nearly five months. schools here in the borders and shetland reopened today. there will be a staggered return in the rest of the country from tomorrow. much has been done to ensure the well being and safety of the 600 pupils here. it is nice to be back. i haven't seen a lot of people in a long time. it is pretty good. there is a one way system and arrows showing you where to go. it makes you feel more safe than if everyone was running about. at the start of the quarantine, it sounded appealing, just do what you want all day for five months. but you get bored after a while. it is good to be back. a bit nervous and excited, but that has gone as we have met the young people as they're arrived. they're very confident and looking

very smart and getting that interaction with them today, they want to be back and want to be in learning. they're all in their classrooms and getting settled, but now going through to the procedures we have to follow. teaching unions say their members want to be back in the classroom, but many still have serious concerns. the scottish government has said that primary school—children don't need to socially distance, but older kids are being advised not to huddle together and nobody needs to wear a face covering. home schooling has been a challenge for many, gemma welcomes the new term. it is a big step going back into school, especially the students that have had no contact with anybody other than their households for the past five months. yeah, a lot of anxiousness, but so much excitement to get back and see all of their friends and get back to their new time tables. some pupils here are amongst the thousands who say their exam results have been unfairly downgraded by the sqa.

the education secretary will address the parliament today. the only moderated one of my predicted grades, i got 94% in the prelim and then got a b. a lot people worked hard for the grades they were predicted and to be knocked down, you feel like your teachers didn't believe in you if you didn't appeal. it is not fair in the slightest. i can put in as much effort as i want, but it was never going to mean anything, because they have decided my grade based on the school. here in kelso, there is a buzz of chatter and excitement as class mates are finally reunited. let's get more on the reopening of schools in scotland, with me now is eileen prior, executive director of connect, an umbrella body for scottish parent councils. she's in peebles within

the scottish borders region. thank you for being with us. how anxious do you think parents are with schools reopening in scotland? i think there is a mix of emotions and some families will be more anxious than others. certainly the survey that we carried out with pa rents, survey that we carried out with parents, we carried out two, we talked about returning to school in the second one, the parents are keen the second one, the parents are keen the children are back in school but naturally they are anxious about how their children are going to respond to that, how the children's worries are going to be dealt with and how safety will be insured for staff and for pupils. let us talk about safety, do you think the right safety, do you think the right safety measures are in place to lie the anxieties that you talked about? it is difficult to say. we are not specialists in this area. we are

certainly getting feedback from pa rents certainly getting feedback from parents but on the whole they are content and we will simply have to suck it and see, monitor how this goes and i'm hoping and imagining there will be strong communication between local authorities and schools to ensure that there is consistency and that we are tracking very carefully what happens as young people go back. cani people go back. can i ask you about the downgrading of exa m can i ask you about the downgrading of exam results we had about in that report? a lot of the pupils expressing their extreme disappointment, opposition politicians have said it has been a shambles, the asko. nicola sturgeon has apologised saying they are going to put it right. how angry parents in scotland are about this? a great deal of anger and upset. we were not clear before the results were published exactly how the grades

we re published exactly how the grades were being achieved. we knew there was going to be a mix of prelim results, work that had already been done and assessed in school, teacher judgment and what is called moderation. we were not clear how these were going to be weighted and what we have actually seen is that pupils in more deprived areas, who have performed well in the prelims and in their coursework, have been downgraded. it is not good enough. pa rents downgraded. it is not good enough. parents and young people have every right to be furious about what has happened. we wait with interest from the announcement from john swinney this afternoon as to what is going to be done about that. what would you like to see done? nicola sturgeon has said the onus is not going to be on the pupils to have to appeal, which you expect a word really just have have to appeal, which you expect a word reallyjust have the original results back in

place? there are prelim results, there are also teacher estimates, which could be the full—back and i think those are the two most likely. we will simply have to wait and see what the announcements is simply have to wait and see what the announcements is this afternoon. the government has got to dig itself out of the hole very quickly because pa rents of the hole very quickly because parents and children and young people are very angry about it. good to talk to you. just to say that we will be taking that statement from john swinney, the education sector in scotland, he was going to be talking about how they are addressing those concerns of bat and pa rents addressing those concerns of bat and parents about the downgrading of exa m parents about the downgrading of exam results in scotland and we will be bringing that life you in about 2:50pm. the problems with exam grades

experienced in scotland could be mirrored across the uk with a level results due out later this week. universities have been asked to hold open places for students who may appeal against the grades they have been awarded. sean dilley reports. pupils in scotland are not the only one learning from their first day back in the classroom. schools and teachers in england will be watching closely to see what lessons they can take a of their return in september. we have some hay, some straw. can we incorporate that? yesterday, the westminster government pointed to an as yet unpublished report by public health england that they say will show children are less likely to contract covid—i9 than adults. spin on 2a hours and they seem less keen to discuss another expected finding that older pupils could be as likely to spread the infection as the general population. but the prime minister says he is confident schools will be ready. i think schools and teachers over the summer and in these few months have done a fantasticjob of getting their

schools ready. i was going around schools yesterday looking at the preparations that have been made both in primary and in secondary to get ready for everybody going back in september. i have no doubt that it can be done safely. schools are doing a huge amount to ensure it is done safely. meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of older learners in england, wales and northern ireland will receive their a—level and other vocational equivalent results on thursday. but as with students in scotland, their results will be predicted, as all exams were cancelled due to the pandemic. here is how it works in england. firstly, teachers award a grade based on how well they think the student would have performed. schools and colleges send the results to the exam board in order of performance and broken down by grade. the exam board then uses previous average national results and past performance by the school or college to determine the final grade. it's a system that england's education system regulator say was

designed to offer confidence in the results, but there are concerns after a nearly identical system in scotland saw around 125,000 grades lowered, because authorities believed exam estimates by teachers were too generous. the former chief inspector of schools in england is concerned that using previous average results could disadvantage hard working learners. even in schools with a history of poor performance, there will be youngsters there who have worked very hard, youngsters who are very bright, who would have done well in that school albeit with a school in difficulty. there will be some youngsters who crammed very late on, whose internal assessments might not be good but have decided in the last few months to really cram and intensively revise, who would have done well in the exam. the universities minister has written to the vice chancellors in england

asking them to hold university places where appeals are lodged. it will be up to universities to decide whether they will hold or withdraw those offers to students. the government says it expects the majority of grades will be correct, but they hope the move will act as a safety net for those who would otherwise be held back. the immigration minister, chris philp, has been meeting french officials in paris to discuss how to reduce the number of people crossing the english channel in small boats. since thursday, more than 600 people have been intercepted. the government has said it wants to work with the french authorities to make the route "unviable". mr philp has been speaking to journalists in the last hour. we had a very constructive meeting with our french colleagues in paris this morning. we have reaffirmed our unshakeable, shared commitment to making sure this route of crossing the channel is made unviable. it is facilitated by ruthless criminal gangs, it puts lives at risk and it is totally unnecessary. we have worked on a joint operational plan, a

revised and new operational plan with the objective in mind of completely cutting this route and we're going to be working at pace in the coming days to make that plan a reality. 0ur newly appointed clandestine channel threat commander, dan 0'mahoney, with me today, will be returning to france early next week to continue those discussions. i'm also delighted that the french made a commitment to appoint their own commander to take responsibility in this area, which is a very important step forward. chris philp. let's return to the news that the uk has seen the largest fall in over a decade as the coronavirus pandemic hits the jobs market. the number of people in the uk, on company payrolls, fell by 730,000 between march and july, according to the office for national statistics. but the uk unemployment rate remained at 3.9%,

largely unchanged on the year and the previous quarter. unemployment has not surged as much as feared, because large numbers of firms have put employees on the government—backed furlough scheme. with me now is our business presenter, ben thompson. what do you read into these figures? you are right, what these figures tell us more importantly is what might happen next as opposed to what the figures tell us about the state of thejobs the figures tell us about the state of the jobs market because, as you have touched on, the fellow scheme artificially keeping jobs alive that would have otherwise not exist on when the furlough scheme does expire in october, we may see the jobless number rise significantly. the bank of england has warned that the unemployment rate could hit 7.5% by the end of the year, double its current level. the big question, of

course, is where the jobs. to current level. the big question, of course, is where thejobs. to be created as the economy picks up biggest businesses right now are hunkering down. tomorrow are expecting to get official confirmation that the uk economy is in recession, so many are 20 ride it out. reducing the number of staff that they need. quite an interesting time when we look at the numbers, they tell us there has been a big sharp rise in the number of people on zero—hours contracts, the number of vacancies falling significantly. the number of hours worked following since its fastest rate since 1971, telling us that many people are in work but working much less than they we re work but working much less than they were before. let us talk about some of those issues. jack parsons is joining me and kirsty donnelly. chief executive at the city and guilds group. these figures tell is

one story, about the reality on the ground. read different. i think you are right, we are not seeing the reality on the ground. until we see the end of furlough playing out, we will not know what the ultimate impact is. it is very difficult on the ground right now and it will get harder. there is hope that at the end of this, in the sense when you are coming in before the covid pandemic, we had unemployment, there were industries where we neither had to be people who needed to be read to move into those newjobs. who needed to be read to move into those new jobs. there who needed to be read to move into those newjobs. there are still vacancies available. the problem is there are multiple people going after these vacancies. the other complexity is they have talked about this as a youth issue, and i'm sure ina moment this as a youth issue, and i'm sure in a moment jack will touch on that, this is touching everybody. when we look at the older workers and particular people over 50s, it is more a key that in terms of how do we support those people back into work as quickly as we can. we know

the longer they are unemployed, the harder it will be to get back into work. you are absolutely right. they think it is the youngest and the oldest and those in manual work you will find it most difficult, in these figures this morning. jack, on that element, a little earlier i was speaking to one new graduate, on paper and ideal candidate, a university degree, and getting multiple rejections. they are a great person to hire but no businesses want to hire them. totally. speaking to a number of young people, they are very anxious, they get a lot of rejections stop i'm looking at the glass half full, i always look at the positive side of life, yes, it is harder but we need to look at this as an opportunity. the young person who

lives in a council estate he does not own a suit or could not afford the fare to get to the interview, can now go through online processes in terms of interview. the barriers have been lowered, i think. in terms of interview. the barriers have been lowered, ithink. we need companies to bass. this is why it is exciting, the kick—sta rt companies to bass. this is why it is exciting, the kick—start scheme, 400 businesses, let me give you an example. i'm working when the scenes with capita and we are looking at how we can get young people and give these young people opportunities, we are trying to look at how we can create opportunity. yes, there are lowerjobs create opportunity. yes, there are lower jobs but we create opportunity. yes, there are lowerjobs but we talk about the... they come and talk about how we are global and why don't we flip it on its head and we say, have you got the skills? if not, let's work with organisations, bt doing skills for tomorrow, the great work that city and guilds two, get your skills

and the kids remote opportunities. the young person in newcastle can now ta ke young person in newcastle can now take a remote opportunity in london without having to relocate. we seem to have lost ben thompson. let me carry on without thought, if i could ask you whether you think these unemployment figures that we are hearing and the lack ofjobs in this country is not actually reflecting the reality of the situation? we have to wait and see. do carry on, if you could. just tell us from a young person's point of view, just looking ahead to the next four years, not just now view, just looking ahead to the next four years, notjust now but the next four years, young people are particularly worried about the jobs market, what should they be doing,

if anything, what can they do to prepare themselves for the rough times ahead? i would say any young person out there, they need to build some confidence and they are going to be asked to go to a number of interviews, they are going to be asked to put a cv together, find out what their personalities are. my first bit of advice is look at what you really want to do. what is it that you really want to do? there is no point putting a young person into a job that they do not like and they leave. that helps no young person. we need to look at sustainable employment and that is one of the issues that we will find out about at the kick—start. it needs to make sure we do not take a can down the road with a programme and becomes bad culture and cheap labour. the young person needs to build their confidence. there are so many free programmes online. go and look at these digital programmes. you must be able to have the digital skills. don't compromise your values. it

is tough, it is hard, you are going to feel stressed and have anxiety and you might have some mental health challenges, keep positive and learn self—awareness. challenges, keep positive and learn self-awareness. kirstie, that sounds like good advice from jack, would you go along without? what can people prepare themselves for the next four years, whatever age they are, facing turbulent times in the jobs market? absolutely. everything jackjust said there is equally for older workers, more mature workers. what older workers have is a loss of transferable skills. 0ne what older workers have is a loss of transferable skills. one of the things we are calling for is the opportunity for those transferable skills to add to skill bridges. you may find yourself in an industry like the airline sector, the travel sector has been hit through the covid pandemic but think about all the transferable skills that you might be able to take over into the multiple jobs that are available in health and social care. we

know right now there are 4500 live vacancies right now there are 4500 live vacancies across right now there are 4500 live vacancies across the nhs alone in multiple roles at manageable levels. there are opportunities to go out there and look at the free opportunities, the free training and skill and, more needs opportunities, the free training and skilland, more needs to opportunities, the free training and skill and, more needs to be done though to connect local vacancies, local employees with local people and how the school system can be brought together to make them much more coherent picture. it is very confusing out there, you need help, you need directing to buy the job opportunities are. they do exist. it is about how you make sure you stand out and we must notjust think if they're sipping a young person's pandemic, it is an all age pandemic and therefore we might need tojust provide different solutions for those different age groups. the important thing is to act now, that is what we need to do, take action, decisive action and divert the funding that is already available and to those groups are most needed

in those regional towns and cities. kirstie, thank you very much. kirstie, thank you very much. kirstie donnelly, some good advice there. great advice from jack parsons. sorry we lost ben thompson, when one disappears, there is another one ready to pick up. that was me! now it's time for a look at the weather with chris fawkes. hello again. we're looking at more hot, sunny, humid weather to take us through the afternoon. there will be a lot of dry weather to come as well. not many storms for england and wales, but the few that do get going across southern england, the midlands and wales could be torrential in nature. certainly eastern scotland will get some storms and some of those could turn out to be quite slow moving, so that's one area we'll have to keep quite a close watch on. it is going to be another hot and humid day. top temperatures again moving well on into the mid 30s across the south—east. overnight tonight, further storms for eastern scotland, one or two across england and wales, moving north eastwards with time. some of them again bringing torrential rain, lots of thunder

and lightning and another hot night for heading off to bed. temperatures still up at 27 celsius at 11 o'clock. tomorrow — while one batch of storms clears northwards from scotland, and then england and wales, there is a much greater chance of seeing some thunderstorms, particularly late in the day. some of these will bring torrential bursts of rain with a risk of some localised flash flooding. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines... the number of people in work falls by the largest amount in over a decade — more evidence of the impact of the lockdown. back to school in scotland, as the government there sets out what it's doing about thousands of pupils who've had their exam results downgraded. the uk and france meet to discuss a new plan to deter migrants from crossing the channel to the uk. russia claims to have produced the world's first coronavirus vaccine — and president putin's

daughter has been given it. after more than 100 days with no new coronavirus cases, new zealand puts its biggest city, auckland, back into lockdown as a family become infected. sport now, and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, sport centre, here's chettan. good afternoon. we start with what first minister nicola sturgeon calls a yellow card moment for scottish football. celtic and aberdeen have had their next two premiership matches postponed for breaking lockdown rules. celtic player boli bolingoli flew to spain without the club knowing, failed to quarantine on his return, then played in a league game on sunday. he and his team mates have since tested negative for covid—19 twice, and he's apologised. it came after eight aberdeen players broke rules by gathering in a bar after a match, which led to two

testing positive. i don't want the season to be injeopardy, for the reasons i have just set out. i don't want people who are not responsible for this to pay the price, but we have to be very clear that this situation is not acceptable, so we will set out the conclusion of those talks hopefully later today, i think, at a minimum. you should not be expecting to see aberdeen or celtic play over the course of the coming week, and we will set out conclusions beyond that, but putting this as clearly as i can in language that the football world will understand, consider today the yellow card. the next time it will be the red card because you will leave us with absolutely no choice. well, in a statement, celtic say they unreservedly condemn and apologise for their player boli bolingoli's behaviour, adding that it's... all club staff and players have tested negative twice

since the incident, but they added... meanwhile, in their biosecure bubble in germany, wolves are preaparing for their europa league quarterfinal tonight. standing in their way are the five time champions sevilla. the prize if they get through is an all—english tie against manchester united for a place in the final. regardless of tonight's result, though, head coach nuno espirito santo says he's delighted with how far the club's come, considering they were playing in the championship just over two years ago. i'm very, very proud, very, very proud of how we did things and now i think we can say that we have our own identity. so it is based on strong foundations of respect and hard work. so this is what we want to show, a good team, with identity and committed

to the challenge. for the first time since 2008, the women's community shield will return and take place immediately before the men's final at wembley on august the 29th. it'll be the first match since the season was cut short in february and be between the women's super league winners chelsea and fa cup holders manchester city. the league season will start the following saturday. britain's number one women's tennis player, jo konta, says she was suffering from heart palpitations and felt lightheaded in a match as her us 0pen preperations took a setback. konta — at the bottom of your screen — was beaten by in straight sets by world number 48 marie bouzkova at the lexington 0pen — a warm up event for the grand slam which starts at the end of the month. british number two heather watson also lost to american jennifer brady. it's a big day for five time winner ronnie 0'sullivan and defending championjudd trump — who both trail in their quarter final matches that resume shortly at the world snooker

championships. three time winner mark selby is fairing a bit better, however. he's through to the semifinals after beating 2010 winner neil robertson 13—7, and will play 0'sullivan or mark williams next. you can follow those afternoon sessions over on the bbc sport website, and coverage of course continuing on bbc two. judd trump and ronnie 0'sullivan with their work cut out. that's all the sport for now. a new book on the duke and duchess of sussex out today claims the royal couple were barely speaking to prince william and kate middleton by march this year, and that friends of prince harry and meghan markle referred to some palace officials as "vipers". the book, finding freedom, has been serialised by the times and is published today,

and describes a culture of increasing tension between the sussexes and the rest of the royal family. a spokesman for the royal couple said they had not been interviewed and did not contribute to the book. i'm glad to say, i'm joined now by 0mid scobie, who has co—authored that book, finding freedom: harry and meghan and the making of a modern family. thanks so much for being with us. given that they are saying they did not contribute to this book and were not interviewed for it, why should we particularly be interested in it over any of the kind of thousands and thousands of articles about the royal family in our newspapers? that's exactly it, there are thousands and thousands of articles out there, about the relations between harry and meghan and the royal family, relations between harry and meghan and the royalfamily, but as relations between harry and meghan and the royal family, but as you will notice they often consist of anonymous royal insiders, palisades who have chosen not to be named when quoted, or briefing sections of the

tabloid press. —— palace aides. we have heard very little from those close to harry and meghan. the situation where this book was in progress was that there are so many people around the royal couple frustrated by the narrative they saw building around the pair in the public eye, and these were far from the couple they had known in their personal lives. they felt that people been written about were com pletely people been written about were completely different. and we have had a front row seat to all that public and private engagements, we ourselves found that a lot of the things happening in front of us were very different to what we were hearing in the tabloids. so you've interviewed people close to them, have you name, them are the anonymous sources? we have mostly followed anonymous sources throughout the book, that's a people to speak freely, there are of course some who still work within the palace, we have spoken to aides past and present in all of the royal households alongside those close to harry and megan met. so alongside the tradition that is royal

reporter, we strict anonymity. that goes back to the point but why would you believe your publication more than any other obligation about the royals. when the stories are being taken seriously, it's important for us to share at least a different side to the narrative, so when we have that sort of overall overview of everything that's been said about the couple, we at least are able to have a little bit of objectivity and balance. so you're quite sympathetic to harry and meghan, some would say you're actually too sympathetic, that it's not really bounced portrait. i think some of the distance we have from the couple allowed us to really independently report this book. it was important during some of those critical moments during the breakdown of their relationship with the institution of the monarchy to actually be able to speak to aides and those close to family members about how they felt as well, and the book really goes into different sides of the story to give it some balance. so yes, of course, this is

a biography about harry and meghan, we have tried to humanise them in this book. we do hear voices of those close at the royal family members as well, particularly in later stage of the story. you go into why relations between the sussexes and the cambridge deteriorated so badly, why do you think that did happen? william saying that harry, telling how he shouldn't rush into his relationship with meghan, was harry perhaps a bit thin—skinned about that advice?” think when you look at that incident as an isolated moment it can look a little oversensitive, but what we actually have to remember, the book goes into great detail about this, there have been a lot of chatter about meghan behind the couple's backs up until this point, harry is aware of some of the comments being made within the royal family and within the institution, and of course amongst his own circle of friends as well, so during that conversation with william i think he expected perhaps a more sympathetic voice to the situation that he was facing. he was obviously no

longer the immature party play prince that had the immature party play prince that ha d ofte n the immature party play prince that had often been ripped about in the tabloids, he was not a man well into his 30s, accomplished and knew exactly what he was doing. —— he was now a man well into his 30s. but what's interesting about the dynamic between kate and meghan, is despite the duelling duchesses narrative built by some of the tabloids, their relationship just simply never progressed that far. there was no ill will between the pair, and i think there's a story stories about fonts and cat fights just feed into a lot of sexist stereotypes that we often see in the paper. speaking of stereotypes, a lot of people have complained about the treatment of meghan by the british papers, a view that that was racist, misogynist, view that she had driven a wedge between harry and the royal family, what is your view on harry and why in the end he wanted out? do you think you'd always more part pedal was wanted out of the royal family

even before he met her? does meghan do you think he had always wanted out? it's interesting, a lot of them portray him as under her son, but he knew what he was doing, he had seen the institution to his own eyes are growing up on through the eyes and voice of his mother, he knows exactly what happened behind the scenes, i think she was very sensitive and careful to protect his wife and child from that institution. —— i think he was very sensitive and careful. and as a cup of the group were loud and vocal about their grievances within the institution of the monarchy, they found their words fell on deaf ears and many times they ended up in the pages of tabloid papers before actually been dealt with behind palace walls it was that lack of trust between certain household members and harry, and of course the growing frustrations that ultimately led to the decision to create that hot on hop up model that was ultimately rejected, and why we see the couple in california today. —— hoff inhofe out

model. friends of them calling some palace officials vipers, i think, them calling some palace officials vipers, ithink, if them calling some palace officials vipers, i think, if the queen was reading your book, i'm not sure she will, but if she were, she would be horrified, wouldn't she? it's been an annus horribilis for the queen but she won't enjoy reading this if she does with this. i think the machinations of the institution of the monarchy have long been discussed in the press, i mean, we have obviously heard the term men in grey suits one from diana's book with andrew morton, and i think what we have seen time and again is that in some not changed that much within the institution, it's ultimately why they failed to embrace and make it work with an american woman of colour marrying into the house of windsor, that's a huge loss in itself, so i think this was the feeling of those around the couple at the time to stop they were victims to many leaks time and again, and stories were often twisted to make great headlines

by those within the institution with other agendas. really good to talk to you, good luck with the book. and witts kobe, co—author of finding freedom: harry and meghan and the making of a modern family. —— mid scooby, thank you for being with us. the russian health ministry says it has given regulatory approval to a locally developed vaccine for covid—19 after less than two months of testing on humans. president putin says he wants to start mass production of the drug soon. he added that his daughter had already been given the vaccine. here's our moscow correspondent, steve rosenberg. russia always loves to be first, ben, it's a matter of national pride here. this was the country that put the first sputnik into space, back in the 1950s, and interestingly, to honour that achievement, this vaccine has been called sputnik. vladimir putin today said that the vaccine was effective, he said that it produced strong immunity, and as you mentioned, he said that his daughter had been injected with it and she was feeling fine.

now, mass production is expected to start in september and a whole mass vaccination programme is planned from october, but there is a but here, because although regulatory approval has been given, clinical tests have not been completed. you know, normally before a vaccine gets approval, it has to be tested on thousands of people to make sure that it's safe and effective. that hasn't happened yet in russia, so that has created some scepticism internationally, and despite some criticism of moscow. ——and sparked some mcriticism of moscow. only last week the world health organization urged russia to slow down, not to rush through a vaccine and to follow all the rules and regulations on the development of new vaccines. i'm joined by kirill dmitriev ceo of the state—run russian direct investment fund

which finances the russian vaccine development. thank you for being with us on bbc news. as our correspondent was saying there, you have not actually completed human trials on this, so why is putin proclaiming this? the vaccine has been regulatory approved in russia, it's the first to be approved in the world, and it's been tested and approved. one of the benefits as russia's using proven technology for delivery, other countries are using unproven technology that had not been tested historically full stops at the russian science minister proved in phase one and phase two trial the safety of this vaccine and we believe its positive news to the world. we only do have different vaccine, there world needs a choice, and having a russian vaccine is a positive development. yes, everybody wa nts a positive development. yes, everybody wants a vaccine, of course, but they wa nt wants a vaccine, of course, but they want a safe vaccine. if you have not

finished the trials, why on earth has this maxim been given regulatory approval? all of the russian necessary studies have been finished, and just to compare it, for example, with the approach of some us companies are using, there's never been long—term effects studied, so the russian vaccine, the platform has been studied for six yea rs platform has been studied for six years and it showed tremendous results, incredible safety. and this is very different. for example, the western approach is a bit of an illusion, they have a new technology but they haven't studied it long term. the russian approach is different, we chose a safe platform and all the countries and companies will follow in our footsteps, other countries are following the science that russian approach is using.

countries are following the science that russian approach is usingm sounds like you're seeing this as a competition between russia and the west, and the world health organization are saying, you know, slow down, you do not need to rush this. we view it as a partnership. i think it is very important to the world to have a choice. i think some questions being asked are very genuine and we have answers on the sputnik vaccine, but some questions ijust sputnik vaccine, but some questions i just focused on the sputnik vaccine, but some questions ijust focused on the reputation of the russian vaccines and we have lots of information attacks. i think we need to separate good questions from questions that try to attack the russian vaccines, and we already have more than $1 billion requested by more than 20 countries, and each of those countries will work on regulatory approvals there, will share information, all the information will be published. so we really wa nt information will be published. so we really want to be partners and to be open with the rod but our vaccine and we will also be producing british vaccine in russia, for example, so we need to forget about politics and focus on saving lives. he say you want to forget about politics, but just by

he say you want to forget about politics, butjust by calling it sputnik, it sounds like president putin and the russian government are saying, look, we are first.” putin and the russian government are saying, look, we are first. i think one of the reasons that we call it sputnik is that we feel information about the vaccine really is difficult to disseminate. i publish today what is called... it was published but not published in western media. the road is paying attention to sputnik, to the first register covid vaccine, but once again we need several vaccines and we wa nt again we need several vaccines and we want to be great partners of different countries. we will start clinical trials in saudi arabia, brazil, we will be producing our vaccine also in five of the countries of the world. you want to be partners but of course the uk, us and canada have all accused hackers linked to the russian state of trying to steal information about the development of a british vaccine. and this is why we have

detailed information about how this research was developed over six yea rs, research was developed over six years, how it's different from other approaches, for example, britain uses monkey adenovirus, we use human adenovirus. nothing was stolen, everything was published over the last six years and once again, suspicions about russia need to be behind because we need to save people's lives and extreme suspicions without validation is a dangerous thing. we gather president putin's daughter has had the vaccine, would you be happy to have the vaccine? i've already had the vaccine and my wife has, and my 74—year—old parents have the vaccine, and again, we would not have done it if we didn't understand the science. we feel great, we have high level of antibodies, and once again, we had ourfirst vaccine in russia 30 years before america had their first vaccine, so we trust our scientists, we understand their technology and it's one of the best vaccine technology is on the road.

everyone wants a vaccine that works. thank you very much indeed. many thanks. thank you. let's return to the news that new zealand has announced its first locally transmitted coronavirus infections in more than 100 days, prompting the prime minister jacinda ardern to issue a stay—at—home lockdown order for the country's largest city, auckland. jacinda ardern said four cases had been detected in a single family in auckland from an unknown source. at a news conference she gave details about what this will mean for the wider community. in line with our precautionary approach, will be asking oakland is to ta ke approach, will be asking oakland is to take swift action with us. —— asking aucklanders to take action. as of tomorrow at 12 noon, we will be moving oakland to level three restrictions for a period of three

days, until midnight on friday. —— we will be moving auckland to level three restrictions. this will give us time to assess the situation, gather information, make sure we have widespread contact tracing so we can find out more about how this case arose and make decisions on how to respond to it once we have further information. let me set at what that means for aucklanders and the rest of new zealand. we are asking people in auckland to stay at home to stop the spread. earlier we heard from our sydney correspondent, shaimaa khalil. it is important to say that on a global scale, these numbers are minute but in a new zealand context, this is a major setback. this is a country that only on the weekend marked 100 days with no community transmitted covid—19 cases, nothing outside hotel

quarantine. outside hotel two transmitted covid—19 cases, nothing outside hotel two days on we have four members of a family that had tested positive in what is concerning health officials is that the source is unknown, it's not linked to overseas travel or managed isolation, which means that more cases could be detected. that's why, effective from wednesday noon local time, for three days, auckland will be on time, for three days, auckland will beona time, for three days, auckland will be on a level three lockdown which mean schools will be partially close, people will be urged to work from home outside of essential workers, supermarkets and pharmacies will be openjust workers, supermarkets and pharmacies will be open just for the essentials. but really, a disappointing night for new zealanders and jacinda are down has actually urged them not to be disheartened. she says, we've been there before, we note what to do, we've been successful before and we have to keep going. the government has been defending its test and trace programme after announcing it would axe 6000 national contact tracers. the plan is to strengthen regional tracing which could mean tracers

turning up on the doorstep if they can't get through to people by phone. 0ur health correspondent lauren moss reports. if you test positive, nhs test untraceable if you test positive, nhs test u ntra cea ble contact if you test positive, nhs test untraceable contact you to trace people you might have infected. the prime minister has called it a world beating system. england's test and trace programme to tackle coronavirus. and now it is changing. dozens of call handlers are being cut in favour of a closer relationship with local health teams. since its launch in may, the programme's efficiency has been questioned. around one in five people testing positive still are not being reached. one call handler told the bbc has often had nothing told the bbc has often had nothing to do. i'm the person calling the contacts to do. i'm the person calling the co nta cts of to do. i'm the person calling the contacts of somebody who has tested positive for covid. since the end of may i've had a grand total of four holes, only one of which was successful. the others went through to voice mail did not pick up. so the rest of the time i've been literally doing nothing. the new approach will be more targeted.

tracers will use local knowledge to reach out to communities and knock on doors if needed. it's already been used in so—called hotspot areas in leicester and blackburn. the changes are welcomed but one scientist, also a liberal democrat councillor, says it should have been this way from the start. i feel a pang of sadness that it has taken so long to do the obvious, which was to enable the local experts to take pa rt enable the local experts to take part ina enable the local experts to take part in a unprecedented pandemic that we have never experienced the like before. a lot of local experts have been completely bypassed. i'm calling from the london coronavirus response cell. ministers say the system is as good as if not better than most other countries which publish data. in the past ten weeks, our teams have made contact with a quarter of a million different people. that's a significant effort, starting this from scratch and getting it up and running and what

we are doing now is flexing it on the basis of what we have learned from local lockdowns and how they work. a contact tracing app which was trialled on the isle of wight was trialled on the isle of wight was scrapped in june. was trialled on the isle of wight was scrapped injune. another is to be tested in england before winter. the measures will likely keep evolving to try and stay on top of the virus that has changed so many lives. some news coming into us from the metropolitan police, who are saying that the police are investigating the racist murder of stephen lawrence have now said that all identified lines of enquiry have been completed and that the enquiry has now moved to an inactive phase. cressida dick, the metropolitan police commissioner, saying that this was an appalling racist murder. iam sad this was an appalling racist murder. i am sad that we have been unable to secure further convictions for stephen, his family and friends, the investigation has now moved to an

inactive phase, says cressida dick, but she says she has given his family sure is that they will continue to do with any new information that comes to light. she said they were able to secure to admit convictions following the investigation in 2012 but it's known there were other suspects involved that night and it's deeply frustrating that they have been unable to bring them to justice. that's the latest in from the metropolitan police, that statement from its commissioner, cressida dick. now it's time for a look at the weather with chris fawkes. hello again, more hot, sunny, humid weather. sturm is to get going across england and wales could be torrential. eastern scotland will get some storms and does could turn out to be slow—moving, one area will have to keep a close watch on. another humid day, top temperatures again moving well into the

mid 30s across the south—east. overnight tonight, further storms for eastern scotland, one or two across england and wales, leaving north—eastwards of time, some are again bringing torrential rain, lots of thunder and lightning, and another hot night for heading to bed, temperatures still up heading to bed, temperatures still up at 27 at 11 o'clock. tomorrow, one batch of storms clears northward from scotland and england and wales, a much greater chance of seeing some thunderstorms, particularly late in the day, some of these will bring torrential bursts of rain with the risk some localised flash flooding.

this is bbc news, i'm ben brown. the headlines: the number of people in work falls by the largest

amount in over a decade, more evidence of the impact of the lockdown. obviously what we want to see is a return to economic vitality and health and some parts of the economy undoubtedly showing great resilience but clearly there are going to be bumpy months ahead and a long, long way to go. back to school in scotland, as the government there sets out what it's doing about thousands of pupils who've had their exam results downgraded. the uk and france meet to discuss a new plan to deter migrants from crossing the channel to the uk. we have reaffirmed our unshakeable, shared commitment to making sure this route of crossing the channel is made unviable. russia claims to have produced the world's first coronavirus vaccine — and president putin's daughter has been given it. after more than 100 days with no new coronavirus cases, new zealand puts its biggest city auckland back into lockdown

as a family become infected. and an environmental disaster unfolds amid the coral reefs of mauritius as a stricken tanker leaks thousands of tonnes of oil. hello, good afternoon. thank you for being with us. there's stark new evidence today of the devastating economic damage done by the pandemic. employment in the uk has seen the largest fall in over a decade. the number of people in work has dropped by nearly three quarters of a million since the lockdown began. the office for national statistics said the worst hit workers were the youngest and oldest workers, and those in manual occupations. and it's just been announced that

two and a half thousand jobs have been lost at debenhams. sarah corker reports. no part of the economy has been left unscathed. from restaurant chains to retailers, some of the uk's biggest names have been cutting thousands ofjobs. 0ur streets and offices still far from normal. i've already applied for that one. the party and events company that julie worked for in dorset went bust in may. she's frustrated she rarely hears back from job applications. as more and more businesses every day are collapsing, they are laying out more and more people like myself who've got years of experience who are looking in job adverts every day and thinking, there's just nothing there. there's no end in sight. there's been a big drop in the number of people on the payroll of british companies. since march, 730,000 people left the payroll. last month alone, around 81,000 jobs were lost. the overall unemployment rate

was estimated at 3.9%, largely unchanged, cushioned by the furlough scheme. now, unemployment is going to start to rise in the autumn as people start to look for work and as the job retention schemes starts to unwind from september and october and i think it's well possible we'll see unemployment above 3 million, potentially reaching 4 million by the end of the year. there were more warnings signs from the aviation sector today — passenger traffic at heathrow plunged 88% in july. the outlook for the hospitality sector though is improving. the government's eat out to help 0ut scheme, half price meals throughout august, has given the hospitality sector a welcome boost. in its first week it was used 10.5 million times. but will it be enough to persuade businesses to hang on to staff in the months ahead? and this lunchtime there's more grim news for the high street, debenhams is cutting 2,500 jobs at stores and warehouses. while figures suggest

older workers are often the hardest hit. obviously what we want to see is a return to economic vitality and health, and some parts of the economy undoubtedly showing great resilience but clearly there will be bumpy months ahead and a long, long way to go. after a lifetime in work, at 63, keith was furloughed in march and then made redundant injuly. he'd worked as a financial controller for a derbyshire firm for 14 years. someone said to me that if you're looking for experience, you're looking for experience. yes, but how many years experience? 10, 20, 30. most companies would look at the long—term prospect. how does that make you feel? it makes me feel that i've got to fight a bit harder. the chancellor said today the government has a clear plan to support and create jobs to ensure nobody is left without hope. but economists have warned

unemployment will continue to rise in the months ahead. sarah corker, bbc news. pupils in scotland have begun returning to classrooms for the first time since lockdown began nearly five months ago. schools in the borders and shetland are the first to reopen. it comes as the scottish government sets out today how it will deal with the growing row over downgraded exam results. this is the scottish parliament. we are awaiting the education secretaryjohn swinney who is due to make a statment very shortly to msps about this year's exam results. around 125,000 of them were downgraded, huge pressure on the scottish government. the opposition have described the affair as a shambles, a fiasco. we will be interested to see whatjohn swinney

will say. he was due to speak at 2:50pm, that has been delayed. nicola sturgeon, the first minister, has apologised for the downgrading of so many exam results in scotland and said the scottish cup and will put it right. we will find out the details from john swinney, hopefully in the next few minutes. —— has said the scottish government will put it right. the problems with exam grades experienced in scotland could be mirrored across the uk with a level results due out later this week. universities have been asked to hold open places for students who may appeal against their grades. sean dilley reports. pupils in scotland are not the only one learning from their first day back in the classroom. schools and teachers in england will be watching closely to see what lessons they can take a of their return in september. we have some hay, some straw. can we incorporate that? yesterday, the westminster government pointed to an as yet unpublished report by public health england that they say will

show younger children are less likely to contract covid—19 than adults. spin on 24 hours and they seem less keen to discuss another expected finding that older pupils could be as likely to spread the infection as the general population. but the prime minister says he is confident schools will be ready. i think schools and teachers over the summer and in these few months have done a fantasticjob of getting their schools ready. we are leaving this package because we can hear from john swinney we are leaving this package because we can hearfrom john swinney in we are leaving this package because we can hear from john swinney in the parliament. i see for some the sqa result process maid that was. we set out to ensure that the system was fair, we set out to ensure it was credible but we did not get it right for all the young people. before i go any further, i want to apologise for that. and speaking directly to the young people affected by the downgrading of awards, the 75,000

people is his teacher estimates were higher than the final award, i want to say this, i am sorry. as sorry as iam,i to say this, i am sorry. as sorry as iam, i know an to say this, i am sorry. as sorry as i am, i know an apology is not enough. i watch the pictures of the spirited, articulated young people demonstrating in george square on friday. i have spoken directly to pupils irate to me, to nicole tate, lord —— lauren steel, one to thank them for the passion and clarity they built to the discussion is —— i have wrote to the pupils. the message is clear. they do not want an apology only, they want to see the specs and this is exactly what i will now do. the exceptional circumstances of this year meant it was not safe to hold exams in the spring. i said we would need to do our utmost to ensure that we protect the interest at the life chances of a young people who were due to

sit exams. it has always been imperative that the achievements had to be rightly and fairly recognise. i wanted the 2020 cohort to be able to hold their heads high and gain the qualifications and awards that they deserve after many years of hard work. covid meant there was no established process for how to achieve this. all of us had to be developed at pace after we announced that school is required to close on the 20th of march. i asked the sqa to develop an alternative approach to develop an alternative approach to sophistication to ensure young people could receive awards this year —— to certification. they developed a model and involved moderation of these estimates across all centres to maintain standards. this resulted in an increase in the pass rate at national five of 2.9%, at higher at 4.2%, and

advance high of 5.5%. before i go any further, let me congratulate the tens of thousands of young people who achieved that strong result. but the system also meant that some pupils did not receive the awards they felt they were capable of achieving and that the teachers believe they deserved. the focus has, understandably, been on the impact of young people from deprived backgrounds. the defining mission of this government is to do all that we can to improve the life chances of children and young people living in poverty and we have focus intensely on that mission throughout this parliament. the fact is, the results last week produced higher increases in the pass rate amongst young people from deprived backgrounds than from any other group. i commend these young people on their achievements, but that picture does not disguise nor distract from the clear anger and frustration among some young people and their families

about the results. that anger stems from the unfairness they feel is at the heart of the model for certification that we put in place. this process relied on the professionaljudgment of this process relied on the professional judgment of teachers and lecturers and we know that it was subsequently the case that the overwhelming majority, around three quarters of these great estimates, we re quarters of these great estimates, were not adjusted to —— grade estimates. this is a demonstration of the strength within our teaching profession, the sound understanding of qualification sank through curriculum for excellence. i want to thank the teaching profession for the care and attention that went into making every individual estimated grade. the estimates received in may showed an increase in attainment at grades a to c, by 14 percentage points far higher and 13.4% percent points for

advanced highers. these estimates, if awarded without moderation, would have represented a very significant increase in the pass rate across the board and a one—year change without president and scottish exam history. to ensure that they carried out what they asked of them, that the results we re they asked of them, that the results were to be certificated on the basis of maintaining standards across all centres, the sqajudge of maintaining standards across all centres, the sqa judge that increases of this nature could not be sustained without moderation. moderation is not a new process, it is an annual process and is widespread across all countries where exams take place. it helps to ensure the standards are maintained over time. in previous years, moderation was applied to quality assure assessment centre and judgments of performance. they say, it was applied to teacher and lecturer estimates. they sqa have provided a significant amount of information regarding how their

methodology works, which i will not restate again today. some have called for this to have been done earlier but every year, they provide the details of the marking methodology on results day. whilst the methodology has changed this year, the principle remains the same as publishing on results day. moderation methodology consisted of both national and local moderation and was robust and based on a number of principles which the sqa have set out. there was also dust rack always going to be a risk with this approach but despite best efforts, some learners would see a great adjusted in a way that did not reflect their own potential. —— make a great adjusted. that is why they included an free appeals process from the outset in their approach. asa from the outset in their approach. as a result of this process, 134,000 teacher estimates were adjusted, with just teacher estimates were adjusted, withjust under 76,000 teacher estimates were adjusted, with just under 76,000 candidates having one or more of their grades

are having one or more of their grades a re lowered having one or more of their grades are lowered when compared to the teacher estimate. despite the headline improvements in the past rate at national five, higher and advanced higher, despite the fact that the pass rate amongst pupils increased at a sharper rate than those in the least deprived committees, and despite the fact that there was progress in closing the attainment gap, the result is that many young people feeling that their future had been that many young people feeling that theirfuture had been determined by statistical modelling rather than their own capability and capacity. that is left a feeling of unfairness in the minds of young people. i drove three conclusions from all of this. firstly, we were concerned that grade inflation through accepting the original estimates from teachers would run the risk of undermining the value of qualifications in 2020. in the light of events and of listening to young people, we now accept

that concern, which is not without foundation, is outweighed by the concern that young people, particularly from working—class backgrounds, may lose faith in the education system and form the view that no matter how ha rd form the view that no matter how hard you work, the system is against you. education is the route out of poverty for young people in deprived communities and we cannot risk allowing that view to take hold. secondly, there is a view that relying on teacherjudgment this year alone may give young people an incomparable advantage with pupils and other years. that view has to be weighed against the masses disadvantage that covid has given young people through the loss of schooling, limited social interaction, pressure on mental well—being and, in some cases, the heartbreak of bereavement. perhaps our approach to maintaining standards for the 2020 cohort, alongside every other year, even though 2020 is so unique, did

not fully understand the trauma of covid for this c0 group and did not appreciate that a different approach may actually help to even things out —— for this year group. sadly, this year and must be seen as unique. 2020 has turned our society upside down and it cannot fairly be compared to previous years and nor can it set out in automatic precedent for future years. it perhaps merits taking a different approach in relation to certification. before i move on to how to resolve this issue, i want to be clear today about the role of the scottish qualifications authority. as i've said already, i asked the sqa to ensure that the qualifications of 2020 would be comparable to the qualifications of any other year, despite the extra ordinary times in which we are living in. the sqa undertook the task i set them and did so in good faith and i make no criticism of their actions in so doing. i

am grateful to everyone at the sqa for the professional approach that they have taken. i was therefore now set out how to i intend to resolve this issue. i can give vent to parliament today that all downgraded awards will be withdrawn. using powers available to me in the education scotla nd available to me in the education scotland act 1996, i am today directing the sqa to reissue those awards based solely on teacher or lecturerjudgments. schools will be able to confirm the estimates they provided for pupils to those who are returning to school this week and next. the sk will issue fresh certificates to affected candidates as soon as possible and importantly will inform ucas and other admission bodies of the new grades as soon as practical in the coming days to allow for applications to college and university to be progress. as the first minister confirmed yesterday, in those cases where moderation led to an increase carried, lenders will not lose

that award. many of the young people will have moved on to secure college or university places on the strength of the awards made to them. to unpick them now when not in any way be fair. due to the unique circumstances of the situation, we will dizzy make provision for enough places in universities and colleges ensure that no one is crowded out of the place they would have otherwise been awarded. the outcomes for the 2020 sqa national qualifications this year will be updated and revised statistical release will be available from the 31st of august. however, i can confirm that the provisional revised 2020 results, based on the professionaljudgments of the teachers and lecturers can be summarised as follows. a national five past rate of 88.9%, this is 10.7% highest than 2019. i higher pass rate of

89.2%, 14.4 percentage points higher than 2019. advanced higher pass rate of 93.1%, which is 13.7% higher than 2019. ican 13.7% higher than 2019. i can also confirm that the final you had lyme results for national five and hires an advance eyes will be published by the 21st of august —— i can also confirm that the final results for national five, hires and advanced highers. there remains the need for the option of an appeal in some circumstances and detail on this will be set up by the end of the week. presiding officer, there are many lessons we need to learn from my experience through this pandemic and the difficult decisions we have had to make in unprecedented circumstances. the 2020 sqa results have sparked a lot of debate about the future of assessment and qualifications in scotland and the

best way to recognise manners' achievements. we have already commissioned the 0ecd to review for excellence. this curriculum designed, it includes looking at our approach to assessment, qualifications and other achievements and how well they articulate with the curriculum, learning and teaching. we will work with our partners at the 0ecd with a view to extending the remit of the curriculum for excellence review, to include recommendations on how to transform the scottish approach to assessment and qualifications, based on base doctors globally. even before a broader review takes place however, we need to quickly look at the immediate lessons of this year's awards process. coronavirus has not gone away and while we expect next yea r‘s thumbs to gone away and while we expect next year's thumbs to go ahead, we need to put in place the right plans to make sure we don't find ourselves in the same situation again —— makdessi's exams. many teachers will

be keen to understand the arrangements for national qualifications in 2021. the education recovery group has discussed a number of options in relation to this and i can find the sqa will begin a rapid consultation exercise on changes later this week. including consideration of key issues of increasing options and question papers, removing components of assessment and adjusting the amount of evidence required in coursework touts. i'm announcing independent review will be led by professor mark priestley at stirling university. it will look at results following the cancellation of the exam diet. there is to be considered include the advice provided to awarding centres by the sqa and local authorities, the approach developed in relation to estimating learners' grades, teacher estimates, the moderation methodology used by the sqa, the proposed appeals process,

the impact on young people and their families, transparency and the role of scrutiny in the process and feedback received from teachers and lecturers on the grades awarded last week. given the urgency, asked for a national report with recommendations on how we should go forward this coming year within five weeks. these are exceptional times and exceptional times truly difficult decisions have to be made. it is deeply regrettable that we got this wrong and i am sorry for that. we have a to young people and i hope all will now feel satisfied that they have achieved the grades that they have achieved the grades that the teachers and lecturers judge that they deserved. i assure parliament that we will look to learn lessons from the process of awarding qualifications this year, that will help to form any future actions. finally, iwould like that will help to form any future actions. finally, i would like to thank all of scotland's children, young people and adult learners for the incredible resilience they have shown throughout the covid—19 pandemic. we are immensely proud of

all they have achieved. i hope that authors might now move forward confidently to the next step in education, employment or training with the qualifications that teachers or lecturers have judged with the qualifications that teachers or lecturers havejudged or deserved. has placed at times unbearable pressures on hustle and i wish our line as well and building on the achievements they have been awarded justifiably in this most difficult of days. applause the cabinet secretary will now take questions raised on issues in his statement. i will allow 40 minutes for that. it would be helpful if members who wish to ask a question would press the request to speak but are now. i: jamie greene, —— i now call onjamie greene. thank you. i want to thank teachers for their forbearance to others. i would like to thank the

government secretary for the advance side of his statement, all 18 pages of it. the longest resignation speech in history, minus the resignation. he promised dialogue, openness and fairness for all. what did we get instead ? fairness for all. what did we get instead? and fairness for all. what did we get instead ? and methodology fairness for all. what did we get instead? and methodology clouded in secret, a lack of transparency, engagement, teachers were ignored, a postcode lottery which disgracefully penalises those from our communities, a grading process to put the system ahead of the individual, and endless denial that there was a problem with any of this. just last week the educational secretary said there was no evidence that young people in deprived communities had been disadvantaged. he was backed by the first minister the whole way. today both of them, forced into an apology and a humiliating u—turn. there remain questions to be answered.

lenny is the deputy first minister, who signed off the adoption of this methodology in the first place? was at the cabinet or the sqa? more importantly, why was this approach agreed, pursued and defended so vigorously by him and his government? secondly, how will he physically ensure that those who are eligible for university place will get one, given the implications of his comments today? finally, whilst i welcome the announcement of a short—term enquiry into this fiasco, something the conservatives have been calling for, given the importance of the wider 0ecd review to scottish education, will he commit to bringing forward the publication of that vital report and before may 2021? john swinney. in relation to some of the earlier comments that mr green made, he made reference to the comments that i

made last week about the fact that young people from deprived backgrounds had not been disadvantaged by the methodology that was taken forward, and the evidence i would cite for that is the evidence i used in my statement, which was at higher, for example, amongst the pupils and the most deprived committees, the pass rate increase by 4.6%. in the least deprived communities, increased by 2.996. deprived communities, increased by 2.9%. demonstrating that the pass rate in the most deprived communities increased at a faster pace than in the least deprived communities, so that is the evidence for it. i have set out in my statement the understanding that i have for the sense of hurt that young people, who were predicted to do better, but did not get the awards they were entitled to, that i had to be addressed and i've remedied that in my statement today. now, on the

question of the methodology, i want to be crystal clear about all of this. i set the sqa a task on the task was to ensure that we maintain standards. i did not prescribe how that was to be done because, and if i quote the words of professor lindsay paterson, who has frequently cited by the conservatives to me as an expert i should listen to, professor lindsay paterson said, at the weekend, politicians cannot be seen to be interfering in examining. that would not be acceptable. that is why we have an independent sqa. i am conscious that i have just interfered in examining, so i put my hands up and before the weiss comics in the back of the labour benches stumble onto that, i accept that point. the point that professor pattison is making is that decisions

have to be taken on examination standards by an independent body and thatis standards by an independent body and that is the arrangement here. the government sets the task, saying that we won standards to be maintained and the sqa developed a methodology to enable that to be the case. the approach was pursued because we had to replace the exams that were unable to happen. that is why the methodology had to be put in place to enable it to be the case. in relation to the eligibility for university places, young people will be, many thousands of young people have had awards which have enabled them to take up places already and there will be more young people who will be able to take up places subsequently to the announcement i have made today. in relation to the 0ecd review, the 0ecd review will ta ke

0ecd review, the 0ecd review will take place as soon as practically the 0ecd can undertake that task, given the travel restrictions that have affected us as a consequence of covid. the 0ecd are ready to take forward that work and the government is entirely committed to that been undertaken at the earliest possible opportunity. i've explained to parliament before that the issues around the travel restrictions and the travel difficulties have prevented us taking forward that review in the early period that we would have invested. —— envision. iain gray. this one is very, very welcome. the restoration of pupils's achievements based on the teachers who know them as a victory for fairness and common sense and above all for the young people who refuse

to ta ke all for the young people who refuse to take this injustice lying down. but it begs so many questions about how on earth it came to this. well the education secretary explain why he did not listen to warnings in april, may, june, injuly that the six exactly what was going to happen? and when it did happen, why did he not act immediately? why did he defend the results of the moderation for five days? why was there no contrition, no apology, no u—turn until now why did he live stacey and people twisting in the wind for a week, hopes and aspirations in shreds? why did he leave these young people. i commend him for taking responsibility now and trying to fix this but i ask him, will he take full responsibility for it happening in the first

place and resign? presiding officer, i take responsibility for my actions and i have come here to do what i think in people in scotland would want me to do, and that is to fix it, and i have done that right away at the earliest possible opportunity, and i have explained this department. —— i have explained this department. —— i have explained this to parliament. and i have done that openly and honestly in front of parliament, to make sure that parliament could hear my explanation, which is my duty, to make sure it is done here in parliament. i'm interested in the fa ct parliament. i'm interested in the fact that iain gray welcomes the steps that we have taken and the approach that has been taken, i would simply point out to him that the methodology that he has criticised here is a methodology thatis criticised here is a methodology that is being used in countless

other jurisdictions around that is being used in countless otherjurisdictions around the world to address those issues, used in other parts of the united kingdom and in other parts of the world. what we have recognised here is that the application of that methodology has created an injustice and an unfairness to young people, and i have come to parliament to remedy it. iam have come to parliament to remedy it. i am glad have come to parliament to remedy it. iam glad i have have come to parliament to remedy it. i am glad i have done it and i hope that young people take heart from their action and their protests on these questions, that the government has responded to the points they have put in front of us. we will move now to open questions, andi we will move now to open questions, and i have quite a lot to get through. please bear that in mind. first of all, claire adams to be followed by ross greer.” first of all, claire adams to be followed by ross greer. i think the minister for followed by ross greer. i think the ministerfor his followed by ross greer. i think the

minister for his statement. there have been two reviews into what has happened in the short term come into the process this year and a long—term review into the assessment on whether we have the balance right, can the deputy first minister ensure that the views of young people come off teachers, of employers and other stakeholders will be part of this review to ensure we have complete confidence across the board going forward? presiding officer, she raises an important point about the balance within our assessment system between exams and other forms of assessment. there is an absolutely legitimate discussion to be had there, and we can have that discussions within the review undertaken by the 0ecd, which will of course engage very widely within all of our education community in scotland, and the review that professor mark priestley will undertake will lips specifically —— looked specifically

about the issues in this particular approach, and there will be engagement with young people and with a range of stakeholders is a pa rt with a range of stakeholders is a part of the process. thank you, presiding officer, my colleagues and i congratulate the pupils and teachers without his campaigning this would not have happened. i do congratulate that the government have adopted all four of the proposals the greens put them to resolve the situation but this should never have happened in the first place, can i ask the deputy first minister when he became aware of the numberof first minister when he became aware of the number of grades lowered by moderation and the disproportionate number lowered moderation and the disproportionate numberlowered in moderation and the disproportionate number lowered in working class communities, why he did not do it something about it at that point, does he regret the refusal to publish the methodology when it was twice requested by parliament and does he acknowledge that one of the many fatal errors in this process was the sqa's refusal to engage with teachers his professional judgment the cabinet secretary regular the praises? on the specific point of when i became aware of the

moderation outcomes, that was on thursday before the results came out, when i was able to be given pre—access, prerelease access to the statistics, and by that stage there was no conceivable way in which i could change the distribution of awards. i will come back to the point that under arrangements, the sqa is an independent awarding body which acts independently of government, and it would be inappropriate in the circumstances, for the government to do that, although i accept i'm coming here to parliament today to exercise my statutory powers of direction. on the second point, about the publication of methodology, i appreciate that this is a point that mrgreer appreciate that this is a point that mr greer has pursued on a number of occasions. but i explained the rationale for the sqa's stance on that matter in my statement, but essentially, the methodology is integral to the awarding process and therefore published on results day along with the approach

to marketing, which essentially would be the replacement of the marking approach that the sqa would normally have undertaken. and finally, on the issue of the engagement with members of the teaching profession, the sqa have set out that one of the difficulties of undertaking that engagement was the difficulty of ensuring that that could be undertaken on an equitable basis across all centres, there are about 500 across all centres, there are about 50 0 ce ntres across all centres, there are about 500 centres that undertake some assessment and they could not satisfy themselves that they would be able to fulfil their equalities duties across the board to all centres by the nature of the dialogue that mr greer raises with me. and that was the reason that was not pursued. willie rennie. he embraces a solution that he trashed just last week. how

can we have confidence in an education secretary who undermines our education system in sucha who undermines our education system in such a reckless way? john swinney told students to historical performance of their school would not affect the results, but it did. he was given another way but ignore it. he was asked to publish the methodology early but refused. he had plenty of time to fix this but did not. doesjohn swinney not understand that he is not part of the problem, not the solution? john swinney. presiding officer, what i have done throughout this exercise is to try to ensure that young people in situation of extremists we re people in situation of extremists were able to be awarded qualifications when they were unable

to sit examinations for which they we re to sit examinations for which they were preparing. —— a situation of extremis. that's a wholly difficult and inconceivable situation that we face ina and inconceivable situation that we face in a very short space of time. so what i did was respect the independence of the scottish publications authority and set it to the task, a very difficult task, of designing an approach to certification that respected the independence of the sqa and that would give young people the ability to have their achievements properly and fairly certificated on a comparable basis to other years. that is what the approach that we took. i accept that as a consequence of that, young people have felt that, some young people have thought that, some young people have thought that their achievements have not been properly recorded and certificated, and i have no remedy that today. where i have listened and paid attention to the concerns that have been put to

me, that is what i should do in difficult and challenging circumstances, and i am pleased we have been able to rectify this matter on behalf of the young people the length and breadth of scotla nd people the length and breadth of scotland today. parents, pupils and teachers believe that the cabinet secretary should have rejected out of hand the previous methodology for awards as soon as he so how and where the impact of these changes would full. we have just landed his answer would full. we have just landed his answeergreer would full. we have just landed his answer mr greer that would full. we have just landed his answeergreerthat he would full. we have just landed his answer mr greer that he actually has had an additional five days to decide whether to change or whether to challenge those results, and i would ask him to clarify in his answer why he chose to defend the impact that has become so apparent. but i would also add that this whole sorry story, today's desperate u—turn could have been avoided if the initial methodology had been subject to proper scrutiny by the cabinet secretary ahead of the indies, and with that in mind, can the cabinet secretary outline what consultation has taken place with

external organisations on this new approach ahead of his announcement today and any concerns that they have raised? on the last point that you raise, this is a decision which has been arrived at after i have listened carefully to the views of young people, discussions with the scottish qualification is authority, discussions i've taken forward with representatives of our universities, and listening to the views of teachers and parents as part of the process. so i have announced the decision is today which have been formulated as a consequence of that dialogue. in relations to the point he raises about the methodology, i come back to my fundamental answer that we have operated on the basis in scotland, and it's not unique to scotland, it's commonplace

in many, many systems around the world, that awarding bodies operate independently of government. government sets the task, the task which i set my have been very open with parliament, is that there should be a certification model developed that would maintain standards, and that is exactly what has been, what was developed by the sqa. it resulted, as i have said, in an increase in the pass rate. it resulted in an improved performance for young people from deprived backgrounds at a greater rate than those from the least deprived backgrounds, and as a consequence of that, it resulted in a closure of, a closing of the poverty —related attainment gap, so on a number of those measures, the results indicated significant progress. at the methodology also recognised that there could be individual cases that we re there could be individual cases that were not... that left young people feeling disadvantaged, and there was

an appeals mechanism built into the approach from the very outset that would enable young people to appeal, so all of that was a system that was in place to enable the awards to be undertaken in circumstances where young people could not present their own work through the normal run of examinations. does he agree that in the display of breathtaking opportunism and cynicism, tory and labour mps have shown less concern for scottish educational pupils in the desperation to attack this government, and had circumstances been different, these same mps would been different, these same mps would bejumping up and been different, these same mps would be jumping up and down the crying falling standards, as they will be doing next year should passes return to pre—pandemic levels. and

can he adjust the level coursework expected, given that people from less well—off backgrounds will not have the same level of access to tutors which better of peoples will enjoy? part of what the government has taken forward is the work to specifically help young people in deprived backgrounds through the scottish attainment challenge, which we are trying to ensure there is extra investment in schools where young people come from deprived backgrounds, to support their attainment, said the government is actively trying to counterbalance theissue actively trying to counterbalance the issue that mr gibson puts to me today. he also highlights the question with which was at the heart of the direction i give to the sqa some months ago, but maintenance of standards. that there had to be consideration given to the

credibility of awards from one year to another. i accepted in these exceptional circumstances, that can be wheezed in the decisions that i taken today, but it is a legitimate issue to be concerned about, to ensure that young people can have quality and the standards of qualifications that they are achieving. danieljohnson, for by strand macmillan. achieving. danieljohnson, for by str and macmillan. the cabinet secretary promises crystal clarity on the decision—making process but i don't think we've got that clarity. cani don't think we've got that clarity. can i ask of the cabinet secretary signed off on the use of a purely statistical method of moderation, and given that the decision was clearly of national significance given the u—turn today, was that a decision that was signed off by the cabinet and when that decision take place? i thought i had given clarity at that point, the design of the methodology was the responsibility of the sqa to respond to the direction that i had given them to design a model that would maintain

standards with comparable performance between individual yea rs, performance between individual years, as is the normal expectation of the sqa. stuart mcmillan, to be followed by liz smith. thank you, presiding officer. i received a lot of correspondence from constituents about the results, i'm sure they will be pleased with today's statement, today's actions that demonstrate that the government does listen. can the government demonstrate no detriment to deprive communities as a foundation stone for the views that are to take place? that issue lies at the heart of the government's policy agenda and the closure of the property related attainment gap, the steps we're taking to invest heavily in the scottish attainment the commitments we have made to concentrate on tackling the issues that underpin the existence of the

property related attainment gap, at the measures we will take forward in education policy. what exam results will do and assessment results will do it will be to capture the progress that we are making in that respect and obviously, i have set out some of the issues that we will have to wrestle with in the comparability of results between 2020 and other years as a consequence of the change to the approach we have taken in awarding this year. thank you. does the deputy first minister now accept that the utter fiasco of what happened last week has actually exposed fundamental failings in the whole system, that the sqa is not merely transparent enough, it is the only body in the uk that will not permit the exam scripts to be returned to the candidate, and to the school, and will he review that so that we do not go through this lack of transparency again? i'm very happy to raise the issue of

exam scripts with the sqa, but there's a slight problem this you that there aren't any exam scripts to return to pupils because they didn't sit the exams. i'm very happy to raise that issue with the sqa, and to try to provide a satisfactory answer to liz smith. we're not going to get through all these questions if we don't have shorter questions and answers generally, please, i call ruth maguire. can i thank the deputy first minister for listening and taking action, and ask with a going forward , taking action, and ask with a going forward, the sqa will assess the impact of moderation on all marginalised and disadvantaged groups? that is part of the statutory responsibility of the sqa in relation to its equality duties, and the equalities impact assessment and the equalities impact assessment and the equal rights impact assessment have all been published by the sk for screening

on this issue have that were cut by the sqa for screening on this issue and will be undertaken i welcome the u—turn, it is important we put individual stu d e nts it is important we put individual students above an algorithm that simply ignored the judgment of professional teachers. the review does not include examining the actions of the scottish government but i believe it is essential we understand what went wrong. when the cabinet secretary was at one time and again, did he ask questions on the methodology, did he ask for it to be modelled, what direction did he give to the sqa before results we re he give to the sqa before results were published, was there any attempt to stop the car crash? the cabinet secretary needs to publish all the papers and minutes to enable proper scrutiny. we now do so? that's what will he now do so? i'm sure that what documentation we need to publish, we will publish, but the point i'm making in expanding the approach to the design of the methodology is a very

important one, because as a jackie baillie will know, the sqa is an independent awarding body. it is set up by government but it is not controlled operationally by government. there are exceptional powers which i have used but in the ordinary scheme of things we believe it is important for examination results to be awarded by an independent body, and that's what it's happened appropriately on this occasion. obviously we will respond to any request for information we receive, but fundamentally at the heart of thejudgment the but fundamentally at the heart of the judgment the sqa has to make but fundamentally at the heart of thejudgment the sqa has to make is thejudgment the sqa has to make is the ability to exercise independent decision—making on important issues of this type. presiding officer, i raised concerns of the cabinet secretary about how the appeals process may not deliver fairness for all peoples. i am pleased that they with his actions, young people will no longer need to appeal. however, as we learn the

lessons of this, will the cabinet secretary ensure there is an examination of all the elements which the press degrades of some young people particularly within deprived communities, and in that examination, can we have a look at the waterfall effect where the sqa effectively set how many young people in scotland will secure in leche and subsequent a downgrade across all groups and meaning peoples in deprived communities have another breed? —— how many young people will secure an a. all examination methodology on an annual basis, if we, this is the point in my statement about moderation, moderation is not a new issue. moderation is applied on an annual basis to ensure that standards are maintained from one year to another, and that was what was the foundation of the approach that was taken here. if we want to,

as i have signalled in my answer, there are different ways in which we can assess performance. we have habitually operated on this basis, i think that basis has generally come under confidence, indeed, i have not had pressure on the as education secretary to change that methodology at any stage in the past. so i take from that the parliament has been confident in that methodology. now, the 0ecd review can explore some of these questions and examine if that is the right way to proceed, and as i say, there is a very legitimate debate to be had on that question. and the government will happily engage in it. thank you, presiding officer. does the cabinet secretary understand after listening to all the questions from colleagues today that he has let down so many people over the last four months and that he cannot be the person to take this new approach forward? well,

obviously, i take a different view to her, but these issues will be properly resolved through the process of parliament and i will leave parliament to determine these issues. thank you, presiding officer, as the msp for cowdenbeath constituency i would like to very much welcome the cabinet secretary's announcement today, for he has listened and has acted. for the parents of young people in my constituency who have contacted me about concerns about ungraded results, can the cabinet secretary provide a bit more clarity as to when they may expect to receive new grades, because they will be desperate for that oral and written confirmation. and also, could the cabinet secretary just clarify confirmation. and also, could the cabinet secretaryjust clarify the status of the original friday the 14th august deadline appeals? i

would assume that in generality, that data is no longer relevant. we will set out further clarity later this week of the circumstances in which i expect to be much more limited, in which appeals will be considered, because obviously, we are taking a very different approach on awarding. in relation to the confirmation of results, schools will be able to indicate young people the estimates that they submitted on behalf of individual young people, and the sqa will certificate, will issue new certificates as soon as it's possible to do so. i cannot give a definitive timescale to annabelle ewing today, but i do assure parliament that that will be done soon since it to do so. —— as soon as it is physically possible to do so. one of the saddest stories this week was that of a people from benbecula, for the cabinet

secretary mentioned. i welcome that her grades will be amended but young people in our island community already face significant barriers in education and in the wake of this fiasco, and and in the wake of this fiasco, and an embarrassing u—turn, what action will the snp government to take to ensure pupils like herare will the snp government to take to ensure pupils like her are not placed at any further disadvantage? i had the pleasure of speaking to let people —— that pupil yesterday, and one thing we discussed was the thing which she had benefited from... i spoke with stonewall high school, dunoon grammar, the people who had undertaken a psychology capital might hire which is not possible to be undertaken within dunoon grammar but was possible within the e school which the government has

funded. there were also pupils from forest academy, from aboyne academy, and for kirkwall grammar school, and an institute in stornoway, who along with eva, our utilising the e—sgoil, a tremendous investment in digital learning which boat as opportunities for young people in remote communities, enables them to take subjects they will ordinarily not be able to take, and overcomes the re m ote ness able to take, and overcomes the remoteness disadvantage... we will leave mr swinney their in the scottish parliament, facing a pretty torrid time as he tries to deal with that crisis for the scottish government over the downgrading of awards for pupils, around 125,000 people in scotland had had their exa m people in scotland had had their exam words downgraded. there is a downgrade awards are now withdrawn, the original when throw reinstated

to stop it was described by opposition members of the scottish parliament is a desperate, humiliating u—turn, a climb down, some young people had been left twisting in the wind, it was said. butjohn swinney twisting in the wind, it was said. but john swinney apologised, twisting in the wind, it was said. butjohn swinney apologised, he said, we did not get it right for all young people, iam said, we did not get it right for all young people, i am sorry, said, we did not get it right for all young people, iam sorry, he said, butan all young people, iam sorry, he said, but an apology is not enough. there will be much more reaction and analysis of that announcement coming up analysis of that announcement coming up at the top of the hour. let's get a weather forecast first. hello again. over the next few days it is going to stay very hot indeed, with temperatures only slowly dropping later in the week. it means we have more of this hot, sunny, humid weather to come over the next few days, but we'll also get some huge thundery downpours building in in places, bringing torrential rain, so there will be a few communities that get hits with scenes like this, with the risk of some flash flooding to come. through the rest of today, not many showers across england and wales, but across wales, the midlands, southern england, the one or two that do get going could bring some torrential downpours.

eastern scotland will certainly see some torrential downpours, and some of these could be quite slow moving so perhaps an issue or two for eastern scotland later on. another very hot day, temperature 34, 35 celsius or so in the hottest areas. temperature 34, 35 celsius and then overnight tonight further storms across eastern scotland, one or two across england and wales pushing north—eastwards with time. again, lots of thunder and lightning in these. and it is going to be another very hot night for heading off to sleep, temperature 11pm, still up at 27 degrees in the centre of london, 24 in birmingham. wednesday sees early storms clearing northwards across scotland. it will be dry for a time across the uk with sunny spells developing, but thunderstorms will be much more widespread, i think, across wales, southern england and the midlands in particular as we head through wednesday afternoon so that is properly where the greatest risk of storm activity and the risk of some flash flooding will be later in the day on wednesday. another hot and humid day of course. a ridge of high pressure will begin

to build in across northern areas of the uk on thursday. that will block storms from developing here, but instead the storms will get trapped across england and wales, some of them bringing some lengthy and potentially torrential downpours as well. the absolute highest temperatures easing a little bit, but it's still hot and it's still very humid across england and wales, with fresher air in the north. for friday, we have still got a number of storms or lengthier outbreaks of rain to come across england and wales. it will continue to feel humid for many areas. scotland and ireland, quite a bit of cloud, a few brighter spells but feeling fresher here, temperatures around 20 degrees or so in glasgow but still very humid across england and wales. and we have a similar weather pattern, really, on into the weekend, with low pressure bringing quite a bit of cloud to england and wales, rain or showers around, feeling humid for england and wales but a few sunny spells for scotland and northern ireland.

full responsibility for it happening in the first place and resign? this is bbc

news, i'm rebecca jones. the headlines: scotland results u—turn — the education secretary there reverses the decision to downgrade the exam grades of thousands of pupils and offers a direct apology to those affected. we set out to ensure that the system was fair. that it was a credible, but we did not get it right for all young people. before i go any further, i want to apologise. the number of people in work falls by the largest amount in over a decade, more evidence of the impact of the lockdown. obviously what we want to see is a return to economic vitality and health and some parts of the economy undoubtedly showing great resilience but clearly there are going to be bumpy months ahead and a long, long way to go. the uk and france meet to discuss a new plan to deter migrants from crossing the channel to the uk. we have reaffirmed our unshakeable, shared commitment to making sure this route of crossing

the channel is made unviable. russia claims to have produced the world's first coronavirus vaccine — and president putin's daughter has been given it. after more than 100 days with no new coronavirus cases, new zealand puts its biggest city auckland back into lockdown as a family become infected. and an environmental disaster unfolds amid the coral reefs of mauritius as a stricken tanker leaks thousands of tonnes of oil. hello, welcome to bbc news.

tens of thousands of pupils in scotland are to have their exam results upgraded, following an outcry over the lowering of some students' grades. in the past hour, scotland's education secretary john swinney apologised for the crisis after the scottish qualifications authority downgraded some of the assessments made by teachers. about 125,000 results were marked down and some pupils in deprived areas felt they were more affected by the process than others. mr swinney told the scottish parliament that a new set of grades would rely on the original input from teachers. i can confirm to parliament today that all downgraded awards will be withdrawn. using powers available to me in the education scotland act 1996, i am today directing the sqa to reissue those awards based solely on teacher or lecturerjudgments. schools will be able

to confirm the estimates they provided for pupils to those that are returning to school this week and next. the sqa will issue fresh certificates to affected candidates as soon as possible and importantly will inform ucas and other admission bodies of the new grades as soon as practical in the coming days to allow for applications to college and university to be progress. as the first minister confirmed yesterday, in those cases where moderation led to an increase grader, learners will not lose that award. many of those young people will have moved on to secure college or university places on the strength of the awards made to them. to unpick them now would not in any way be fair. due to the unique circumstances of the situation, we will this year make provision for enough places in universities and colleges to ensure that no one is crowded out of a place they would have otherwise been awarded.

that wasjohn that was john swinney. i'm joined by the leader of the scottish conservatives, douglas ross. john swinney has apologised, nicola sturgeon has apologised, is that enough? no, for the last week, john swinney and nicola sturgeon have said they had to have this moderation, the downgrading of the marks was correct and 125,000 stu d e nts marks was correct and 125,000 students across scotland, one in four, had their marks lowered because, asjohn four, had their marks lowered because, as john swinney four, had their marks lowered because, asjohn swinney said, the direction the government caved to the sqa led to this. he has made this u—turn today and clearly responded to the concerns of students, teachers, parents have been making every last week, he was deaf to their concerns for much of theirs. this is the latest in a long line of failures by the snp scottish government on education in scotland. john swinney said the approach that the scottish government pursued had

to be pursued because they had to replace exams that could not go ahead because of the pandemic, it's also the system that has been used in other parts of the uk and indeed the world. he has got a point there, hasn't he? yes, he does, but he made it clear in the chamber today, he is the words crystal clear that he whisked his direction as snp to education minister to the sqa that came up with this algorithm that moderated the exam results and saw a disadvantage, pupils with a disadvantaged background, there marks were lowered. that was a direct decision by the snp in scotla nd direct decision by the snp in scotland and he has to be held accountable by that. he said pass rates in the most deprived areas rose faster than in the least deprived areas. higher grades were downgraded to a far greater degree in thus affluent areas than they were in more affluent areas, so it was a postcode lottery a nd affluent areas, so it was a postcode lottery and if you went to school,

regardless of your ability, you're marks were downgraded on your school's postcode rather than the work you had better then, what your teachers had predicted for you and your own abilities. that is unacceptable for the young people in scotland. education is fully devolved in scotland for the last 13 yea rs devolved in scotland for the last 13 years the snp had been in charge of it so they cannot blame anyone else for this. this lies squarely on them. and while the u—turn is welcome, it is the latest in a line of failures by the snp. do you welcome the approach the scottish government is taking now? yes, we back —— way back last week we said we will she go back to the grades that the teachers had predicted. my sister is a teacher here in scotland and she evidence what she was putting forward. go back and look at prelim results, it would have been a sound basis for getting a more accurate mark and also in some cases, allowing people to sit exams. way back last week

we we re to sit exams. way back last week we were suggesting while the snp were still ignoring the clear consent of pupils, students, parents, teachers, we we re pupils, students, parents, teachers, we were coming up with alternatives. they have finally relented on this today, they have kept young people in limbo, anxiety and angerfor over a week and that is unacceptable. acknowledging as you seem to be that they are trying to fix the situation now, hasjohn they are trying to fix the situation now, has john swinney they are trying to fix the situation now, hasjohn swinney done enough to save hisjob or do now, hasjohn swinney done enough to save his job or do you now, hasjohn swinney done enough to save hisjob or do you think he should resign? he must resign. what we got today was a reclamation —— resignation statement without the resignation. they cannot be clearer where responsibility lies in the exams fiasco. this is the same education minister who took forward the deeply damaged named persons legislation, who told people in scotland they would have learning for over a year and had to make a u—turn, who has overseen a limitation and subject

choices for pupils the length and breadth of the country. this is not a one—off, this is a trend of the scottish national party, the scottish, not focusing on the number one project, education, and focusing one project, education, and focusing on the constitution. this shows what happens when you have a government not focused on the best of our country. douglas ross, we must lead you there. good to talk to you. thank you. i want to take you to beirut. live pictures, and many‘s silence is due to be observed one week on from that devastating explosion in beirut. —— a minute's silence. the death toll has risen to 220 with 110 people still missing. bell

tolls applause speaks in own language a moment that you remember that devastating explosion in beirut, exactly devastating explosion in beirut, exa ctly o ne devastating explosion in beirut, exactly one week ago today. 220 people killed, one can still missing, according to the governor of beirut city ——

110. damaging buildings and leaving more than 200,000 people homeless or living in homes with no windows or doors. let's return to education now. the problems with exam grades experienced in scotland could be mirrored across the uk with a level results due out later this week. universities have been asked to hold open places for students who may appeal against their grades. sean dilley reports. pupils in scotland are not the only ones learning from their first day back in the classroom. schools and teachers in england will be watching closely to see what lessons they can take a of their return in september. we have some hay, some straw. can we incorporate that? yesterday, the westminster government pointed to an as yet unpublished report by public health england that they say will show children are less likely to contract covid—19 than adults.

spin on 24 hours and they seem less keen to discuss another expected finding that older pupils could be as likely to spread the infection as the general population. but the prime minister says he is confident schools will be ready. i think schools and teachers over the summer and in these few months have done a fantasticjob of getting their schools ready. i was going around schools yesterday looking at the preparations that are being made both in primary and in secondary to get ready for everybody going back in september. i have no doubt that it can be done safely. schools are doing a huge amount to ensure it is done safely. meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of older learners in england, wales and northern ireland will receive their a—level and other vocational equivalent results on thursday. but as with students in scotland, their results will be predicted, as all exams were cancelled due to the pandemic. here is how it works in england.

firstly, teachers award a grade based on how well they think the student would have performed. schools and colleges send the results to the exam board in order of performance and broken down by grade. the exam board then uses previous average national results and past performance by the school or college to determine the final grade. it's a system that england's education system regulator say was designed to offer confidence in the results, but there are concerns after a nearly identical system in scotland saw around 125,000 grades lowered, because authorities believed exam estimates by teachers were too generous. the former chief inspector of schools in england is concerned that using previous average results could disadvantage hard working learners. even in schools with a history of poor performance, there will be youngsters there who have worked very hard, youngsters who are very bright, who would have done well in that school albeit with a school in difficulty. there will be some youngsters who crammed very late on, whose internal assessments might not be good but have decided in the last few months to really cram and intensively revise,

who would have done well in the exam. the universities minister has written to the vice chancellors in england asking them to hold university places where appeals are lodged. it will be up to universities to decide whether they will hold or withdraw those offers to students. the government says it expects the majority of grades will be correct, but they hope the move will act as a safety net for those who would otherwise be held back. there's stark new evidence today of the devastating economic damage done by the pandemic. employment in the uk has seen the largest fall in over 02:14:45,1000 --> 02:14:46,921 a decade. the number of people in work has dropped by nearly three quarters of a million since the lockdown began. the office for national statistics said the worst hit workers were the youngest and oldest workers, and those in manual

occupations. and it's been announced that 2,500 jobs have been lost at debenhams. sarah corker reports. no part of the economy has been left unscathed. from restaurant chains to retailers, some of the uk's biggest names have been cutting thousands ofjobs. 0ur streets and offices still far from normal. i've already applied for that one. the party and events company that julie worked for in dorset went bust in may. she's frustrated she rarely hears back from job applications. as more and more businesses every day are collapsing, they are laying out more and more people like myself who've got years of experience who are looking in job adverts every day and thinking, there's just nothing there. there's no end in sight. there's been a big drop in the number of people on the payroll of british companies. since march, 730,000 people left the payroll. last month alone, around 81,000 jobs were lost.

the overall unemployment rate was estimated at 3.9%, largely unchanged, cushioned by the furlough scheme. now, unemployment is going to start to rise in the autumn as people start to look for work and as the job retention schemes starts to unwind from september and october and i think it's well possible we'll see unemployment above 3 million, potentially reaching 4 million by the end of the year. there were more warnings signs from the aviation sector today — passenger traffic at heathrow plunged 88% in july. the outlook for the hospitality sector though is improving. the government's eat out to help 0ut scheme, half price meals throughout august, has given the hospitality sector a welcome boost. in its first week it was used 10.5 million times. but will it be enough to persuade businesses to hang on to staff in the months ahead? and this lunchtime there's more grim news for the high street, debenhams is cutting 2,500 jobs at stores and warehouses.

while figures suggest older workers are often the hardest hit. obviously what we want to see is a return to economic vitality and health, and some parts of the economy undoubtedly showing great resilience but clearly there will be bumpy months ahead and a long, long way to go. after a lifetime in work, at 63, keith was furloughed in march and then made redundant injuly. he'd worked as a financial controller for a derbyshire firm for 14 years. someone said to me that if you're looking for experience, you're looking for experience. yes, but how many years experience? 10, 20, 30. most companies would look at the long—term prospect. how does that make you feel? it makes me feel that i've got to fight a bit harder. the chancellor said today the government has a clear plan to support and create jobs to ensure nobody is left without

hope. but economists have warned unemployment will continue to rise in the months ahead. sarah corker, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news: scotland results u—turn — the education secretary there reverses the decision to downgrade the exam grades of thousands of pupils and offers a direct apology to those affected. the number of people in work falls by the largest amount in over a decade, more evidence of the impact of the lockdown. the uk and france meet to discuss a new plan to deter migrants from crossing the channel to the uk. more now on our top story. tens of thousands of pupils in scotland are to have their exam results upgraded, following an outcry over the lowering of some students' grades. let's hear from parents now —

joanna murphy is the chair of the national parent forum of scotland. thank you forjoining us. we now know that all these downgraded results will be withdrawn, are you satisfied with what you have heard? i'm very pleased with what i have heard. in scotland, the curriculum for excellence prides itself on personalisation and choice for the individual pupils. so our individual pupils will light down now i feel those pupils have had the results upgraded again back to what the teachers thought they were supposed to be. obviously that is great news. will this be enough, do you think, to reassure pupils and their pa rents ? not is what we have to do at the moment. that is all we can do at the moment. that is all we can do at the moment. all the results, though once the teachers predicted have been put forward and they are the ones that the young people now received. that

is maybe question to be asked how we got into this position and also to make sure we don't get into it again for any other years. i think at the moment that is a great step forward. have you got any answers to those questions you just pose? how did this situation occurred and how to prevent it going forward?” this situation occurred and how to prevent it going forward? i don't know, i think the sqa, the exam board in scotland, was given a task and it was set out to do that. i don't understand why so many of the young people because my grades were marked down. they were asking our teachers to look for the young people and they know best, dam and the parents know them best, so they predicted the parents they got —— they and their parents know them better. i don't understand why so many of them were marked down. looking to the future, i think they have said they were located and moving forward for next year, the sqa is going to start a rapid, going to speak to the different

stakeholders to work out what will happen moving into the next session. this has been a major u—turn by the scottish government, you must be talking to parents and your role as chair of the national parent forum of scotland, what sort of thing that they've been saying to you? as he had had, parents were disappointed that the grades —— as you had heard, if they did not get the grades they we re if they did not get the grades they were predicted, they were disappointed. it was a difficult situation for everyone. the exams, they were about to start setting the exams and they were unable to do that because of the covid situation. i loved all the children that were sitting the exams, they did not know what the would have got. they were relying on the work they had done for the rest of the year and the teachers to put that forward and fight their case to the sqa. i must ask you about

the fact that scotland's schools have started to reopen from today, do you support the first minister's view that getting children back to school is the most important thing? idea. i think our young people have missed so much school and school is not just about learning, it is about the socialisation, theirfriends, they develop so much in school and they need to be out. they cannot be locked up in their houses forever. with the right mitigation, with safety first in our schools, looking after our children, young people to be safe as they can be, they need to be safe as they can be, they need to be back in school because, as i say, there are so many aspects of school. there will be some parents who are anxious about that, some of our children, some other young people will be anxious about going back into school because it is a long time since they have in school. they left school in the dark

days of much, everything was very frightening. we have to be sympathetic towards our young people, our children and ease them back into school, thinking about their mental health, thinking that their mental health, thinking that the trauma some of them might have suffered on the bereavements that some of them might have suffered and to ease them gently back into learning because you can't learn if you are anxious and you cannot learn if you are scared or worried about something. we have to get them sympathetically and considering going back to school so that they feel well and they feel they own a position to learn. thank you so much for talking to us on bbc news. thanks. thank you. police investigating the murder of stephen lawrence have said that all lines of inquiry have been exhausted, and the investigation is being formally shelved. the 18—year—old was killed in a racially motivated attack while waiting for a bus in eltham in south—east london 27 years ago. the original investigation failed to convict those responsible and his parents' campaign forjustice led to a public inquiry, which found the

metropolitan police institutionally racist. two men, gary dobson and david norris, were jailed for life for his murder, following a trial in 2012. metropolitan police commissioner cressida dick said she was sad that they were unable to secure any further convictions. the immigration minister, chris philp, has been meeting french officials in paris to discuss how to reduce the number of migrants crossing the english channel in small boats. since thursday, more than 600 people have been intercepted. the government has said it wants to work with the french authorities to make the route "unviable". mr philp has promised a new plan following the talks. we had a very constructive meeting with our french colleagues in paris this morning. we have reaffirmed our unshakeable, shared commitment to making sure this route of crossing the channel is made unviable. it is facilitated by

ruthless criminal gangs, it puts lives at risk and it is totally unnecessary. we have worked on a joint operational plan, a revised and new operational plan with the objective in mind of completely cutting this route and we're going to be working at pace in the coming days to make that plan a reality. 0ur newly appointed clandestine channel threat commander, dan 0'mahoney, with me today, will be returning to france early next week to continue those discussions. i'm also delighted that the french made a commitment to appoint their own commander to take responsibility in this area, which is a very important step forward. the russian health ministry says it has given regulatory approval to a locally developed vaccine for covid—19, after less than two months of testing on humans. president putin says he wants to start mass production of the drug soon. he added that his daughter had already been given

the vaccine. translation: as far as i know, this morning, for the first time in the world, a vaccine against the novel coronavirus infection was registered. i know this very well because one of my daughters has been vaccinated with such a vaccine. one might say she took part in the experiment. after the first injection, she had a temperature of 38 degrees, the next day, a little over 37 degrees, and that's it. here's our moscow correspondent, steve rosenberg. this was the country that put the first sputnik into space, back in the 1950s, and interestingly, to honour that achievement, this vaccine has been called sputnik. vladimir putin today said that the vaccine was effective, he said that it produced strong immunity and, as you mentioned, he said that his daughter had been injected with it and she was feeling fine.

now, mass production is expected to start in september and a whole mass vaccination programme is planned from october, but there is a but here, because although regulatory approval has been given, clinical tests have not been completed. you know, normally before a vaccine gets approval, it has to be tested on thousands of people to make sure that it's safe and effective. that hasn't happened yet in russia, so that has created some scepticism internationally, and sparked some criticism of moscow. only last week the world health organization urged russia to slow down, not to rush through a vaccine and to follow all the rules and regulations on the development of new vaccines. steve rosenberg. let's return to the news that new zealand has announced its first locally transmitted coronavirus infections in more than 100 days, prompting the prime minister to issue a stay—at—home lockdown order for the country's largest city. jacinda ardern said four cases had been detected in a single family

in auckland from an unknown source. at a news conference she gave details about what this will mean for the wider community. in line with our precautionary approach, we will be asking aucklanders to take swift action with us. as of 12 noon tomorrow, wednesday, august 12th, we will be moving auckland to level three restrictions for a period of three days, until midnight on friday. these three days will give us time to assess the situation, gather information, make sure we have widespread contact tracing so we can find out more about how this case arose and make decisions on how to respond to it once we have further information. let me set out what that means for aucklanders and the rest of new zealand. we are asking people in

auckland to stay at home to stop the spread. earlier we heard from our sydney correspondent, shaimaa khalil. it is important to say that on a global scale, these numbers are minute, but in a new zealand context, this is a major setback. this is a country that only on the weekend marked 100 days with no community transmitted covid—19 cases, so nothing outside hotel quarantine. two days on we have a family, four members of a family that have tested positive and what is concerning health officials is the fact that the source is unknown, it's not linked to overseas travel or to managed isolation, which means that more cases could be detected. that's why, effective from wednesday noon at local time, for three days, auckland will be on a level three lockdown which mean schools will be partially closed, people will be urged to work from home outside essential workers, supermarkets and pharmacies will be open just

for the essentials. but really, a disappointing night for new zealanders and jacinda ardern has actually urged them not to be disheartened. she said, "we've been there before, we know what to do, we've been successful before and we have to keep going." now it's time for a look at the weather with chris fawkes. hello again. we're looking at more hot, sunny, humid weather to take us through the afternoon. there will be a lot of dry weather to come as well. not many storms for england and wales, but the few that do get going across southern england, the midlands and wales could be torrential in nature. certainly eastern scotland will get some storms and some of those could turn out to be quite slow moving, so that's one area we'll have to keep quite a close watch on. it is going to be another hot and humid day. top temperatures again moving well on into the mid 30s across the south—east. overnight tonight, further storms for eastern scotland, one or two across england and wales, moving north—eastwards with time. some of them again bringing torrential rain, lots of thunder

and lightning and another hot night for heading off to bed. temperatures still up at 27 celsius at 11 o'clock. tomorrow — while one batch of storms clears northwards from scotland, and then england and wales, there is a much greater chance of seeing some thunderstorms, particularly late in the day. some of these will bring torrential bursts of rain with a risk of some localised flash flooding.

hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: scotland's results u—turn — the education secretary there announces all exam grades that had been marked down by regulators will now revert back to initial estimates provided by teachers. we set out to ensure that the system was fair. that it was credible, but we did not get it right for all young people. before i go any further, i want to apologise for

that. the number of people in work falls by the largest amount in over a decade — more evidence of the impact of the lockdown. the uk and france meet to discuss a new plan to deter migrants from crossing the channel to the uk. russia claims to have produced the world's first coronavirus vaccine — and president putin's daughter has been given it. after more than 100 days with no new coronavirus cases, new zealand puts its biggest city auckland back into lockdown as a family become infected. the government has been defending its test and trace programme after announcing it would axe 6000 national contact tracers. would axe 6000 national the plan is to strengthen regional tracing which could mean tracers turning up on the doorstep if they can't get through to people by phone. 0ur health correspondent lauren moss reports.

if you test positive, nhs test and trace will contact you to trace people you might have infected... the prime minister has called it a world—beating system. england's test and trace programme to tackle coronavirus. but now, it's changing. thousands of call handlers are being cut in favour of a closer relationship with local health teams. since its launch in may, the programme's efficiency has been questioned. around one in five people testing positive still aren't being reached. one call handler told the bbc he's often had nothing to do. i'm the person calling the contacts of somebody who has tested positive for covid—19. since the end of may, i've had a grand total of four calls, only one of which were successful. the others went through to voice mail, or they didn't pick up, so the rest of the time i've been literally doing nothing. the new approach will be more targeted. tracers will use local knowledge to reach out to communities and knock on doors if needed. it's already being used in so—called hotspot areas

including leicester and blackburn. the changes have been welcomed, but one scientist, who is also a liberal democrat councillor, says it should have been this way from the start. i feel a pang of sadness that it has taken so long to do the obvious, which was to enable the local experts to take part in an unprecedented pandemic that we've never experienced like before. and a lot of local experts have been completely bypassed. i'm calling from the london coronavirus response cell. ministers insist the system is as good as if not better than most other countries which publish data. in the past ten weeks, our teams have made contact with a quarter of a million different people. that's a significant effort, starting this from scratch, and getting it up and running. what we are doing now is flexing it on the basis of what we've learned from local lockdowns and how they work.

the contact tracing app, which was trialled on the isle of wight, was scrapped in june. another one is to be tested in england before winter. the measures will likely keep evolving to try and stay on top of the virus that's changed so many lives. lauren moss, bbc news. more now on news that police investigating the murder of stephen lawrence have said that all lines of inquiry have been exhausted, and the investigation is being formally shelved. our home affairs correspondent dominic casciani joins us now. how much of a surprise as this development? this is a formal announcement that scotland yard say shelving is not the language they use, they said the enquiry is going into an inactive phase, but if you think, after 27 long years, 27 years since the shocking racist murder that completely change the face of british policing and led to one of the most appalling injustices ever

in british criminal history, the metropolitan police effectively said they have a lot of investigative roads. in 2012 they managed to secure two convictions, two of the five men suspected of the murder of stephen lawrence, back in 1993 in south london. after that they began another review of existing and potential lines of enquiry and came up potential lines of enquiry and came up with possible leads, one was a scrap of dna belonging to a woman which is found on backstrap on the scene, they have not been able to identify that woman. another related toa man identify that woman. another related to a man who was wearing a distinctive green jacket which had a large v on the back, that man has not been identified. in the third related to occult at the bbc‘s crimewatch programme, a man suggested he had further information you wanted volunteer, that man has not come forward for that mcrae grateful to crimewatch. today cressida dick said they had effectively taken the said decision to move the enquiry to the inactive phase, that she had met baroness

lawrence, stephen's mother and neville lawrence, his father, to rely that news, and she said that this was an appalling racist murder, iam sad this was an appalling racist murder, i am sad we have not unable to secure for the convictions for stephen and his family because of the investigation moves into its inactive phase. what that means in practice is that it's on the shelf, but police never really say they close cases, they always keep alive the hope that one day they will get a line of enquiry which allows them to reopen and reinvestigate, and in this case will go into that pilot very, very difficult cases where scotla nd very, very difficult cases where scotland yard will hope to one day find another reach. there will be a formal periodic review, i understand come about every ten regulars, but as things stand this is the end of the road for this very, very important enquiry full of —— is a form of periodic review about every two years. have there been any response from stephen lawrence's family? not as i understand it. the bbc is trying to get a response. in

the past few years the family have had a much better and healthier relationship with the metropolitan police, if you think back to the beginning of this, when there was all the shocking evidence of the mismanagement of this enquiry, bungled investigation leading to the absolutely shocking finding in a public enquiry that the metropolitan police were riven with institutional racism, scotland yard went to great lengths to correct that historic injustice and in particular, by securing the conviction of two men backin securing the conviction of two men back in 2012. they say they have gone as far as they can at the moment. but it's obviously very, very difficult to know what the family are saying until they we have heard from them. what you have been speaking to us, we have indeed heard from stephen lawrence's father, who said he was disappointed but not surprised that the investigation into his son's murder had been shelved by police, adding that he, and i'm quoting him now, will always live with the hope that someone might come forward with evidence which will allow us to achieve full

justice for stephen. that is a stephen lawrence's father neville, reacting to that news that our home affairs correspondent has been telling us about. thanks for that. the main challenger in the presidential election in belarus has left the country and is now in neighbouring lithuania. svetla na tsikhanouskaya fled overnight after refusing to accept the official results which gave president alexander lukashenko a landslide victory with 80% of the vote. he has been in powerfor more than a quarter of a century. protesters who say the result is a fraud have taken to the streets for the past two nights. 0ur moscow correspondent sarah rainsford reports. svetlana tikhanovskaya looks scared. she is clearly reading from a script. its words, though not herface, tell supporters to end their protests and avoid bloodshed.

the strange video emerged after the opposition candidate was last seen heading in here, to complain that the presidential elections were rigged. lithuania's foreign minister has told the bbc she was then detained for seven hours. he helped get her out of the country. the woman who wanted to change belarus has since recorded this tearful address. "many will understand, some will condemn or even hate me for going", she says. "it was a very difficult choice." but last night, there were running battles again on the streets of minsk. opposition protesters flooding the streets. police used stun grenades, rubber bullets and brute force to try to clear them. the crowds were defiant, determined, building barricades in the heart of the capital. the man who's ruled belarus for 26

years still insists 80% of voters chose him. and alexander lukashenko has vowed there will be no revolution. he says the protests are being fermented from abroad. but the crackdown he's ordered hasn't stopped them. and neither has the flight of svetla na ti kha novs kaya. what she started now has its own momentum. sarah rainsford, bbc news, moscow. more now on employment in the uk seeing the largest fall in over a decade. the number of people in work has dropped by nearly three quarters of a million since the lockdown began. i'm joined now by charlotte pickles, director at reform — a centre—right think tank focused on public services. thanks forjoining us. what do you read into these figures?” thanks forjoining us. what do you read into these figures? i think first of all, it's worth saying

that although that decline in the unemployment rate is dramatic, it's really just a holding unemployment rate is dramatic, it's reallyjust a holding pattern at the moment. so if you look at some of the underlying figures, for example, the underlying figures, for example, the vacancy rates, if you look at a number of people who are claiming benefits because they are unemployed, at the rise of economic inactivity, that means people who are not working but not yet seeking work, we've got a crisis coming up in the next few months. and yet last week, the bank of england revised down its unemployment forecast, didn't it, for the year? saying it now expected it to be cut 7.5% this year. are you saying you do not agree with that? you think it's going to be much worse?” agree with that? you think it's going to be much worse? i think we don't know yet, but what the bank of england has also said is that they are expecting 1.4 million people who are expecting 1.4 million people who are on furlough to end up not going back to work, but actually ending up unemployed. so, yes, it would be great if the unemployment rate was lower than expected but i don't

think we can guarantee that it will be come and we have seen lots of adjustments in lots of forecasts, and part of that is that we just don't know what's going to happen with the virus. as we sit here now, we have businesses that still cannot open, most businesses have got reve nu es open, most businesses have got revenues that are lower than the reve nu es revenues that are lower than the revenues they would have had precrisis, we've got the threat of a second wave of the virus, we've got local lockdowns and i think it would be fairto local lockdowns and i think it would be fair to say it's likely we will see more of those. we are not seeing that v shaped recovery, we're seeing demand recovery at the pace we need to seek a middle of that points to a crisis. and in the middle of it we are going to see the furlough scheme end and those people, many of them are going tojust be made redundant at thejobs are are going tojust be made redundant at the jobs are not there for them to move into. so when the prime minister says he concedes there will be bumpy months ahead but he is confident the country will get through this stronger than ever before, are you suggesting we shouldn't really take him at his word? i think it

depends how much more active or interventionist the government wants to be. so i think they have done a remarkable job at protecting as many jobs they have done a remarkable job at protecting as manyjobs as possible so far via the schemes that they have set up. the challenge is what they do next. and, you know, it's almost a of the ghost of the week that the chancellor stood up and gave his mini budget, the economic statement. —— almost a month ago to the week. the statement where he said he would do everything he could to make sure we are protecting jobs and creating jobs. one of the big risks is that by removing the furlough scheme prematurely, actually, what see is this big, spike in unemployment and because we have not got the economy back to where we need it to be in order to create new jobs where we need it to be in order to create newjobs for those people to move into, we are at real risk of seeing unemployment crisis of the sort we have not seen since the great depression, worse than 2008,

soi great depression, worse than 2008, so i would like to share the optimism of the prime minister. i think it's within the gift of the government to intervene to prevent that sort of dire crisis, but right now, the measures in place are not sufficient. you say removing the furlough scheme prematurely, there are two difficulties, though, aren't they? when is the danger that by extending it, you risk keeping people in productivejobs, and the second is that the countries of the cannot afford it. let me take the second barrier, if you like, first. the country can afford it was a bit i watch on the expensive, about £10 billion a month, was at the full members. —— it is eye watering the expensive. we have seen some people come off now. it is expensive, but our government and governments across the world are spending unprecedented amounts of money and because borrowing is so low, the cost of borrowing a solo, that is affordable at the moment, and

actually, the costs of the furlough scheme pale compared to the unbelievable economic and social costs of a massive unemployment crisis. so i don't think we should be thinking about the cost is the biggest barrier right now. in terms of whether it will preserve, if you like, isjobs, sojobs that of whether it will preserve, if you like, is jobs, so jobs that wouldn't be there if it weren't for these government subsidies, absolutely there's a risk of that, of course there's a risk of that, of course there is. and that's why an extension of the furlough scheme should be targeted. it shouldn't be available any more to any business that wants to use it, it's not been targeted so far, that means some businesses using the furlough scheme will not have been in financial distress and that's certainly not something the taxpayer should be funding. but in those sectors where, asi funding. but in those sectors where, as i said at the start, businesses are still required to be shut and other businesses are still well below that sort of revenue that they would expect in normal times, actually, it's reasonable to say we're going to supporting jobs

in those sectors and were going to be a bit more flexible about how those employees use the furlough, so for example, allowing them to bring people off and on if there is a local lockdown, that could be very helpful. so it should not be a blanket extension but actually, the costs of not extending it in a limited way will far outweigh the costs of just scrapping limited way will far outweigh the costs ofjust scrapping it. we must leave it there, good to have your thoughts, thank you. the headlines on bbc news... scotland results u—turn — the education secretary there announces all exam grades that had been marked down by regulators will now revert back to initial estimates provided by teachers. the number of people in work falls by the largest amount in over a decade — more evidence of the impact of the lockdown. the uk and france meet to discuss a new plan to deter migrants from crossing the channel to the uk.

a huge cargo ship which has been leaking oil after running aground off the coast of mauritius is likely to break apart, according to the country's government. the prime minister said his country should prepare for the worst. mauritius is home to world—renowned coral reefs and pristine white sand beaches, with tourism a vital part of its economy. 0ur science correspondent victoria gill reports. a race against time and against the elements. more than 1000 tonnes of fuel has already leaked from the stranded bulk carrier the mv wakashio, sweeping a toxic sludge towards coral reefs, white sand beaches and pristine lagoons of this island nation. environmentalists say thousands of species could drown in the pollution. and what's already being called an ecological disaster has become an even greater emergency as bad weather and rough seas hamper efforts to safely pump out the two and a half thousand tonnes of fuel

that's still aboard the vessel. with cracks now appearing, there are fears the ship could break apart within days. the worry that if the ship breaks up and the oil is not yet all of it pumped out of it, then these islands which actually harbour unique biodiversity might be more affected. and we are at the lie aux fouquets national park and it actually harbours two unique species of reptiles found nowhere else in the world. and even for this population which is on ile aux fouquets, it is quite genetically diverse from other populations we have on other islands, making this population extremely important. despite advice to stay away, local people have come to the shores to try to stem the tide of pollution. many are making booms filled with sugar cane stalks and even hair to soak up the fuel. because these waters are

precious. they are a source of food and of the tourist income mauritians rely on. the japanese company that owns the ship has apologised and sent a disaster relief team to mauritius. but amid the covid—19 pandemic, closed borders have slowed any international effort to help. so as the vessel sits ominously in the indian ocean, every hour that the sea and the weather will allow work to continue, will count. victoria gill, bbc news. scotland's education secretary, john swinney, has announced that all exam grades that had been marked down by regulators will now revert back to the initial estimates provided by teachers. he was forced to perform the u—turn after criticism of the decision by the scottish qualifications authority to downgrade the performance of 76,000 pupils. as part of that announcement, mr swinney promised arrangements would be made to ensure students whose grades change are not

‘crowded out‘ of university places. i'm joined now by alastair sim, director at universities scotland, which represents scotland's 19 higher education institutions. good of you to join good of you tojoin us, thank you. so all downgraded results will be withdrawn, do you welcome the announcement? yes, we are looking forward to welcoming more people into higher education, i think particularly in these tough economic times with the post covid recession, higher education is an important investment in people's future. i think we are now looking for clarification on the detail, to make sure the additional funded places that we can welcome more people to university are going to be fully funded and that there will be relaxation of the rules that at the moment actually cap us on the number of scottish students that we can ta ke of scottish students that we can take in. we really need this to be

fully funded. we need students not just to come into university but to be supported to succeed, and that means that every student deserves to bea means that every student deserves to be a student that willie is getting the full funding for this and we will be looking for absolute clarification on that for the scottish government. how much more money do you need to ensure that all those people who are now eligible for university place gets it? we are still really working through the numbers with the scottish government, and with the funding council. roughly, though? roughly, the figure is being quoted to me so far is possibly around 4000 people who might either get to change course that they are on because they didn't get into their first choice course, or he might get into university this year who might not otherwise have. the average cost of thatis otherwise have. the average cost of that is around £7,000 per student, which we think is a bit underfunded and does cause difficulties, but we

think at least getting that per student is really important. it's also a multi—year effect. lots of people who are now in the fifth year of secondary school in scotland have got better hires than they expected, many of them will now be aspiring to go to university next year. —— have got better higher than they expect will stop so we will also need to make sure their funded to meet that increase in demand and support them to succeed in higher education. just to succeed in higher education. just to be clear, if you don't get this hundreds of, what we're talking about, hundreds of thousands of of extra money, will it mean some of these students won't be able to take up these students won't be able to take up places even though they have got the grades? well, we really are approaching this from the learner's point of view. we are committed to making sure that as many people as possible who have got the grades get into university. we are... absolutely at our current university charities, devoted to the public

good. so we will do what we can to do the right thing for learners, but that also means each learner has to be properly funded so we can support them to have the experience and support that they really deserve. sorry to pursue on this, can you envisage a situation then of having to write to or e—mail, i don't know how you communicate with students, and say, yes, you've got the grades to come and read english here but u nfortu nately, to come and read english here but unfortunately, you cannot come because we haven't got the money to fund you ? because we haven't got the money to fund you? i don't think it will be like that. i think everyone will do as much as they can to admit as many stu d e nts as much as they can to admit as many students as possible who have now got these better grades. there will be some circumstances in which that just won't be possible, for instance, if you've got a subject that requires you to have a number of clinical placements with the nhs, the nhs can't necessarily provide all those clinical placements, so that puts a cap sometimes in the number of students you can accept. i think within the limits of what's

possible, universities will do their best to give opportunities to those people who now find that they can access that. that's in our mission. but we want to support them sick succeed and to be funded to support them to succeed as well as we can. —— we want to support them to succeed. in terms of the clarification you're seeking, how confident are you that you will get a bus it is you need it?” confident are you that you will get a bus it is you need it? i am reasonably confident. i think from conversations today and what's in the statement, i think there is a commitment to their to fund additional places for students who now have got the qualifications to come to university, and i think we need a quantum of that number of stu d e nts need a quantum of that number of students with the scottish government and scottish funding council just a mixture government and scottish funding counciljust a mixture over a week or two that we really have a confident basis to understand how

your admitting these learners, who we really want to support a benefit from higher education. thanks so much for your time, good to talk to you. thank you very much. thank you very much. now it's time for a look at the weather with chris thank you very much. fawkes. hello again. over the next few days it is going to stay very hot indeed, with temperatures only slowly dropping later in the week. it means we have more of this hot, sunny, humid weather to come over the next few days, but we'll also get some huge thundery downpours building in in places, bringing torrential rain, so there will be a few communities that get hits with scenes like this, with the risk of some flash flooding to come. through the rest of today, not many showers across england and wales, but across wales, the midlands, southern england, the one or two that do get going could bring some torrential downpours. eastern scotland will certainly see some torrential downpours, and some of these could be quite slow moving so perhaps an issue or two for eastern scotland later on. another very hot day, temperature 34, 35 celsius or so in the hottest areas. and then overnight tonight further

storms across eastern scotland, one or two across england and wales pushing north—eastwards with time. again, lots of thunder and lightning in these. and it is going to be another very hot night for heading off to sleep, temperature 11pm, still up at 27 degrees in the centre of london, 24 in birmingham. wednesday sees early storms clearing northwards across scotland. it will be dry for a time across the uk with sunny spells developing, but thunderstorms will be much more widespread, i think, across wales, southern england and the midlands in particular as we head through wednesday afternoon so that is probably where the greatest risk of storm activity and the risk of some flash flooding will be later in the day on wednesday. another hot and humid day of course. a ridge of high pressure will begin to build in across northern areas of the uk on thursday. that will block storms from developing here, but instead the storms will get trapped across england and wales, some of them bringing some lengthy and potentially torrential downpours as well. the absolute highest temperatures easing a little bit, but it's still hot and it's still very humid across

england and wales, with fresher air in the north. for friday, we have still got a number of storms or lengthier outbreaks of rain to come across england and wales. it will continue to feel humid for many areas. scotland and northern ireland, quite a bit of cloud, a few brighter spells but feeling fresher here, temperatures around 20 degrees or so in glasgow but still very humid across england and wales. and we have a similar weather pattern, really, on into the weekend, with low pressure bringing quite a bit of cloud to england and wales, rain or showers around, feeling humid for england and wales but a few sunny spells for scotland and northern ireland.

this is bbc news. i'm rebecca jones. the headlines. scotland results u—turn — the education secretary there announces all exam grades that

had been marked down by regulators will now revert back to initial estimates provided by teachers. we set out to ensure that the system was affair. we set out to ensure that it was credible but we did not get it right for all young people. before i go any further, i want to apologise for that. the number of people in work falls by the largest amount in over a decade, more evidence of the impact of the lockdown. obviously, what we all want to see isa obviously, what we all want to see is a return to economic vitality and health and some parts of the economy undoubtably are showing great resilience but clearly there are going to be bumpy months ahead and a long, long way to go. the uk and france meet to discuss a new plan to deter migrants from crossing the channel to the uk. we have reaffirmed our unshakeable shared commitment to making