this is bbc news. the headlines: as students scramble to secure university places after the exam fiasco in england, an apology from the education secretary. gavin williamson says sorry for the distress caused to pupils, after his u—turn in a—level and gcse grading. as you can absolutely imagine, i am incredibly sorry for the distress that this has caused for those youngsters and incredibly sort of... this is not something that anyone wanted. 7,000 jobs are to go at marks & spencer, as part of a further shake—up of its stores and management after the coronavirus crisis. public health england is replaced, after criticism of its response to the coronavirus crisis. the widow of pc andrew harper calls for mandatory life sentences for those who kill police officers.

harper's law isjust so important that we bring in. maybe it will give other families a little bit of closure that we haven't got. michelle 0bama launches a scathing attack on donald trump at the democratic party's virtual convention. donald pa rty‘s virtual convention. trump donald party's virtual convention. trump is the wrong pres for donald trump is the wrong president for our country. he has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job, but he is clearly in over his head. he cannot meet this moment. good afternoon. first the u—turn, now the fall—out. britian‘s universities

are under pressure over their obligations to 55,000 students who could claim places after yesterday's government u—turn boosted their grades. many of the universities are already committed to giving places to students offered before the government changed its mind on how exams are graded. gavin williamson says he is "incredibly sorry for the distress" caused by the row, but refused to say if he will resign. dan johnson reports. the change of direction from the top has not necessarily put plans on track for everyone. i'm thinking of repeating the year, because if i was able to finish all of my courses and finish my sketchbooks and do the exams, i am sure i would have got all as or maybe even a*s. it is quite distressing because obviously, you know, if i eventually want to become a principal, i do not have time to be in school for ever. it is really disappointing how the government handled the situation. grades are notjust a means of getting into university or an apprenticeship or whatever it is for the future. it is also the hard work students

have put in for two years. i would just like to ask, "where is boris johnson? " we need an apology. he has messed up our lives and how he decides to go on holiday. why? the buck stops with him. he should be there reassuring us. some students are now finding the grades predicted by teachers may not be much better. we were not given a free rein to award students to grades that we felt they absolutely deserved, because they were still having to be pegged to previous performance by students. we did the best we could within the straitjacket we were given. it does mean for us, some grades will go up as a result of the announcement yesterday, which is brilliant news for those individual students. but some of those students are still not able to access the university of their choice. some btec grades are still missing and with gcses to come on thursday, the education secretary in england was saying soi’i’y once more and fending off questions about his own future. as you can absolutely imagine, i am incredibly sorry for the distress this has caused

for those youngsters. and incredibly sort of... this is not something that anyone wanted. there is pressure on the ministers and officials who got the maths so badly wrong, but the stress has not been lifted for the students. there are huge questions about how universities will pick up the pieces. some will have more eligible students than places left, so where will they be taught and where will they live in a year defined by social distancing? other universities may be short on numbers and struggling for cash if the clearing system cannot tidy up the mess. please contact your university and talk to the admissions tutor. find out what the possibilities are. i am sure there will be some disappointments, cases where it might be necessary to defer until next year, but please be sure our heart is with you and we want to help you.

0n results day last week we met abby, who missed out on a place at durham after being marked down. i've got to look at other options. i have got to appeal, go through clearing, resit my exams. the grades her teachers recommended are better but still not good enough. i have not managed to get in contact with durham. i tried thursday, friday and yesterday. i was ringing all morning. every time i almost got through, the phone wasjust being put down. it was being on hold for an hour just for it to be put down. i have e—mailed them but they have not got back to me. it is up in the air and i do not know what is going on. whether my place has been given away or not, i am not sure. in the end, the u—turns were perhaps the most predictable results but how many futures will be jeopardised if universities cannot accommodate everyone? lessons to be learned, no doubt. danjohnson, bbc news, in leighton. with me now is the chief executive of villiers park educational trust,

rae tooth and gcse student, mohammed ali. thank you for coming on the bbc news. ray, can you explain, your charity deals with disadvantaged but brighter pupils is that right? yes, we support from the age of brighter pupils is that right? yes, we support from the age 01:14 through to 19 to ensure they have the best chance of getting into those universities tha are most competitive. up until yesterday, those universities tha are most competitive. up untilyesterday, no one knew what chance anyone had, because we didn't know thousand how the grades would be assessed. yes and we had strong reason to believe they were being assessed unfairly. what we have now is still confusion about exactly people are being awarded their grades and what they can do to appeal them if they're unhappy. for those students wanting to go to university, presumably there is chaos, because places have

been promised to some and others have said i have got the grades i thought i was going to get. have said i have got the grades i thought i was going to getm have said i have got the grades i thought i was going to get. is that right and without any clear process oi’ right and without any clear process or guidelines for universities, stu d e nts or guidelines for universities, students or schools, it is difficult to help these young people navigate what feels like a mess. mohammed, gcse, when do you get your, i was going to say results, i don't know if that is the right word to use, when are you expecting to hear news? we have been told that we're going to find out our results on thursday this week. so, on thursday #209 august we will —— 20th august. i heard that is via possibly e—mail. so we wouldn't be getting the opportunity to go into school. now, are you nervous about that, there was some suggestion that whatever results you get on thursday, there

needs to be a revision that may take more time and what is your understanding of that? well, i'm feeling... relieved that the time has come so quick to get my results. but again nervous to see if i worked ha rd but again nervous to see if i worked hard enough and all my hard work has paid off to get the grades that i wanted. but if the grades are going to be delayed, then the year 11th around the country that are affected by the situation, they will also feel more pressure on them and more i'iei’vous, feel more pressure on them and more nervous, because they have to wait longer. plus that time that there already was that they had to wait. they have to wait longer and it mightjust bring they have to wait longer and it might just bring more they have to wait longer and it mightjust bring more stress and they become more nervous. you have already, you're part of a year that's already had a horrible year? yes, indeed, yes. ifi couldjust turn to you, in terms of what we're

talking about, the educational trust, what is the sense of the handling of this at the highest level and, i don't want to get into the blame game necessarily, where do you think the buck stops with all this? welll you think the buck stops with all this? well i think if we. .. you think the buck stops with all this? well i think if we... sorry can you hear me? yes, do go on. we have torrential rain in bristol! i think really there are two issues. 0ne think really there are two issues. one is the process that lacks clarity and the second is the communication, which lacks clarity and transparency. so it seems to me that the people making policy decisions about how the grades were going to be awarded and how people would appeal them if that is what they needed to do, haven't put appropriate measures in place. equally, they haven't been able to articulate them in ways that people can simply understand them and then act on the information as they're

provided it. who is the "they"? it isa provided it. who is the "they"? it is a mixture of government and 0fqual, but i think the buck has to stop with government, who are the final decision makers. mohammed, you seemed keen to answer that question. what is the feeling about how the adults have dealt with this? well, i feel that the teachers have done all they can with supporting their claims of what grades we should get and despite that factor, all the evidence they have given, the 0fqual, i believe they are giving these grades out that they believe these grades out that they believe the teachers are being too... generous with the grades or not generous enough with the bame groups as well. we feel they one at risk of not getting the grades they deserve,

because of their ethnic minority as well. you know much more about algorithms than i ever will, would you rather it was a more scientific approach, or isn't there an element of wouldn't you rather it was human beings assessing, you particularly human beings who know you. yes it should be the human beings, the teachers that have worked with us throughout the five years that we have been at school. because they know us so well that they can... use theirjudgment know us so well that they can... use their judgment to see know us so well that they can... use theirjudgment to see what grades we should get and they know us better than the scientific system, or algorithm could ever know us. ray tooth, the issue seems to be one of trust and whether we have a system that pupils, parents, teachers,

which anyone can trust at the moment? i think that is absolutely right. and trust in terms of understanding what is happening, but also trust in terms of principles that lie behind some of the decisions that have been made and the processes that have been put in place. now, ithink the processes that have been put in place. now, i think that i agree with mohammed that the teachers, who are our experts in the students they're working with, absolutely are able to provide the best option, but thatis able to provide the best option, but that is not the say that particular solution isn't without its challenges and we know historically that students from bame backgrounds are much more likely to be underpredicted their final grades. soi underpredicted their final grades. so i think what we need to do moving forward to ensure fairness is put in place robust appeals systems for students, so that if they do have genuine questions about the marks they have been given they are able to address those. mohammed, let's pick up on that, when you get that

e—mail on thursday morning, will you sense that the process has been as fairas it might sense that the process has been as fair as it might have been? because of the government u—turn, i feel that there is a sense of... right there in the grades that we received, because they are teacher predictions and the teachers know us extremely well. and before if they did not do this u turn, i feel that i would be angered that there was an algorithm that decided my grades, based on previous years. whereas we are not the same as previous years. so it would be completely wrong to give us them grades. but now i feel much more relieved that it's teachers' predictions. what grade would you give the politicians for the way they have handled this?|j

would the way they have handled this?” would not give them a grade at all. an unclassified u, forget it? yes. i think a lot of people watching may agree. really good to talk to you. his afternoon we'll be answering your questions on the government u—turn on how a—level exams will be graded. will bejoined by grainne hallahan from the time educational supplement and mary curnock cook, former chief executive of ucas. you can email your questions to yourquestions@bbc.co.uk or tweet them to the hash tag bbc your questions. that's coming up at three—thirty this afternoon. marks and spencer is to cut 7,000 jobs — that's about a tenth of its workforce — after a slump in sales during the coronavirus pandemic. it said staff working in stores, regional management and its support centre will be affected. the posts will go in the next three months. our business correspondent

emma simpson reports. marks & spencer warned the pandemic would change its business. like other retailers, it's now having to take drastic action to cut costs and respond to the rapid change in our shopping habits.