this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. nhs staff and care workers will be prioritised — as the uk government tries to get to grips with the surge in demand for coronavirus tests. we are working night and day to improve and increase the capacity and the turnaround. the uk's inflation rate fell to a five—year low in august — as the effect of the eat out to help out scheme pushed down restaurant prices. india is the second worst hit country in the world for coronavirus after infection is passed 5 million.

us president donald trump denies downplaying the severity of the coronavirus pandemic. drinking when you're pregnant — official advice in england is don't drink at all — now it's being proposed that even one glass of wine should be marked on your child's medical records. the uk government says it will announce details in the next few days of how it will limit access to coronavirus tests as the system struggles to cope with the surge in demand. staff and patients in the nhs and social care sector will be given priority after the health secretary, matt hancock, said it might be weeks before the problems are resolved. another cabinet minister, robert buckland, acknowledged the government is facing "real challenges" and insisted it will "do whatever it takes" to increase laboratory capacity. greg mckenzie reports. the signs are clear, the testing system is struggling to cope, with reports that some in desperation are turning up at accident and emergency seeking coronavirus tests.

it has led to this warning in bolton, which currently has the highest infection rate in england. please, do not attend the hospital here if you think you have covid—i9. unless you are seriously unwell, for example if you have difficulty breathing or if you have been sent here from a consultation with a gp. the government says there are more tests being done in the uk than in most european countries and it wants to double the number by october. but with the health secretary matt hancock admitting the current crisis would take weeks to fix, many who need one are finding it difficult to get a test now. a key worker, i came in on sunday and i can't go to work. i tried online, on the government

website but there is nothing there. it keeps saying busy, come back in a couple of hours, come back in a couple of hours. it constantly does that and when you are off work, as a key worker, it is very difficult. backlogs in testing samples in labs have led to a limit on the number of testing slots available. the mayor of greater manchester, andy burnham, said the system's struggles have come at the worst possible time. the problem is if testing fails everything else fails with it. without good testing there is no tracing, no isolating and this will mean we cannot have any effective control of the virus, and it comes at the worst possible time. i think we have two or three weeks to fix these things and if we don't, the worry is we will never regain control as we go into the rest of the autumn and winter. the health secretary has said there will be prioritisation of tests for people with acute clinical need and those in social care settings. but nhs leaders have called for health workers to be near the top of that list

as well as demand for tests as well, as demand for tests continues to outstrip supply. greg mckenzie, bbc news. the education secretary is being questioned by the select committee about testing. but also this is why we ensure that all schools had a set of tests if they were needed and just really to emphasise people only with symptoms are the ones who should be doing the testing, so if a child and their contacts have been sent home it is not that all those children that are sent home should be getting testing, it is only the child that is displaying symptoms as

against the whole cohort, and the reason why nhs england are looking at continuing to build the capacity, and we have some of the largest capacity in terms of testing over any country around the world, there isa any country around the world, there is a recognition that needs to continue to grow, and that is why the health secretary has outlined his commitment to doing that to half a million daily tests by the end of october, because we recognise this is not just october, because we recognise this is notjust schools that continue to place a demand on testing, but all aspects of society as well. moving on the main subject of the day, which is exams and of call. on the 12th of august the department announced a triple lock policy which included the mock exam as an appeal

route. they told us of week or so ago. why did you instruct them to proceed anyway? we had had many conversations with quual over this period and at every stage we wanted to ensure there was a maximum amount of fairness in the system for students. we all recognise what exceptional times we are living in an unprecedented times and we wanted to do everything we can do to ensure that youngsters were in the best possible position to resolve any unfairness that potentially there was 01’ unfairness that potentially there was or if their child had not got the great they truly deserved we wa nted the great they truly deserved we wanted to make sure there was a system that was as open and as generous as possible, and quual worked exceptionally hard and were ina worked exceptionally hard and were in a position to be able to produce

guidance as to how that could be implemented. did you feel that. .. guidance as to how that could be implemented. did you feelthat... ? the day before the exam results in terms of the announcements of the widening of the appeal system, did you feel then that there might be unfairness is in the exam grades and thatis unfairness is in the exam grades and that is why you chose to make that decision? if you go back to the 6th of august and you actually saw quual issue revisions to their appeals process, because they recognise how important it was to have as robust a process as possible, when we were in a situation where we saw what had occurred in scotland, we wanted to do absolutely everything we possibly could to ensure there was maximum fairness for every student that was going to be receiving grades. we can

leave the education select committee for a moment. and you can carry on watching the education select committee on bbc parliament. three associations representing school leaders and governors have written jointly to the prime minister to express mounting concern about difficulties in obtaining covid tests. among them is the association of school and college leaders. geoff barton is its general secretary — hejoins me now. i have got many messages from pa rents i have got many messages from parents up and down the country from all parts of the country seeing effectively my kids come home with what could be covid symptoms but it could just be a cold. they cannot get a test, they cannot go back to school, they have to self—isolate for two weeks and they are missing more school. are you hearing similar stories? i am afraid i am. far too many of them. whether you are a parent, student or representing school and college leaders and the

deal was that we would do everything we could to open our schools, one—way systems, make them covid secure, but there was a promise from government that three things would happen. there would be local testing available. there would be a priority for people working in education. and thirdly there would be clear public health advice of either a student, child or member of staff in the school was showing symptoms, so we could do everything we could, that head teachers are not making public health decisions and to keep as many young people in education as possible and it feels like it is unravelling. natalie says four or five schools in northampton have confirmed cases, lots of children of school with cold symptoms and unable to get a taste, returning to school and parents returning to work, she says 16 pupils are often my

daughter's group, parents do not know what to do for the best. this message there is the lack of testing for teachers visually unhelpful. i ama for teachers visually unhelpful. i am a teacher and offer two weeks or until i can get a test which i cannot. do you believe teachers should be prioritised when it comes to testing? i think they shouldn't guidance we had said they were going to be. from a head teacher's point of view if you are running a private school and you're year four teacher saidi school and you're year four teacher said i think i have symptoms, i am going home, and they haven't got a test yet so they will not be covering the class today and maybe not tomorrow, and another teacher shows symptoms, you can see how this impacts on young people because there is a scrabbling around to try to get supply teachers to cover classes and you can see the cumulative effect you might have more teachers out for two weeks and if we had the certainty of a test with no one way or the other whether we had to teacher in front of the class tomorrow or next week and we

can plan accordingly and that is why we have written to the prime minister saying let's stop the rhetoric about moonshine, let's see what we can do in terms of planning, and make sure those people in front of classes can be there and that they need to be tested they are tested as quickly as possible. they need to be tested they are tested as quickly as possiblem was called moonshot, not that it really matters. jane says my son's school sent home some year 12 pupils because there was one confirmed covid case, i am hoping the school does not close because i cannot take much more of this. you represent school leaders but from a parents' point of view if your child has what could be called symptoms but could be covid symptoms what should you do? it must be feeling like worse than the lock turning away because it does not have the certainty. the

government guidance was very clear in seeing we are creating bubbles in a school and in a primary school thatis a school and in a primary school that is fairly straightforward. in a secondary school if you take year 12 children that may be i get a year group of 240. the guidance says of test and the child has no symptoms then public health are likely to tell you that whole cohort, that bubble of year 12, are going to stay at home. that is not an arcane rule being invented by head teachers who are making excuses. that is what the public health cadences. that would be easier to do if we had to test really quickly so if that child was negative we could carry on business as usual. thank you. the president of the european commission, ursula von der leyen, has warned the uk cannot disregard the brexit withdrawal agreement struck with the eu.

in her annual state of the union address to the european parliament, she said both sides had agreed it was the only way to safeguard the peace process in northern ireland. this withdrawal agreement took three yea rs this withdrawal agreement took three years to negotiate and we worked relentlessly on it, line by line, word by word, and together we succeeded, and the result guarantees our citizens' rights, financial interests, the integrity of the single market and crucially the good friday agreement, and the european union and the ukjointly friday agreement, and the european union and the uk jointly agreed friday agreement, and the european union and the ukjointly agreed it was the best and only way for ensuring peace on the island of ireland, and we will never backtrack on that, and this agreement has been ratified by this house and by the house of commons. it cannot be unilaterally changed, disregarded or do supplied. this is a matter of law and trust and good faith.

the foreign secretary, dominic raab, will meet senior us politicians in washington later amid disquiet over the government's plans to breach parts of the brexit withdrawal deal. in a letter to borisjohnson last night, four senior congressmen warned that a uk—us trade deal would be blocked if there were any risk to the good friday agreement. downing street said the legislation was a legal safety net to ensure the agreement was upheld. the headlines on bbc news: nhs staff and care workers will be prioritised — as the uk government tries to get to grips with the surge in demand for coronavirus tests. the uk's inflation rate fell to a five—year low in august — as the effect of the eat out to help out scheme pushed down restaurant prices. india is the second—worst hit country in the world for coronavirus — after infections pass five million. serious and violent criminals in england and wales would serve

at least two thirds of their jail sentence, rather than half, under measures proposed by the government today. the changes to sentencing will be put forward in a white paper — that's a policy document that sets out the government's plans for future laws. the criminaljustice system ground to a halt during the coronavirus pandemic, meaning backlogs and delays for victims and defendants, who are facing trial dates years ahead. here's our home affairs correspondent, june kelly. tougherjail terms for serious criminals. this is the government's message with this overhaul of the sentencing system. but the smarter sentencing, as it is being described, also includes greater use of measures aimed at rehabilitation. chris mcgrath, with martin bruin, the psychologist who helped him to turn his life around, with one—on—one sessions which addressed his mental health issues and broke his cycle of reoffending, which had gone on for 16 years.

i'd be out from friday till sunday, sometimes even longer, spending my wages, losing jobs and losing friends. i have gained all that back and more. more friends, a betterjob, a great relationship with my children. so, why can community—based sentences, which involve treatment, be a better alternative to prison? much of the clientele we see have been struggling with long—term mental health or substance abuse difficulties for quite some time. without the support, that creates a revolving door where they are in and out of the justice system because no—one is treating the root cause of the problem. serious offenders like rapists, young killers and those convicted of terrorism face harsher penalties. but all these proposals come as the court system is facing a massive backlog of cases that has left so many, including victims, in legal limbo. june kelly, bbc news. the rate of inflation in the uk

fell sharply last month. it dropped to 0.2% — from 1% injuly — as the effect of the eat out to help out scheme pushed down restaurant prices. that's the lowest inflation rate since late 2015. uk mps say there's been "u na cce pta bly slow" progress in the removal of dangerous cladding from high—rise buildings — which was due to be replaced byjune. according to the commons public accounts committee, nearly 250 buildings in the uk with similar cladding to that used on grenfell tower still have it. ministers say they've made £1.6 billion available to speed up the process. there are fewer than 60 days until voters head to the polls to cast ballots for president trump or former vice presidentjoe biden. last night mr trump faced questions from some of those living in the critical battleground state of pennsylvania. the president denied he had downplayed the seriousness of covid—19, and insisted he'd taken action to protect americans. and he said the virus would go

away without a vaccine, through what he called herd mentality. ididn't i didn't downplay it. in many ways i outplayed it in terms of action. with china i put a ban on, with europe i put a ban with china i put a ban on, with europe i puta ban on, and we with china i put a ban on, with europe i put a ban on, and we would have lost thousands more people if i hadn't put a ban on, so that was action, not with the mice, and in actual fact we action, not with the mice, and in actualfact we are action, not with the mice, and in actual fact we are going to be ok, and it is probably going to go away even faster with a vaccine. it would probably go away without the vaccine. it would go away without the vaccine? you have herd mentality. that is going to happen. that will happen. with the vaccine it will go away very quickly. dozens of hollywood

celebrities including leonardo dicaprio and kim kardashian west are freezing their social media accounts today to protest against the spread of what they call "hate, propaganda and misinformation". it's part of a campaign launched earlier this summer by civil rights activists, who accuse facebook and instagram in particular of turning a blind eye to harmful content ahead of november's presidential elections in the us. facebook says it's working to tackle disinformation and threatening material. the family of breonna taylor, killed by police in her own home in louisville, kentucky, have agreed a $12 million settlement with the city. the 26—year—old emergency medical technician was shot eight times in march by police who broke through her front door in the middle of the night, during a mistaken drugs raid. mark lobel reports. herface remembered on magazines and murals across america. beloved by her family, with dreams of becoming a nurse, breonna taylor's name has come to symbolise a national slogan against police violence.

the 26—year—old african american was an emergency room technician. in march, police entered her apartment after midnight on a no—knock warrant and shot her multiple times fatally. her boyfriend, a licensed gun owner, shot out at what he thought were burglars, but it was in fact a drugs raid. no drugs were found, and the intended suspect was not present. the tragedy gained prominence following the death of george floyd in police custody two months later. the original police report resembled a cover—up, with no mention of how breonna's life was ended so abruptly. but after protests ravaged kentucky's largest city, a wrongful death lawsuit was instigated by breonna's mother. city officials have now agreed to pay the family $12 million. i'm deeply, deeply sorry for breonna's death. while we await a decision

from attorney—general daniel cameron on whether or not charges will be filed in this case, my administration is not waiting to move ahead with needed reforms to prevent a tragedy like this from ever happening again. the dozen reforms announced include commanding officers to review and sign off all search warrants, an early warning system to identify officers with disciplinary problems, and two hours of community service a week encouraged for officers. there are two ongoing investigations into the white police officers involved — a criminal inquiry by the state alongside an fbi inquiry into civil rights violations. but so far, no—one's been charged. as significant as today is, it's only the beginning of getting fulljustice for breonna. we must not lose focus on what the real drive is, and, with that being said, it's time to move forward with the criminal charges because she deserves that and much more.

her beautiful spirit and personality is working through all of us on the ground, so please continue to say her name. mark lobel, bbc news. the official advice when you're pregnant is that you shouldn't drink at all from the very moment you become pregnant until you give birth. now, it's reported the national insitute for health and care excellence in england is proposing any drink you have — even a single glass of wine — should be marked on a child's medical records. mum—of—two vicki is a parenting blogger at honestmum.com and joins us now. what do you think of this proposal? iam what do you think of this proposal? i am staggered by it. you do not give up your right to medical confidentiality when you are pregnant and it feels so interesting. i feel we are

pregnant and it feels so interesting. ifeel we are in margaret atwood territory with handmaids tale. how many people know they are pregnant when they are pregnant? if you look at how it is diagnosed if you speak, it goes back two weeks, so it counts for two weeks prior to implantation and at that point women do not know they are pregnant. i am worried as well because in those first meetings with your midwife will this prevent candid conversation between the pregnant lady and a midwife? it well. it will feel scrutinised. i am very against it. on the other hand the rationale it is said further recording even a glass of wine early on, perhaps even before you knew you are pregnant, is so you can accurately predict the risk of a child having faetal alcohol spectrum disorder, which is a really serious thing and has an effect on the brain and behaviour and so on. yes, i

understand the intentions are possibly good, but it is worrying andi possibly good, but it is worrying and i feel it is going to impact the pregnant mother emotionally and actually how most women take a healthy approach anyway, and will they be honest? if somebody is drinking either going to feel they can be honest about that? what would be the reason for not being honest? i think they would be worried. it is a very emotional time when you are pregnant. i suffered traumatic birth with my first son and i had mental health problems during pregnancy and it isa health problems during pregnancy and it is a heightened time so any fear that your baby might be taken from you or you might be deemed a bad mother would possibly prevent you from being candid about that in the first place. i do not think this is the right way forward. taking a more pastoral approach towards pregnant women and really prioritising

perinatal mental health is crucial, so there must be a better way than listing as a parent had one drink. it seems sort of ridiculous almost. in other countries have a much more let it go alcohol approach, of course you do not want pregnant women to be drinking a lot, but on the continent it does not seem to be a straight. we also have to think about confidentiality and when you are pregnant you do not give up your data privacy rights. we have to be really careful about what we think is the right way forward. can i ask you about covid testing? you have children and you have had a child is u nwell children and you have had a child is unwell with a high temperature. a high temperature, is that enough for you to, in terms of the guidance, to think i need to get a test before they can go back to school? we have

got a problem here because i had a child of school and the schools are following the guidelines, as are we, but if you have even one of the symptoms, fever, loss of taste or a consistent course then you have to get a test, i had a child of last week, the test came back negative, subsequently i have had another son early on this week presumably got the same bug as my other child but we cannot get a test. we have been online, they drop at 8pm every night, we have been a long waits, andi night, we have been a long waits, and i have been told they are at capacity and no more tests available, 1 million people have tested this week. the problem is we are all isolating until i unable to that test. how we can get the economy restarted with children when it isa economy restarted with children when it is a stop start process... they have only had three days of school and they are off again. i am having

to work around them again. the other problem is teachers need to get tested in order to go to school and teach. i urge the government to sort this testing crisis out so that we can reach a new normal. it is worrying, very worrying, and disruptive for the child and parents trying to get back to work. and some sort of normality. thank you. microplastics the size of a grain of sand are hidden in everything from fabric conditioner to cosmetics. millions of tonnes of plastic a year gets washed into our seas. now, a spin—out company from cambridge university, xampla, has become the first in the world to make single use plastic out of something that won't damage the planet — peas. here's our science correspondent richard westcott.

everyone in this lab is full of plastic, well, their lab coats are, anyway. a lot of our clothes are full of tiny little balls with fragrance inside. it's what makes them smell so nice. now, normally, they're made of plastic, which washes into the environment and stays there for decades. what if you could make them out of something that's better for the planet? like peas? this is the first company in the world to engineer plant protein into a material that does the same job as single—use plastic. things like the micro capsules you often get inside a fabric conditioner or cosmetics. at the moment the micro capsules contain plastic which will not degrade and last for ages in the ocean. our capsules were made out of protein which would be eaten by fish eventually. it has taken 15 years to perfect the process. here, they are using peas, but you can use other common plants, including potatoes. eventually, it comes out as a liquid that could be made into

plastic—like sheets. so, after the coating has been dried in the oven, it turns into a lovely film, which we can then turn into a label like that, that's on your apple there. so, basically, that's the equivalent of a plastic label but i can eat it? yes, it's100% pea protein. 0k. crunching. very nice! it's hard to eat an apple nicely on camera. dishwasher tablets, sandwich packets, sweet wrappers, all made of something that biodegrades naturally in a matter of days. is there a danger that you're just replacing one problem with another, so farmers who should be growing food are actually going to grow peas to make plastic and we don't have enough food ? there are a lot of waste products already in the farming process that have got very low value or even are ploughed straight back into the field that can be sold on and used to make our kind of materials.

single—use plastics and micro plastics don't need to be made from fossil fuels. there is something very wrong about making something from materials made from oil thatjust last for a minute or two. it is thought that the average family washes around 40 million tiny plastic balls down the drain every week. several countries are in the process of banning them. now, there is a process of swapping that harmful plastic for something made from peas. richard westcott, bbc news. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines. nhs staff and care workers will be prioritised — as the uk government tries to get to grips with the surge in demand for coronavirus tests. we are working night and day, to improve and increase the capacity and the turnover, the turnaround. the uk's inflation rate fell

to a five—year low in august — as the affect of the eat out to help out scheme pushed down restaurant prices. india is the second—worst hit country in the world for coronavirus — after infections pass five million. us president donald trump denies downplaying the severity of coronavirus. drinking when you're pregnant. official advice in england is don't drink at all — now it's being proposed that even one glass of wine should be marked on your child's medical records. the education secretary, gavin williamson, has been facing questions from mps on the education select committee in the last hour, and he's been insisting that tests will be made available for teachers and pupils. schools are, i think the only organisation that has a set of testing kits that have been sent to them directly, in order to be able to ensure that if they are in a situation where someone isn't in a

position to be able to get a test, that they actually have testing kits on site in orderfor them to be able to enable to access, and that is something that is quite, quite unique and but very important, and asi unique and but very important, and as i say, we have opened up the order line, as of 8.00 this morning order line, as of 8.00 this morning or the department of health have for schools to be able to reorder, the reason i had my meeting with baroness harding, as you can imagine, is to continue to emphasise the importance and the priority we have to put on all our schools and education settings, about how vital it is we ensure there is swift testing baroness harding is the woman in charge test, track deputy leader nearly 300 students at royal wootton bassett academy in wiltshire are self—isolating after a year nine student tested

positive for coronavirus on monday. i , hello. so this, i mean this is having a big impact on education, again. yes it is, however, we are trying to mitigate all of those impacts by ensuring our remote learning is top notch. and how are you manage doing that? so, from yesterday, all students have their full—time tables, except for stu d e nts full—time tables, except for students who have additional needs, and we are working with those families, to, to adapt to those timetables, but all students are having remote learning so yesterday lots of teams lessons going on, lot of power point, lots of resources being sent out and the students are having lessons as they would do in school. so proper interactive lessons with the teacher, it happens to be via teams, yes, all schools are in so much of a better position than they were back in mar where we had a week to put everything on line

and that means that all of our too muchers are more skilled in those areas now but it depends on the technologies students have at home, we have students without that technology and we are working on that, but we are more competent with that, but we are more competent with that now. so you had one positive result of a year nine student, year nine is what, 13, you choose your options in year nine, don't you. yes, because that student is in a bubble with 283 other year nine student, that is why the lot have to go home. yes, so that was always the case, when the guidance was published, way back when that secondary schools would not be able to do this in any other way, these are the challenges we have, we are a school with one external eatery, we have had to spend money trying to build another eatery so we can split our year groups build another eatery so we can split ouryeargroups up into build another eatery so we can split our year groups up into their bubble, and that was the key reason for this particular decision by the phe, and phw, public health

wiltshire have been fantastic in their support for us, but they decided that as students were all together at lunch and break times they could not take the risk and thatis they could not take the risk and that is why they have had to isolate. understood. idon't know if you caught the education secretary saying that they have opened this order line where by people like yourself can ring up and order testing kits so you will have testing kits so you will have testing kits so you will have testing kits onsite at your school, going to do that? right, so we have put that order in this morning, we don't know how many we will get. it is true we were given ten tests about two weeks' ago, but this case that we have had in year nine, there could have been a linked case, a pa rent could have been a linked case, a parent contacted me own saturdayers, so schools are working through the weekend to offer that support to pa rents weekend to offer that support to parents who can't get their children tested, and in this particular case, that child was in the same tutor group as the other child, so you know, your levels of urgency are

heightened, i have currently eight members of staff off today, none could get tests for their children soi could get tests for their children so i welcome the new tests coming in but i don't know how many i will get. how many did you order? we are not allowed to give a number, only a rota of how many we have on role, for our school we have 1800 students on roll and 200 staff. i would like to think we would have more than ten in an establish. of 2,000. to think we would have more than ten in an establish. of2,000. is to think we would have more than ten in an establish. of 2,000. is that what you were given two weeks' ago? that is for parents who can't get tests, parents contact to say they can't. and or staff. i am having eight members of staff out per day. out of how many? 125 teachers and internal cover, that means that people like me for example who are trying to run the school, we are covering lessons. right. when you do expect to get your order? we have not been given that, that data yet,

i hope it will be soon. we are down to four from the original ten. ok. well it will be interesting to see how many arrive in the post, do they send them royal mail? yes, via their tracker system. ok. yeah, iwill ring you up in a few days and see if you have got it if that is ok. of course, yes. keep up the good work, thank you. thank you very much. anita ellis is head teacher of that academy in wiltshire. your questions on test willing be a nswered your questions on test willing be answered this afternoon. send any question you have. british airways says it is facing the worst crisis in its history. in the last hour its chief executive, alex cruz, told mps on the transport select committee that the airline is taking every measure possible to make it through the winter.

this is indeed the worst crisis that british airways has ever gone through in its 100 years of its history. covid has devastated our business, our sector, and we are still fighting for our own survival, just to give you some figures as you asked, last week, we flew approximately 187,000 passengers in the different flights we had, in and out of the uk. the same week the previous year, we flewjust under a million passenger, so we are running between 25 and 30% of the normal flight between 25 and 30% of the normal flight schedule. this is six months india has now recorded five million cases of coronavirus. it's the second worst hit country in the world, behind the united states. the virus appears to be spreading much faster in india than any other country, with daily cases crossing 90,000 for the five days up until tuesday. however, the true numbers could be much higher, as many cases may go undetected. more than 80,000 people have died,

amid reports of shortages of intensive care beds and oxygen supplies. the conditions caused by the pandemic, have had severe knock on effects on those affected by other diseases, and some of the country's poorest citizens. the bbc‘s india correspondent yogita limaye reports. they weren't infected by covid, but they've suffered because of it. last month, ramesh kumar‘s two—year—old son died of nerve damage in his brain. the family was turned away three times by a public hospital. doctors told them they were overburdened because of the covid crisis. translation: if it wasn't for coronavirus, my son could've been saved. government doctors told me to take them to a private hospital, but i didn't have money for that.

deaths like these are going unnoticed as covid—19 numbers continue to stack up and bring india's already inadequate medical infrastructure to its knees. doctors at a public hospital in mumbai now being allowed to isolate forjust one day between their duties in covid and other wards — which puts patients at risk. when a doctor is the source of infection it is not good in terms of health and safety. we are overworked, we are overstressed, we are working tirelessly, we don't have leave. many are questioning why restrictions continue to be eased, including reopening metrorail systems across the country, even as the health crisis is getting worse. imposing another lockdown to curb this spike of covid—19 is an extremely difficult option, because the closures we've seen over the last several months have already had a devastating impact on the lives of some

of india's poorest citizens. praveen kumar‘s family has been stitching shoes for generations in the northern city of agra. during the stringent lockdown earlier this year, they once went hungry for four straight days. his mother pushpa devi says they have struggled for every morsel of food and that she has never seen such days in her life. even with restrictions easing, there has only been a trickle of work. "i don't know how we will get by in the coming days. "if the situation remains like this, we will have no option but to kill "ourselves," praveen says. over the past decade, india has managed to pull millions out of poverty, hard —fought achievements that are now at risk of coming undone.

for more on this i'm joined by dr ramanan laxminarayan — director of the centre for disease dynamics, economics & policy. he is advising several indian state governments on covid—19. hello. first of all, how do you react to the fact that the cases have passed 5 million. india is a large country, it was always meant to bea large country, it was always meant to be a fairly significant... and india has to be able to pick up more cases than it did in the past, and the disease is out of control in india, simply because there just is not the public health infrastructure to be able to contain it. we are likely to see this for a while yet. 0k.

likely to see this for a while yet. ok. i mean, does that mean effectively that the policy there is going to be herd immunity? well, it was not a policy but it was an unintended consequence of the inability to control the virus, so if you can't control it then you end up if you can't control it then you end up at one point, you have it under control or you have some sort of herd immunity. ok, do you think it is ever going to be possible to have an accurate counting method for the number of people who have died from coronavirus? it will happen but not immediately, it will happen when we look at it through other measures, you know, through population surveys. but they don't respond in the space of weeks and month, it will take years but there is an excess mortality that has not been counted, and the estimates are it is probably four or five times the

reported mortality. thank you very much for talking to us. thank you. apologies for some of the technical issues there. zimbabwe's government has offered to return farms seized from foreign citizens and black farmers as far back as 20 years ago. local white former farmers will only be offered compensation for improvements and not the land itself. the country's president says it is important for the country to move forward. zimbabwe has suffered multi—million dollar compensation claims, economic collapse and reduced investment. but some have accused the government of back peddling on one of the most controversial policies since independence from britain in 1980. the bbc‘s shingai nyoka reports from central zimbabwe. in new uncertainty for black farmer those who are settled on land belonging to foreign citizens face losing it as the government tries to

close ca ptor losing it as the government tries to close captor on the controversial past. the british are threatening to withdraw their companies. we say the sooner you do it the better. fighting talk by the president. his policy to return land to blacks as a remedy for colonial land grabs became chaotic and has returned to haunt the government. there are more black farmers on the land now but the question of ownership remains a divisive one more than 20 years on, and the government is still trying to strike a balance, between local interests and international obligation, farms protected under investment protection agreements we re investment protection agreements were pa rcelled investment protection agreements were parcelled out in violation of loke were parcelled out in violation of lo ke laws were parcelled out in violation of loke laws and now these families could be moved. —— local. could be moved. -- local. we don't like it. because... this is zimbabwe, this is ourland. because... this is zimbabwe, this is our land. they say they were assured that the take over was legal, for 20

yea rs that the take over was legal, for 20 years they have sunk roots here, raised children, buried family on this land. we are the government. so i don't think our government can say we can go back. i don't think so. i o continue believe it. we can go back. i don't think so. i 0 continue believe it. we are waiting for the government so we don't fear anything. we are the rightful owners of this land. but they there are greater forces at play, international courtjudgments demand that the land is restored or hundreds of millions of dollars is paid in damages. iam paid in damages. i am convinced in the long run, the government of zimbabwe will fulfil its international obligation, i do not believe anything will happen overnight, i think this is a process not an event. this family won an internationaljudgment not an event. this family won an international judgment five years ago, and remain cautiously optimistic. we are waiting to be contacted optimistic. we are waiting to be co nta cted by optimistic. we are waiting to be contacted by government, and to find a solution with the government, an

announcement has not been made. why do you think that the government is doing this now? the problems need to be sorted. unless they are resolved zimbabwe can't go forward. this is something that the government recognised, and it has taken the first steps into the right direction, it is a long way we still have to go. a think that the government is doing this now? the problems need to be sorted. unless they are resolved zimbabwe can't go forward. this is something that the government recognised, and it has taken the first steps into the right direction, it is a long way we still have to go. a recent multi—billion us spay out deal with local white farmers affected had stirred emotion, some accuse the government of buckling to pressure pressure from western nation, the government says not all foreign owned farms will be returned. the consideration with the republic, there is merit in doing so, where it is no longer possible, then compensation is offered. for me thatis then compensation is offered. for me that is very clear, so all together the numbers that we are looking at

addressing, redressing for the clarity that we give, the day before yesterday, affects a mere 3.2% of the beneficiaries. these people have told us we have to get out right now, they have come to move us out. even as the government promised to close the controversial chapter anotherfarmer viccion close the controversial chapter another farmer viccion was taking place. whatever happens now, many zimbabweans agree to move forward the country needs to resolve this tug—of—war that has gone on for decades. the coronavirus outbreak has had a huge impact on foreign travel this summer — but it's notjust holiday makers who have been affected. nina warhurst has been at east midlands airport in england to find out how it's changing imports and exports. so pretty soon cargo will be arriving on this loader, ready to be piled on to this plane destined for madrid or another european destination, round million packages come through east midlands airports every day, equivalent weight of around 83 double decker buses,

in case you are interested and that volume has gone up by a fifth already this year. part of the reason is that pre—covid most cargo would have travelled in the underbelly of passenger planes which as we all know, have by and large been cancelled because of the virus, so that has increased the demand for freight only aircraft and increased demand for the managing director here, good morning. how much of that growth to you put down specifically to covid. because we were shopping online a bit more any way. so we have seen year on year growth in cargo but i think what we've seen this summer, particularly, is as a result of people working from home, unable to get to the shops, so the chances are if you ordered something on line yesterday it would have flown into east midlands overnight and be making its way to you now. so there is some growth in that area but how much does that mitigate against the commercial loss because of passengers not coming,

what needs to happen now? we've seen a dramatic effect of covid on our passenger operation, we are seeing a fifth of the number of passengers that we would normally see through the summer. after a busy night operation we would be expecting a busy day operation now with passengers but three—quarters of our destinations are unavailable due to quarantine restriction, so we really need to see some movement from the government, with regards to testing to open up the aviation market again, to get passengers flying, and flying safely. and at the moment, i suppose, about not knowing and not being able to plan isn't it. yeah, i mean we heard grant shapps a week last monday saying he was looking at testing for as an alternative to quarantine, we know the medical evidence is there, that if you test five days, and people are negative, it as safe as a 14 day quarantine. we need the aviation industry to get back flying properly, and passengers are core to this and to the cargo business

as well because the belly hold is important to. hold is important too. many thanks, you know that that is what many airports across the country are telling us, yes, the increase in freight is welcomed and it is an inevitable part of the different way we are shopping, but when it comes to commercial losses because of fewer passengers coming through it doesn't go very far to dent that damage. eviction was which have talked about the proposal that every drink you have in pregnancy should be recorded even if it is only one glass of wine to better identify those children at risk. i want to read this message from glynis, he said you need to live in my shoes my adopted son and his siblings have it. more children are born with it than down, both are like long disabilities and one is 100% preventable. thank you for

those. glynis goes on to say, people are told not to smoke in pregnancy, no—one says one is ok.le alcohol has a worse effect on the unborn child than heroine. —— heroin. children are facings bars, the school struggle to meet needs. our disability correspondent has this. lewis needs routine and constant engagement in order to cope with his autism and complex needs. his mum, dawn, is desperate for him to return to school to get a full—time education. she knows that's what is best for his development and his mental health. he thrives on structure, times, he understands school is five days a week. he needs a routine. lewis has been offered two days per week initially.

two days? two days. so that's no routine, no structure, and in some aspects, worse than what we're doing now. how has this impacted the whole of the family? it has been really, really hard. my other son is 12 and he has no additional needs. hello. is it leon? hi, yes. leon. so lovely to meet you. leon is a wonderful young carer, but it's — it's tough. are you coping all right at school yourself? uh, yeah, but sometimes a bit like, now i can go to school to see my friends but lewis can't, which is unfair. yeah. he feels really guilty going back to school. erm, because his brother is more in need of that school place. and he hides himself in the morning, he hides that uniform. and he runs out to school

and it's really sad. he never let lewis seeing him in a uniform. never. because he knows how much it means? yeah. ladies and gentlemen! whereas lewis is desperate to go back to school full—time, there are other children with complex needs who, post—lockdown, need a more gradual return. i haven't been to school for six months now. and i feel anxious and happy at the same time. connie is eight years old. she's been worried about going back to school for weeks. at home with her siblings, who are also autistic, is where she feels safe. her anxiety, it can be quite high. sometimes it can get to the point where every single day, she's just literally exhausted and doesn't want to go to school. is that your drawing? yeah. they're not kisses because we're not going back to school. and that is why you have put the crosses there?

because you don't want to go back? yeah. connie's been back a week now, and jodie's fears have materialised. her daughter has always found school difficult. but the extra restrictions due to coronavirus, has meant that within a week, connie is finding it hard to cope. if she can't manage and they won't allow her to be flexi—schooling, then it will have to be me pulling her out and deregistering her, because i'm not prepared to put her mental health at risk anymore. department for education guidance sets out the expectation that every child should be back at school full—time. lewis's school says the phased returns are working and have helped children adapt to the new routine. but dawn says they don't work for her son. he is still at home. i am frustrated for lewis. upset to see him lose skills that he'd gained, be so isolated. every day is draining, and every day he asks me, "monday, monday? he know he should be going back

to school like his brother. you know, i've had to say, "not soon." "not for you, anyway." hello. we and many pars of the europe have seen a return to summer so far this week. temperatures have been well above average — that is represented on this chart by the red colours, but the whites show average temperatures, the blues below. notice the change as we go through the coming days, only really france holds on to that summer warmth by the time we hit the weekend. that change begins today here in the uk. we have seen sunshine and warmth build across the south so far, but this area of cloud, captured by a weather watcher in the north east earlier on, is what is bringing that change. here it is on our chart, stretching across southern scotland, northern england.

continues to push slowly southwards and westwards. introducing north—easterly winds. some sunshine in the far north of scotland, a brighter day than yesterday, but temperatures will be down into the low teens for some, a drop of air and ten degrees for some in northern england compared with yesterday afternoon, but with the sun still out, southern most counties it will be a warm one. a bit of patchy mist and fog around some coats inland, 26—28 celsius, some coasts inland, 26—28 celsius, 82 fahrenheit is possible. that warmth continues into the evening and the first part of the night, but there is the cloud again, pushing southwards and westwards, doesn't quite make the channel islands and the south—west of england fully by the end of the night, so temperatures will hold up here, around 15 or 16, but a chillier day tomorrow, and the further north and east we go, temperatures certainly rural areas down into single figures. so a cooler start tomorrow, more widely. more cloud returning to the north and west of scotland, bit of cloud elsewhere across scotland at times, but overall, a dry day, a bright day for the vast majority, long sunny spells for most during the afternoon, and while temperatures are down on recent days, a fresher feel,

pleasant out in the sunshine, temperatures 16—22, which is around where we should be for the time of year. what we will notice is the nights are much cold, that will be are much colder, that will be same as going to friday. a few patches of mist and fog patches around first thing. showers thick enough in northern scotland for one or two showers during the first part of day. most, though, on friday, again having a dry day, lots of sunshine around and temperatures high teens and low 20s. as we go into the weekend there is a little bit of a battle taking place — high pressure to the north, low pressure which brings wet weather to the south. they are closing in on each other. that will give more of a breeze across the southern half of the country, but the rain could be limited to the far south coast of england. most staying dry this weekend, with sunshine, and pleasant in that sunshine too. bye for now.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. nhs staff and care workers will be prioritised as the uk government tries to get to grips with the surge in demand for coronavirus tests. a in demand for coronavirus tests. warning from hea organisations a warning from head teacher organisations at more schools could close as winter approaches due to a lack of testing. we, this morning, opened up the ordering system for schools to be able to open new tests. the uk's inflation rate fell to a five—year low in august — as the affect of the eat out to help out scheme pushed down restaurant prices. india is the second worst—hit country in the world for coronavirus — after infections

pass five million. us president donald trump denies downplaying the severity of coronavirus. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. i'm anita mcveigh. plans to prioritise coronavirus tests and put nhs staff at the top of the list will be published in the coming days. people in care homes would also be a priority, while schools could also be considered, thejustice secretary robert buckland said. hundreds of people queued to get a test this morning

in south—east england. some had arrived at the walk—in testing centre as early at 5am. many people have reported problems securing online bookings and some have been asked to travel a long way from where they live to get tested. the rise in demand has also led to shortages in tests at local hotspots. demand for testing has risen partly because children are back at school and offices are reopening. and there are questions as to how the system will cope with winter approaching. the large lighthouse laboratories, run by the government to analyse test swabs from all the uk nations, have been under strain to process them all. test slots are limited because, while there seem to be enough testing sites, there are bottlenecks in the labs. a new lab is due to be up and running but that could be a few

weeks ago, a way, and until then ministers say current problems are likely to continue. let's get more about this problem from westminster. people will be amazed that front line health workers and staff and residents in care homes were not already top of the less for these tests, so why hasn't that been the case? i , there certainly are going to be a lot of questions asked about that when you think back to the early days of the testing system there was a priority, as they built capacity the nhs workers got test first and so there are busy questions about that why that fell away in some case and it is clear that the system has been struggling and as i said we have heard stories of people having to travel hundreds of miles, locking onto the system for several days to

try and get a test slot, etc, cynically at these bottlenecks and it is not difficult to see why, because of the children back at school you have got lots of children who haven't necessarily been mixing for the next six months back together, more of us are back together, more of us are back together as the system is starting together as the system is starting to ease and it is clear that the system a re to ease and it is clear that the system are struggling to cope with this. earlier, robert buckland, the cabinet minister here in the uk said that he admitted that there were issues but it was the government's number one priority to sort. we are working night and day to improve and increase the capacity and the turnaround. which is so important for families. the demand of course has picked up as schools have come back and as the economy comes back to life. this is a huge challenge. the health secretary has set out his bold agenda on this and we are putting the resources in to deal with this. yes, there is still a lot to be done — i am not shying away from that for a minute. helen, i think it is set orfair to

say that the sources of pressure on the testing system are all areas that could easily have been anticipated because the government has been encouraging people to go back to work if they can, clearly there was a name for schools to go backin there was a name for schools to go back in september, that has happened, but lots of concern coming from the education sector about testing now so how much pressure as the government under right now to really deliver on tasting this time in the next few weeks or risk losing the confidence of the public? there is huge pressure, yes. we must say that the government did build lots of testing capacity very quickly earlier in the year and i think nobody was under any doubt as to how difficult that was to do but the problem the government has given itself, if you like, in a way, is that the reality doesn't seem to be matching up with some of the better make this again. when the system was first introduced the government consistently said that it would be a world beating testing system and obviously now a few months and we are seeing a struggle and also you

had a little bit better with robert brooklyn talking about the health secretary having a bold agenda and that we know the government for example that we know the government for exa m ple wa nts to that we know the government for example wants to get to a point next year by the spring where they want to test millions of people a day and short turnaround tests in the community so if you want to go to the theatre or sports events or something you can be allowed in because your test has come back negative, but that comes with enormous problems. some experts say well the technology doesn't exist to do that. that would put even more pressure on laboratories. they're calling this operation moonshot, the government, so when you have got that sort of future planning but what they have already promised would be a world beating system doesn't quite matching up it does throw a little bit of perhaps doubt over the whole thing. helen, thank you very much. helen, thank you very much. we'rejoined by the labour mp for walthamstow stella creasy. she's spent days dealing with consitutents struggling to get tested for covid—19. thank you very much forjoining us

today. tells more about what your constituents are saying to you. they are extremely frustrated because this is a complete farce. just this morning i have heard of a local school which is having to close down lessons because it has had positive tests within the school community and that has ramifications notjust for the children, for the parents, for the children, for the parents, for the children, for the parents, for the staff and for the wider community as well and still we have a local testing site that seems to be empty. ever since the weekend, when i was wrong by the department of health and told not to tell residents to go and have tests at this local centre and thus they have had an appointment they have been rightly asking me where can i get an appointment, i cannot book online, i have a child of the temperature, i am being told not to bring her back to school, another health secretary is talking about publishing a list of people who are going to be prioritised without thinking this though. it was entirely obvious that schools are going to open and therefore inevitably in the autumn term when children start mixing again there would be this question

about whether to test them and yet no preparation seems to have been done at all. what reason will you given in the department have help bind you to tell you not to direct people to this local health in waltha mstow? people to this local health in walthamstow? the problem is that they have run this like this did rail privatisation so that they are different companies doing different aspects of the service. one company is doing the organisation taking of the test, one company is taking milk to the test centres and another is doing the research themselves are what they could tell me was that they couldn't guarantee the test would be done in the amount of time that they would need to be done to be relevant it is a complete power or farce be relevant it is a complete power orfarce and be relevant it is a complete power or farce and it be relevant it is a complete power orfarce and it is be relevant it is a complete power or farce and it is entirely predictable that if you have different parts of the system doing different parts of the system doing different things without any coordination are going to problems. just as with the rail privatisation where one company owned the signals, another the track in and around the stations than they are not able to coordinate. i fear that the decision by the might of the department of

health to cap the number of testing done was an attempt to stop what is going into the system but the consequences work is not going into schools and etc. we have heard that social care, health care are going to the pharisee and if fine mist has talked about education as well for kids to stay at school. what do you think needs to be done to get the testing system working at the sort of capacity that is needed so that we can go into the winter with hopefully children being able to stay at school and everybody else needs a test being able to get one? absolutely. the ministers need to appoint someone directly to get a grip of these whole system. these private company should be facing penalties, they are not able to deliver the capacity promise. i can get a straight answer as to how many test should be taking place in my local comp services silicon if people didn't have to wait. more

transparency on what is going on? absolutely. need to be transparency ina absolutely. need to be transparency in a central gear they need to put this back together. just as they had to do with rail privatisation to make it work properly we need to have one organisation doing the test will start to finish so that we know where the test is going and feels that the back. we also have people who aren't guessing their results of the not gassing them in time to go back to an employer and say it's ok for me to go back also know that they need to self—isolate. for me to go back also know that they need to self-isolate. thank you very much for speaking to us today. the president of the european commission, ursula von der leyen, has warned that the uk cannot disregard the brexit withdrawal agreement struck with the eu. in her annual state of the union address to the european parliament, she said both sides had agreed it was the only way to safeguard the peace process in northern ireland. this withdrawal agreement took three years to negotiate and we worked relentlessly on it. line by line, word by word and, together, we succeeded and the result guarantees our

citizens' rights, financial interests, the integrity of the single market and crucially, the good friday agreement and the european union and the uk jointly agreed it was the best and only way for ensuring peace on the island of ireland. and we will never backtrack on that and this agreement has been ratified by this house and by the house of commons. it cannot be unilaterally changed, disregarded or disapplied. this is a matter of law and trust and good faith. applause the foreign secretary, dominic raab, will meet senior us politicians in washington later amid disquiet over the government's plans to breach parts of the brexit withdrawal deal. in a letter to borisjohnson last night, four senior congressmen warned that a uk—us trade deal would be blocked if there were any risk to the good friday agreement.

downing street said the legislation was a legal safety net to ensure the agreement was upheld. the rate of inflation in the uk fell sharply last month. british airways says it is facing the worst crisis in its history. in the last hour its chief executive, alex cruz, told mps on the transport select committee that the airline is taking every measure possible to make it through the winter. this is, indeed, the worst crisis that british airways has ever gone through in its 100 years of its history. covid has devastated our business, our sector, and we're still fighting for our own survival. to give you some figures, as you asked, last week we flew approximately 187,000 passengers in the different flights we had in and out of the uk. the same week the previous year, we flewjust under a million passengers, so we're running at between 25 and 30% of the normal flight schedule and this is six

months into the pandemic. the president denied he had downplayed the seriousness of covid—19, and insisted he'd taken action to protect americans. last night mr trump faced questions from some of those living in the critical battle ground state of pennsylvania. and he said the virus would go away without a vaccine, through what he called "herd mentality". i didn't downplay it. in many ways, i actually up played it in terms of action. what i did was, with china, i puta ban on. with europe, i put a ban on and we would have lost thousands more people had i not put the ban on sow that was called action, not with the mouth but in actual fact. we're going to be ok and it is going away and it's probably going to go away now a lot faster because of the vaccine.

it would go away without the vaccine, george. it's going go away a lot faster, though away without the vaccine? sure. over a period of time. sure. with time it goes. and you develop, like, a herd mentality. it's going to be... herd—developed and that's going to happen. that's all going to happen. like with a vaccine, i think it will go away very quickly. you're watching bbc news... serious and violent criminals in england and wales would serve at least two thirds of their jail sentence, rather than half, under measures proposed by the government today. the changes to sentencing will be put forward in a white paper — that's a policy document that sets out the government's plans for future laws. the criminaljustice system ground to a halt during the coronavirus pandemic meaning backlogs and delays for victims and defendants, who are facing trial dates years ahead. here's our home affairs correspondent, june kelly tougherjail terms for serious criminals. this is the government's message with this overhaul of the sentencing system. but the smarter sentencing, as it is being described,

also includes greater use of measures aimed at rehabilitation. chris mcgrath, with martin bruin, the psychologist who helped him to turn his life around, with one—on—one sessions which addressed his mental health issues and broke his cycle of reoffending, which had gone on for 16 years. i'd be out from friday till sunday, sometimes even longer, spending my wages, losing jobs and losing friends. whereas on the other hand, now i have gained all that back and more. more friends, a betterjob, a great relationship with me kids. a great relationship so, why can community—based sentences, which involve treatment, be a better alternative to prison? a lot of the clientele we see have been struggling with long—term mental health or substance abuse difficulties for quite some time. without the support, that creates a revolving door where they're in and out

of the justice system because no—one is treating the root cause of the problem. serious offenders like rapists, young killers and those convicted of terrorism face harsher penalties. but all these proposals come as the court system is facing a massive backlog of cases that has left so many, including victims, in legal limbo. june kelly, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news... nhs staff and care workers will be prioritised as the uk government tries to get to death, grips with the surge in the event of tests. a warning from head teacher organisations that most schools could close as winter approaches due toa could close as winter approaches due to a lack of testing. the uk's inflation rate fell to a five year low in august is the effect of the eat out to help out scheme pushed down restaurant prices.

before covid—19 arrived earlier this year, the world had been slowly waking to the need to deal with climate change. multinational companies were voicing commitments to new, more environmentally conscious forms of corporate governance. youth activists had mobilized a global climate movement of unprecedented scale. the european commission had unveiled plans for a european green deal, following proposals in the us for a green new deal to transform the world's largest economy. but since then, most major economies have suffered deep contractions. dealing with climate change has been put on the back burner for many of them. the former prime minister, gordon brown is one of the key speakers at the two day green recovery conference looking at how governments can include climate change action while trying to deal with covid—19. hejoins me now from north queensferry in fife in scotland. thank queensferry in fife in scotland. you very much for today. thank you very much for your time today. good to have you with us on bbc news. there's been a lot of talk, hasn't there, they glean recovery after covid, an opportunity

to reset, but before we talk about how that might be gone, what's your assessment first about the impact of coronavirus on the environment? well, we're going through a health crisis and this is going to last for many, crisis and this is going to last for any crisis and this is going to last for many, many months to come but we're also going through the economic crisis and the economic crisis can be solved in part at least by the green new deal and that is really what this project syndicate comes from today with some great speakers actually talking we've got these to crises, how can we deal with them in an environmentally sustainable way andi an environmentally sustainable way and i think the issue before us is how can we mobilise the resources that are available for the recovery in europe, in america, and the rest of the world, in britain of course, and how can we do that better than we did after the global financial crisis to create jobs, invest in solar, wind, wave power, invest in hydrogen, invest in the whole gamut of renewables in our economy so it is really about the recovery and

about how environmental sustainability can be at the heart of any recovery that comes. so what does that proper solution look like? tells more about that. one that doesn't get lost in the return to business as usual. and how'd we get a solution that is good for the planet in the midst of a pandemic. this is what is interesting. the european recovery plan, about 30% of it is being spent on the environment and that is a huge 750 billion plan. president to be, if he is to be, we don't know that yet, biden has gotten equally ambitious environmental recovery plan and we wait to see whether europe and america can come together. we have got what is called the cop26 coming to glasgow next year and that i think will have as a theme the green recovery plan. britain of course has got its own proposals, quite ambitious, we've got to say that the monies behind them to deviate so i can see a situation where at least on one issue, we fail to cooperate properly on health, we failed merely

to cooperate on the economic crisis, how'd we get a solution that is good for the planet in the midst of a pandemic. this is what is interesting. the european recovery plan, about 30% of it is being spent on the environment and that is a huge 750 billion plan. president to be, if he is to be, we don't know that yet, biden has gotten equally ambitious environmental recovery plan and we wait to see whether europe and america can come together. we have got what is called the cop26 together. we have got what is called the co p26 coming together. we have got what is called the cop26 coming to glasgow next year and that i think will have as a theme the green recovery plan. britain of course has got its own proposals, quite ambitious, we've got to say that the monies behind them to the environment and the green new deal and if we do that we don't have the three riders who benefit from one country taking action but other countries failing to ta ke action but other countries failing to take action. we need to have everything one working on the seller. it absolutely has to be a joined up approach. you mention the us presidential elections in america. we have the president of the united states who you would have seen as well as everyone else visiting california to talk about the wildfires and contradicting very openly that experts there and saying he doesn't think science knows what's happening how much is that not just distract what actually thwart the efforts that you are talking about? well, he has pulled out of the paris climate accord of 2016 but you know when i look out dell might look round to states i talk to cities and talk to companies

and young people and there is a body of opinion in america even if the president is not prepared to cooperate they are prepared to cooperate they are prepared to cooperate say yes it may change in america, we do not know, but there is still a huge connection between cities on the well, between businesses around the world, between young people and the world, and the project is are running these companies today have brought experts round from every single part of the world so that we can see what would have green new deal look like not just if it was a british new deal but a global new deal. it will create jobs and it will be the economic recovery and infrastructure, if it is green infrastructure, if it is green infrastructure, will benefit us fatherly decades to come. what will eve ryo ne fatherly decades to come. what will everyone who is taking in this conference everyone who is taking in this co nfe re nce says everyone who is taking in this conference says to people like alex close who say that british airways is running facing the worst crisis in history, weave and equip them a clip of him just a few minutes ago,

in particular when you think about transport and holiday sector, how do they become part of a green recovery, just to take one example? yeah, i heard and then of course as has come down from a million passengers to 200,000 or less and less as a huge decline. when i travel cover in the way that other sectors will recover? i think that is an issue that needs to be looked at. can we make some breakthroughs in the technology governing air where we have actually been slow to make the process or progress. clearly the biggest progress has been made from energy in terms of coal and oil moving to gas and renewa bles coal and oil moving to gas and renewables an coal and oil moving to gas and renewa bles a n extent coal and oil moving to gas and renewables an extent nuclear but clearly in other sectors, the scientific genius is going to have to have to be there, the technological process, electric batteries, all the progress made in hydrogen fuel cars, we have got to see what can be done in the aeroplane industry as well. let's talk more specifically about the economy here in the uk what the recovery might look like and the furlough scheme, today is the deadline across the many buses to

tell employers whether they will have a job after the end of october when the furlough scheme runs out. what do you think needs to happen nextin what do you think needs to happen next in terms of support for not just sections that are seen as more sustainable but those which are currently on a lot of difficulty but may be seen as less sustainable? yeah, i called for and indeed i welcomed what the treasury did six months ago increasing the furlough scheme. the assumption then was that the health problems would be over by october. clearly when we are bringing a lot of difficulty but may be seen as less sustainable? yeah, i called for and indeed i welcomed what the treasury did six months ago increasing the furlough scheme. the assumption then was that the health problems would be over by october. clearly when we're bringing you new regulations, whether local lockdowns we need to do better than giving people £91 a week to feed families of six. i think there has to be any announcements on the government the

next few days that there is an extension in certain sectors and areas. you know, germany and france areas. you know, germany and france are doing part—time support for not just this year but the whole of next year and just this year but the whole of next yearandi just this year but the whole of next yearand i think just this year but the whole of next year and i think we have to be realistic. if you asked people to meet new health regulations and then deny them the income that is lost through having to stay at home you have really got to do something about it in the same energy that went into the original furlough scheme ought to be being put into creating measures. youth unemployment is going to rise dramatically, businesses are going to become somebody companies if they can't repay their loans, at the same time, the young people and others are going to be lost to the labour market, their skills and capacity forever. this is a once in a sensory event and that is why we need once ina event and that is why we need once in a century measures and quite clearly we need a recovery plan as well as a rescue plan and we need it almost immediately. —— this is a once ina almost immediately. —— this is a once in a century event. what about the crop cost? when you were in office you are dealing with very big questions is well grappling with

debt that the uk might have to repay end over what period it might have to be repaid. looking at the cost of this in dealing with coronavirus and we don't how long it will be until we don't how long it will be until we can say we are truly out of this, what about the source of costs involved in what we are talking about? i don't think people were right to criticise me because we saved a million people from being unemployed, say people from losing their mortgages, save businesses from going under and that was clearly the right thing to do, austerity has clearly been a mistake but if you look at the interest rates governments will pay to raise money. we were paid 4% interest rates in 2009. the latest interest in way to something like 0.17% in other words it is a fun fraction of what it was in 2009 suit to borrow money now and to advance your infrastructure plan so that you spend now and get benefits later, it has got to be about investment in the future of course that is a good dealfor britain the future of course that is a good deal for britain and not a the future of course that is a good dealfor britain and not a bad deal andi dealfor britain and not a bad deal and i think it is essential that in and i think it is essential that in a once in a century event you take action that is equivalent to the

problem you're facing and i think this has got to be done now and i would say that it has got to be done in the next few days because people need to know where they are going to be after october the 31st icy family sick with worry about whether they can feed themselves, i see people worried about whether they'll ever get anotherjob worried about whether they'll ever get another job and worried about whether they'll ever get anotherjob and i see young people i suspect when you've got half a million people who have left education in the last few months and very few of them have got anything to look forward to other than if they got a place in education and a or university. he wrote in an article for the guardian earlier that you have to that after having led britain through a crisis yourself you felt some sympathy for borisjohnson even yourself you felt some sympathy for boris johnson even though yourself you felt some sympathy for borisjohnson even though mea culpa isa borisjohnson even though mea culpa is a word that will never crosses lips. given the bangles that are going over the internal market in brexit, the crisis line testing, do you think that this government is

one that is looking beyond the current crises to really leave the country? i think it is been very much day—to—day management and some days press management rather than policy management and you really need to think ahead to the next problem and while you may be criticised for being forward—looking while you are in the middle of a current crisis you need to think of the net from a head. we face, if it was ever possible to face two cliff edges we have got to cliff edges. we have got what is going to happen on the furlough scheme in old october in what is going to happen in the brexit negotiations. the oecd report which i think you're quitting early essays that britain will see a 10% cut in its growth, far bigger than the bank of england prophesied, and evenif the bank of england prophesied, and even if there is more faith next year they have assumed that they had made a dealfrom brexit year they have assumed that they had made a deal from brexit so that is a real problem. if you have to deal with the loss of trade from brexit while you are trying to recover trade as a result of the lost growth during the vibrancy really have to think again about getting a deal and, lo, todayi think again about getting a deal and, lo, today i gather that they are discussing with a parliament

should have the final vote as to whether we break international treaties. it is an incredible situation where the lawmakers are asked to confirm that they're going to be lawbrea kers asked to confirm that they're going to be lawbreakers and, you know, the foreign office goes around the world telling people how to apply the rule of law. the defeat department that has just been abandoned so much abandon, the international and development goes in elections national countries about how to maintain international standards and yet here we have a fine minister who signed a treaty ten weeks ago and i was actually abandoning in the interests of achieving his own end. -- difid interests of achieving his own end. —— difid department. i think people will feel right around the world for the citizens that it is not a cce pta ble the citizens that it is not acceptable for lawmakers to become lawbreakers. from a primer gordon brown, thank you very much. india has now recorded 5 million

cases of coronavirus. it's the second worst hit country in the world, behind the united states. the virus appears to be spreading much faster in india than any other country, with daily cases crossing 90,000 for the five days up until tuesday. however, the true numbers could be much higher, as many cases may go undetected. more than 80,000 people have died, amid reports of shortages of intensive care beds and oxygen supplies. the conditions caused by the pandemic, have had severe knock on effects on those affected by other diseases, and some of the country's poorest citizens. the bbc‘s india correspondent yogita limaye reports. they weren't infected by covid, but they've suffered because of it. last month, ramesh kumar‘s two—year—old son died of nerve damage in his brain. the family was turned away three times by a public hospital. doctors told them they were overburdened because of the covid crisis. "if it wasn't for coronavirus, my son could have been saved. "government doctors has told me to take him to a private "hospital,

but i didn't have money for that," ramesh says. deaths like these are going unnoticed as covid—19 numbers continue to stack up and bring india's already inadequate medical infrastructure to its knees. doctors at a public hospital in mumbai are now being allowed to isolate forjust one day between their duties in covid and other wards, which puts patients at risk. when a doctor is the source of infection, it is not good in terms of health systems. we are over—worked, we are over—stressed, we are working tirelessly, we don't have leave. many are questioning why restrictions continue to be eased, including reopening metro rail systems across the country even as the health crisis is getting worse. imposing another lockdown to curb the spread of covid—19 is an extremely difficult option because the closures we've seen over the past several months have already

had a devastating impact on the lives of some of india's poorest citizens. praveen kumar‘s family has been stitching shoes for generations in the northern city of agra. during the stringent lockdown earlier this year, they once went hungry for four straight days. she speaks own language. his mother, pushpa devi, says they've struggled for every morsel of food, and that she's never seen such days in her life. even with restrictions easing, there's only been a trickle of work. "i don't know how we will get by in the coming days. "if the situation remains like this, we'll have no option but to kill ourselves," praveen says. over the past decade, india has managed to pull millions out of poverty. hard —fought achievements that are now at risk of coming undone.

yogita limaye, bbc news, mumbai. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: nhs staff and care workers will be prioritised — as the uk government tries to get to grips with the surge in demand for coronavirus tests. a warning from headteacher organisations that more schools could close as winter approaches — due to a lack of testing. wheat this morning opened up the ordering system for schools to be able to order new test. the uk's inflation rate fell to a five—year low in august — as the affect of the eat out to help out scheme pushed down restaurant prices.

the boss of british airways says the airline has been force to focus on its arrival as coronavirus devastates the air industry. india is the second—worst hit country in the world for coronavirus let's return to our main story — the problems with the uk's coronavirus testing system. britain's education secretary gavin williamson was facing questions from mps on the education select committee earlier this morning. he insisted that tests will be made available for teachers and pupils. schools i think are the only organisation that actually has a set of testing kits that have been sent to them directly in order to be able to ensure if they are in a situation where someone isn't in a position to be able to get a test that they actually have testing kits on site in orderfor them to be able, to enable access. and that's something that is quite

unique but very important. as i say, we have opened up the order line as of eight o'clock this morning, or the department of health have, in order for schools to be able to reorder. the reason i had my meeting with baroness harding, as you can imagine, is to continue to emphasise the importance and the priority that we have to put on all our schools and education settings about how vital it is that we always ensure that there is swift testing available. so, how do you tell if a schoolchild could have covid, or is just suffering from a winter sniffle? dr sarahjarvis is a gp and clinical director of patientaccess.com. doctor director of patientaccess.com. jarvis, go to have yt us. doctorjarvis, go to have you with us. that is a question that parents everywhere will be grappling with. they look at their child may be

sneezing and sniffling a bit, they feel slightly warm — how do you know what they have got? it is such a challenge and is one every gp in the country has been wanting the government to answer and to work out how we can get testing which will ensure that we can tell the difference, because we know the number of children who get coughs and calls, viral infections increases dramatically at this time of year. studies from last year says that children were absent on average three times. so we all knew this was going to happen. but if your child has a runny nose and is sneezing a sneezing about and maybe has sore throat but does not have a fever, or a new continuous cough, by which we mean they are coughing a lot or

having several coughing bouts over 24 hours, and haven't got a change to the sense of smell or taste, then they don't need testing. that is really important to know, isn't it? it bears going over the difference in symptoms. lots of people are trying to get tests, and there are questions from the government about whether everybody should be eligible for those tests, but this has an enormous impact on schools. do you think that the messaging from the government is clear to schools about how they should be managing the situation between the various bubbles in the schools?” situation between the various bubbles in the schools? i don't think the messaging has been clear, i think it's been very confused. it's much easier with primary schools where you can keep a single bubble of may be 30 children separate from everybody else. if thatis separate from everybody else. if that is not happening, then schools do need to be working out how they can make it happen. it is very difficult for some schools if they

have not got enough space. really importantly, the messaging has it been clear about who should be tested. i am really shocked to see at the government is trying to blame people and saintly are abusing the system. nobody wants to spend eight hours online to get a test which is 100 miles away and then drive out to get a swap shore up their nose just because it is available. if you have got symptoms, then you need to be tested. importa ntly, got symptoms, then you need to be tested. importantly, if you live with someone who has got symptoms, then you do not get yourself tested, there is no point in getting yourself tested if you live for someone who has developed symptoms today or yesterday, because they could not have anything to do more than a couple of days before they got symptoms. that means you will not be positive for a few days, the average time to develop symptoms is five days, it can be up to 12 days. what's really worrying is that people are in contact with someone

who has symptoms and get a negative test, they might think they're fine. you are not. you really need to isolate for that whole two weeks. you can see why this is a nightmare for head teachers and managers in a skills as they try to decide whether to send just a few children home on the whole bubble. what are your thoughts on that? the answer is that probably if there are. only if a child has positive, the lot of lump needs to be sent home. if we can get quick testing, and that child turns out to be negative, then everybody can come back into school. but if they have been in close contact, public health england have said get in touch with the local health authorities, they will tell you how close contact is. this is what we really need to have an effective track and trace system in place. the first system was a disaster, the

system that we have now, the online alp, is actually very good in terms of privacy, and it's pretty good in terms of telling you if you have beenin terms of telling you if you have been in close contact. —— online app. they have looked carefully about what defines close contact. a p pa re ntly about what defines close contact. apparently it was launched last week, but it was launched under the radar after all the fanfare over the previous system which promptly went away. i am not surprised people do not know where to get out. doctor sarah jarvis, thank you very not know where to get out. doctor sarahjarvis, thank you very much for reminding us what the symptoms are four common cold and fairly harmless winter illnesses. ata at a school in east sussex has been in touch with us today saying that she was off last thursday with covid systems, she tried to get a test last friday she couldn't. she called 191, was advised to self—isolate,

she applied for a pull to test it arrived on sunday, she took the test at fort bm on monday, but as of today, this ta has had no results of the test. meanwhile, ten children and her class have developed very similar covid symptoms. so she is wondering if she had got that test last friday and got a speedy response to that test, could those children have avoided developing no symptoms. lots of questions being thrown up as a result of people not being able to get access to test immediately. if you're watching in the uk this afternoon. your questions on testing will be answered by virologist and lecturer in global health dr elisabetta groppelli. send your questions using the hashtag #bbcyourquestions or email us using yourquestions@bbc.co.uk.

a line about sarah keir starmer, the labour leader, who has said that he is pleased and relieved that a coronavirus test result for one of his children had come back negative. —— sarah keir starmer. he has been isolating for a couple of days after we we re isolating for a couple of days after we were told that a member of his household had developed symptoms. angela raynor, the deputy leader, is due to take his place at prime minister's questions today. we'll see a key make a return? i don't know know about that, i'm just speculating. the rate of inflation in the uk fell sharply last month. it dropped to 0.2& from 1% injuly — as the effect of the eat out to help out scheme pushed down restaurant prices. that's the lowest inflation rate since late 2015. our business correspondent ben thompson says the government's eat out to help out scheme had helped drive inflation down.

inflation measures how quickly, on average, prices are rising for all of the stuff that we buy and consume. that fall in prices for food as part of the eat out to help out scheme, it accounted for about half of that entire fall so a significant proportion. but there were also falls in things like airfares because fewer of us are going on holiday so prices came down for those. also at this time of year in the shops we normally start to get the autumn clothing, and the prices are higher than for summer clothing, and that means inflation is normally is normally on the way up. but again that didn't happen. so there were a lot of firsts in these numbers. as you said, the first time that prices in restaurants were negative, the first time that airfares were negative too, that they overall rate of inflation fell to 0.2%. still means that they're going up but not as quickly. that's down from the 1% we saw in the month before. you might wonder why any of that really matters, a percentage here or there, but the issue is that it may protect some of our rather

squeezed incomes right now. if we are finding it tougher to go and spend right now, we may be getting fewer hours at work, we may have lost ourjob entirely so cash is pretty tight. the fact that inflation is coming down, it means that prices are not going up as quickly so it means our money goes a bit further. on that basis, things might be looking a bit better. the bank of england has a target of 2%, we are a huge way off but still, but it means our money might go a little bit further whilst inflation is quite low. alexei navalny has said that he plans to return to russia. the kremlin denies any involvement.

tens of thousands of people have been displaced and entire towns have been displaced and entire towns have been destroyed by places in california, oregon and washington. smoke from the fires has now spread right across the country to new york. if you want to know more about wildfires go to iplayer where the day california burned tells the story of america s deadliest fire in a century — in 2018, through first hand accounts of firefighters and survivors. and reveals why we can expect more wildfires in the future. the family of breonna taylor, killed by police in her own home in louisville, kentucky, have agreed s12 million settlement with the city. the 26—year—old emergency medical technician was shot eight times in march by police who broke through her front door

in the middle of the night during a mistaken drugs raid. mark lobel reports. herface remembered on magazines and murals across america. beloved by her family, with dreams of becoming a nurse, breonna taylor's name has come to symbolise a national slogan against police violence. the 26—year—old african american was an emergency room technician. in march, police entered her apartment after midnight on a no—knock warrant and shot her multiple times fatally. her boyfriend, a licensed gun owner, shot out at what he thought were burglars, but it was in fact a drugs raid. no drugs were found, and the intended suspect was not present. the tragedy gained prominence following the death of george floyd in police custody two months later. the original police report resembled a cover—up, with no mention of how breonna's life was ended so abruptly.

but after protests ravaged kentucky's largest city, a wrongful death lawsuit was instigated by breonna's mother. city officials have now agreed to pay the family s12 million. i'm deeply, deeply sorry for breonna's death. while we await a decision from attorney—general daniel cameron on whether or not charges will be filed in this case, my administration is now waiting to move ahead with needed reforms to prevent a tragedy like this from ever happening again. the dozen reforms announced include commanding officers to review and sign off all search warrants, an early warning system to identify officers with disciplinary problems, and two hours of community service a week encouraged for officers. there are two ongoing investigations into the white police officers involved — a criminal inquiry by the state alongside an fbi inquiry into civil rights violations. but so far, no—one's been charged.

as significant as today is, it's only the beginning of getting fulljustice for breonna. we must not lose focus on what the real drive is, and with that being said, it's time to move forward with the criminal charges because she deserves that and much more. her beautiful spirit and personality is working through all of us on the ground, so please continue to say her name. mark lobel, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news: nhs staff and care workers will be prioritised — as the uk government tries to get to grips with the surge in demand for coronavirus tests. a warning from headteacher organisations that more schools could close as winter approaches — due to a lack of testing. the uk's inflation rate fell to a five—year low in august — as the affect of the eat out to help out scheme pushed

down restaurant prices. as many pupils returned to school this month to a new world of class bubbles and social distancing, for some the experience has been very different. parents of those with special educational needs say their children are facing barriers to education as schools struggle to meet their needs due to restrictions around coronavirus. our disability correspondent, nikki fox, reports. lewis needs routine and constant engagement in order to cope with his autism and complex needs. his mum, dawn, is desperate for him to return to school to get a full—time education. she knows that's what is best for his development and his mental health. he thrives on structure, times, he understands school is five days a week. he needs a routine. lewis has been offered two

days per week initially. two days? two days. so that's no routine, no structure, and in some aspects, worse than what we're doing now. how has this impacted the whole of the family? it has been really, really hard. my other son is 12 and he has no additional needs. hello. is it leon? hi, yes. leon. so lovely to meet you. leon is a wonderful young carer, but it's — it's tough. are you coping all right at school yourself? uh, yeah, but sometimes a bit like, now i can go to school to see my friends but lewis can't, which is unfair. yeah. he feels really guilty going back to school. erm, because his brother is more in need of that school place. and he hides himself in the morning, he hides that uniform. and he runs out to school

and it's really sad. he'd never let lewis see him in a uniform. never. because he knows how much it means? yeah. ladies and gentlemen! whereas lewis is desperate to go back to school full—time, there are other children with complex needs who, post—lockdown, need a more gradual return. i haven't been to school for six months now. and i feel anxious and happy at the same time. connie is eight years old. she's been worried about going back to school for weeks. at home with her siblings, who are also autistic, is where she feels safe. her anxiety, it can be quite high. sometimes it can get to the point where every single day, she's just literally exhausted and doesn't want to go to school. is that your drawing? yeah. they're not kisses because we're not going back to school. and that is why you have put the crosses there?

because you don't want to go back? yeah. connie's been back a week now, and jodie's fears have materialised. her daughter has always found school difficult. but the extra restrictions due to coronavirus, has meant that within a week, connie is finding it hard to cope. if she can't manage and they won't allow her to be flexi—schooling, then it will have to be me pulling her out and deregistering her, because i'm not prepared to put her mental health at risk anymore. department for education guidance sets out the expectation that every child should be back at school full—time. lewis's school says the phased returns are working and have helped children adapt to the new routine. but dawn says they don't work for her son. he is still at home. i am frustrated for lewis. upset to see him lose skills that he'd gained, be so isolated. every day is draining, and every day he asks me, "monday, monday?

he know he should be going back to school like his brother. you know, i've had to say, "not soon." "not for you, anyway." microplastics the size of a grain of sand are hidden in everything from fabric conditioner to cosmetics. millions of tonnes of plastic a year gets washed into our seas. now, a spin—out company from cambridge university, xampla, has become the first in the world to make single use plastic out of something that won t damage the planet — peas. here 5 our science correspondent, richard westcott. everyone in this lab is full of plastic. well, their lab coats are, anyway. a lot of our clothes are full of tiny little balls with fragrance inside. it's what makes them smell so nice. now, normally, they're made of plastic, which washes into the environment

and stays there for decades. what if you could make them out of something that's better for the planet? like peas? this is the first company in the world to engineer plant protein into a material that does the same job as single—use plastic. things like the micro capsules you often get inside a fabric conditioner or cosmetics. at the moment the micro capsules contain plastic which will not degrade and last for ages in the ocean. our capsules were made out of protein which would be eaten by fish eventually. it has taken 15 years to perfect the process. here, they are using peas, but you can use other common plants, including potatoes. eventually, it comes out as a liquid that could be made into plastic—like sheets. so, after the coating has been dried in the oven, it turns into a lovely film, which we can then turn into a label like that, that's on your apple there.

so, basically, that's the equivalent of a plastic label but i can eat it? yes, it's100% pea protein. 0k. crunching. very nice! it's hard to eat an apple nicely on camera. dishwasher tablets, sandwich packets, sweet wrappers, all made of something that biodegrades naturally in a matter of days. is there a danger that you're just replacing one problem with another, so farmers who should be growing food are actually going to grow peas to make plastic and we don't have enough food ? there are a lot of waste products already in the farming process that have got very low value or even are ploughed straight back into the field that can be sold on and used to make our kind of materials. single—use plastics and micro plastics don't need to be made from fossil fuels. there is something very wrong about making something from materials made from oil thatjust last for a minute or two. it is thought that the average

family washes around 40 million family washes around 14 million tiny plastic balls down the drain every week. several countries are in the process of banning them. now, there is a process of swapping that harmful plastic for something made from peas. richard westcott, bbc news. dozens of hollywood celebrities, including leonardo dicaprio and kim kardashian west, are freezing their social media accounts today to protest against the spread of what they call "hate, propaganda and misinformation." it's part of a campaign launched earlier this summer by civil rights activists who accuse facebook and instagram in particular of turning a blind eye to harmful content ahead of november's presidential elections in the us. facebook says it's working to tackle disinformation and threatening material. a man in malaysia who found his stolen phone in a forest we were going to show you some

pictures of a man who lost his phone, a monkey picked up and took some selfies. it's a very funny. we will have pm queues in a few minutes' time, but right now you're watching bbc news. let's talk now about prime minister's questions, vicki young is in westminster. i want to check, are we to assume that angela raynor is standing infor we to assume that angela raynor is standing in for keir starmer as planned? standing in for keir starmer as planned ? we standing in for keir starmer as planned? we have heard from the labour leader that a coronavirus test result for one of the children have come back negative, but presumably they would not swap around that quickly, would they? no, pmqs takes a lot of preparation on all sides. angela raynor will be taking on boris johnson. all sides. angela raynor will be taking on borisjohnson. as you say, that arrangement was put in place yesterday because keir starmer has

been self—isolating because a member of his family had covid symptoms. they have been waiting for the test results, it was one of his children, that has come back negative. but it isa that has come back negative. but it is a bit late in a day for him to now take part. angela raynor, i think it is the first time that she has done this. lots of people are looking forward to this encounter, actually, she is known to have quite actually, she is known to have quite a feisty reputation, a straight talker. she will certainly try to put borisjohnson talker. she will certainly try to put boris johnson on talker. she will certainly try to put borisjohnson on the spot. you would imagine that will probably be about testing. all sorts of problems for the government, the system under real strain here. i have been talking to lots of conservative mps today about this, most of them reported no constituencies that they have been problems for people not being able to get test and they have been miles to try and get them. some say this is shambolic, they think i should have been foreseen with skills going back, that there was

going to be a big rise in demand. i did speak to a couple of other mps who think a lot people are coming forward asking for test when actually they have not got symptoms. so they are saying that people should really think carefully before they go for tests and make sure that they go for tests and make sure that they have got the criteria to get one. it is time now for a look at the weather forecast with matt taylor. sunshine top and tail in the country, but a different feel from one part of the country to another. we have a zone of cloud pushing its way southward, that is what is bringing the change. temperatures only in the low teens for many in the north and east of scotland. still patchy drizzle for the south of scotland, the north of england, peak district and pennines. further south, some mist and low cloud to the west, we those sea temperatures

peak at around 25—28 . some of that warmth and humidity last into tonight, but cloud pushing south was at it westwards, introducing fresh conditions to almost all by tomorrow morning. even though temperatures drop back down to weather should be for the time of year for the rest of the weekend, a bit of rain in scotland, but most are dry.

and we'll cross live to the house of commons in the next few minutes for prime minister's questions. let's cross straight to the house of commons for prime minister's questions. thank you, mr speaker. unnatural teaching assistants table the prime minister joined teaching assistants table the prime ministerjoined me in thanking teachers, teaching assistants, and all support staff for the extraordinary work they are undertaking to bring our children back to schools and universities in secure environment throughout my constituency and will he implement

the national tutoring programme as many of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children in my seat need this help at the earliest opportunity. ? can i strongly echo his congratulations in regards to teachers and can i say that i believe personally passionately in the tutoring programme that we are launching and we expect the first group of tutors to be supporting schools from november with provision ramping up through the very remainder of the autumn and spring term. we now come to the deputy leader. deputy leader angela. thank you mr speaker, and many of the people in the chamber today, mr speaker, fourth in the battle of business today but actually we mark the 80th anniversary of the... today andi the 80th anniversary of the... today and i want to put on record our thanks for all those who are thought for our country and the mac. i want to start by reading the prime

minister of message that i have received from a man called kier. he was unable to go to work today and his children couldn't go to work or school because his family had to wait for their coronavirus test results despite the government because my promise of test results of the 204! was. keir was able to do the right thing and since self either soleil, but many people aren't in this position like the ca re aren't in this position like the care workers who i once represented before i was in this house. the prime minister once earned hundreds of pounds and hours of the abilify was to tell us, what is the average hourly rate of a care honourable lady on... her elevation and just to say that as she speaks with...

and just to say that as she speaks with. .. the constituent and just to say that as she speaks with... the constituent keir, and i can tell her, allegedly, apparently, he has had a negative test and i don't quite know why he is not here. but... but... 80% of those who —— 89% of those who have tests get them the next day. we are working very fast to turn around the, all the test requests that we get and i think most people looking at the record of this, of this country in delivering tests across the nation, will see that it actually compares extremely well with any other european country. we have conducted more tests than any other european country and that is why we are able to deliver tests, as i say, and deliver results in 80% of the cases where we know that the contacts and

she says that... she asks about care homes, i can tell the house today we are launching the winter care home action plan and we will do everything, she is right to raise theissue everything, she is right to raise the issue of care homes, we are concerned about infection rates in ca re concerned about infection rates in care homes, but we will do everything we can to ensure care home and their workers are protected. on her final home and their workers are protected. on herfinal point, i'm proud it is this government that has instituted the national living wage to ensure that every worker in this country, including care homeworkers, is paid substantially more, thanks to the care and the work of the people of this country. he's finished? the whole country would have seen that the prime minister doesn't know how much a care worker earns, because that was my question. the shameful fact issing fact is the

average wage is barely more than £8 average wage is barely more than £8 a hour. the prime minister said we will fix the crisis in social case once and for all with a clear plan that we have prepared. yet still there is no sign of the plan. and there is no sign of the plan. and the additional funding to prevent infection is going to run out, mr speaker, at the end of this month. so, will the prime minister commit today to give our social care sector the funding that it needs now to get through this looming winter crisis? imean through this looming winter crisis? i mean she is asking an important point and we are concerned about the rates of infection in care homes. they have come down massly since we instituted the £600 million care home action plan. tomorrow we will announce, a further, as i say, a winter care home action plan and it

won't surprise her to know we want to see a toughening up of the rules governing the movement of workers from one care home to another and we wa nt to from one care home to another and we want to make sure that we protect ca re want to make sure that we protect care homes from further infections and that is the right thing to do. i pay tribute to all the care homeworkers in this country, for what they have done to help us bring down the disease and we will make sure, as we done over the last few months, that they get the ppe they need and the guidance aneed and the cash they need. that is what the government is committed to doing.|j do welcome the prime minister's comments, but i must say, get some skates on it. those care workers are still not getting the ppe and testing they need. i urge the prime minister to get on top of this problem now before the winter crisis hits. the prime minister has put his faith in operation moon shot, but on

planet earth there was no nhs tests available for several high infection areas, including tameside and oldham, injuly areas, including tameside and oldham, in july the areas, including tameside and oldham, injuly the government promised that there would be weekly tests in care homes and they promised this for september. can the prime minister confirm yes or no, do all care homes have weekly tests? well, yes, to the best of my knowledge, care homes in this country should get weekly tests for all staff members and tests every 28 days for those who are in the care homes, the residents of the care homes. she is right to express the frustration of people across the country about the massive demand there is now for tests and it has hugely increased. i think everybody can see in the last few days a colossal spike in the number of people who want tests and who want

to ascertain whether they have got coronavirus. and what we are trying to do now is meet that demand at record speed and just in the last couple of weeks we have increased the capacity of our testing systems by 10% and we got four new labs that we are building in newport and newcastle, elsewhere. we want to get up newcastle, elsewhere. we want to get ”p ”p newcastle, elsewhere. we want to get up up to 500,000 tests per day by the end of october. as i say, that isa the end of october. as i say, that is a huge, huge number and the end of october. as i say, that is a huge, huge numberand i the end of october. as i say, that is a huge, huge number and i do pay tribute to all these who are delivering it and i know that the opposition benches like to make these international comparisons. i would repeat we are testing more than any other european country. well, mr speaker, i heard what the prime minister had to say, but i have to say to him yesterday the chief executive of care england said

we we re chief executive of care england said we were promised weekly testing for staff, that has not been delivered. time and time again he makes promises and then breaks those promises. injune promises and then breaks those promises. in june me promises and then breaks those promises. injune me told this house, i can undertake now to get all tests turned around in 24 hours by the end ofjune. they have had six months mr speaker, to get this right. and yet the prime minister still can't deliver on his promises. the health secretary said yesterday it would take weeks to sort the situation out. well we don't have weeks. but the government's latest figures show that there were an average of 62,000 people tested per day. not 500,000. the prime minister said that testing capacity is at 300,000. but the average is 62,000 a day. how does the prime minister explain that? mr speaker, we have delivered on, as i say, the most

thorough going testing regime anywhere in europe and we now have capacity i think capacity has gone up capacity i think capacity has gone upfrom, capacity i think capacity has gone up from, sorry the number of tests has gone from 210,000 to 240,000 this week and i just, has gone from 210,000 to 240,000 this week and ijust, to repeat the statistics, we are now per a thousand people, this country is testing 2.5. germany 1.88. thousand people, this country is testing 2.5. germany1.88. spain 1.91. in other words, testing 2.5. germany1.88. spain 1.91. in otherwords, we testing 2.5. germany1.88. spain 1.91. in other words, we are delivering exactly what we said we would do. what is happening, mr speaker, is that the british people, quite understandably, are responding to that system with a huge, huge surge in demand and so it is very important that everybody follows the guidance about when they should be getting a test. the guidance sent out by public health england, which has been sent to schools, and from

the nhs test and trace. well, mr speaker, once again i see that the prime minister says it is somebody else's fault. it is the public that are using up the tests. these with tr government's own figures and targets that they failed on. the next time a man with covid symptoms drive from london to durham it will probably be for the nearest covid test. i want to move on to another serious issue. alongside the tragic stories we have heard of relatives dying alone in care homes and people not being able to say goodbye to their loved ones, we have also heard from mothers who have had to give birth without the support of their partners or family. the health secretary said the new guidance has been issued. but even under that many birth partners will not be

allowed until that moment of established labour, leaving women enduring labours or devastating miscarriages without support. will the prime minister meet with me and work with us to ensure no woman is forced to give birth without the support they need? she is right to raise the issue that she does and i know members will share her feelings andi know members will share her feelings and i totally agree that birth partners should be able to attend the birth. that is why we changed the birth. that is why we changed the guidance in the way that we did. of course, i'm very happy to encourage co—operation between her and my honourable friends in the health department to take the matter forward. i perfectly understand her point that she makes and she is entirely right. i welcome the prime minister's comments and i think that was a yes, but i will follow it up.

mr speaker, infections are rising. the testing system is collapsing. when you are the prime minister, you can't keep trying to blame other people for your own incompetence. we had the highest death toll in europe and we are on course for one of the worst recessions in the developed world. this winter, we are staring down the barrel of a second wave, with no plan for the looming crisis. people can't say good bye to their loved ones, grandparents can't see their grandchildren and front line staff can't get tests they need and what was the top priority for the covid war cabinet this weekend? restoring grouse shooting. i suppose it is good new for people like the prime minister's friends who paid

for a luxury christmas getaway to the caribbean and happens to own two grouse moor estates. prime minister, is this really your top priority? mr speaker, while the labour opposition has been consistently carping from the sidelines throughout this crisis and raising frankly i think issues that are tangential, if not scare stories about what is going on, we are getting on with delivering for the british public. we are not only ramping up, massively ramping up, she has not contested any of my statistics about the extent to which this country is now testing more than any other european country. she has not disputed the massive acceleration in our programme, we are getting on, i will answer the substance of her question, thank you, on delivering of the priorities

of british people. getting ulster us through this crisis and making our country through this crisis and making our cou ntry safer through this crisis and making our country safer and bringing forward measures to stop the early release of dangerous offenders. strengthening our union, which in principle the front bench should support and building more affordable homes which she should support and in addition to recruiting more doctors and nurse and building more hospitals, i don't think anybody is in any doubt this government is facing some of the most difficult dilemmas that any modern government has had to face. but every day we are helping to solve them, thanks to the massive common—sense of the british people. who are getting on with delivering our programme, getting on with delivering our fight

against coronavirus and it is with the common—sense, it is with the common—sense of the british people that we will, we will succeed, build back better and stronger than ever before. mr speaker, the prime minister is rightly levelling up across the country giving that issue both barrels but i know that the southwest has often been overlooked. can the prime minister reassure this house and members from across the south—west that we will invest in digital and transport infrastructure, we will turbo—charge opportunity in the south—west and to that effect will he meet with a delegation from the south—west to discuss the opportunities that are before us? it is precisely because we believe in his vision that i share of a great south—west, that we are allocating considerable sums to the maintenance and improvement of school estates in his constituency,

eden park primary and nursery school, which would benefit from just some of this funding and as per his request i will happily consult my diary, mr speaker. leader of the snp mr ian black read. thank you, mr speaker. mr speaker, in his devious life as a daily telegraph journalist the prime minister wrote, and life as a daily telegraph journalist the prime ministerwrote, and i quote, devolution is causing all the strains that its opponents predicted and ina strains that its opponents predicted and in a line the scots to make their own laws, whilst rewriting on english taxpayers', it is simply unjust. so, let me ask the prime minister two specific questions that need two specific answers. firstly, does he still think devolution in scotland is unjust, and secondly, why does he believe that full spending and decision—making powers over our

spending and decision—making powers overour nhs, spending and decision—making powers over our nhs, education, infrastructure, economic development, culture and sport should be held? in scotland's parliament or in westminster? obviously, mr speaker, there is a very considerable and massive devolution of powers to scotland and the scottish people have the opportunity to vote for more in 2014, as he will recall in a once in a generation event, and they chose decisively to reject that. i recall. he said it was a once in a generation event, as well. they now have the opportunity to vote to support the further devolution of powers in the uk internal market bill. and i hope that he willjoin us in the lobbies in support of that. ian black did. my goodness, what nonsense, i never once spoke about once in a generation and the prime minister should withdraw that. as usual, mr speaker, the prime

minister is all over the place. he doesn't remember what he has written. he doesn't understand his own brexit deal and he doesn't even know what is in the internal market bill. i will tell him." he six of this bill allows this tory government —— clause 46 of this bill allows this tory government to bypass the scottish government and ta ke bypass the scottish government and take decisions on the nhs, economic development, infrastructure, and culture and sport, a blatant power grab. we all know what the tory backbenchers are saying behind closed doors, the prime minister is incompetent, he cannot govern, and they want him away before the next election. scotland's legacy will be in being a decent, law—abiding independent nation state and the prime minister's will be leading the uk to break international law, and to break this failing union. mr

speaker, not quite clear from that question whether he is in favour of the union or not. laughter i take it from his hostility to me that he wants to support the union and so do i. and the best thing he can do is to support the uk internal market bill which buttresses as he knows a surge of power is transferred to the devolved administrations, in more than 70 areas, and can ijust remind him that in the recent coronavirus crisis, 5.4 billion has been transferred to be spent in scotland asa transferred to be spent in scotland as a result of barnett consequentials, and i tried to say that 70% of the testing that has taken place in scotland has been supported by the uk government, and i hope, for that reason, if he is a

convert to the union, which i take it from his question, then that is just one of the reasons he should back it. thank you, mr speaker, let me push back against what has just been said. the prime minister has done a stellarjob at fending —— fending off separation across the united kingdom including in scotland. my worry turns to a psychological question, tighter restrictions have forced more businesses to shut in bolton and whilst 30,900 jobs were saved through further, more needs to be done and when the time is right i invite the prime minister to pound the streets of bolton north east and before then send them to pennies on the exchequer and more testing kits for health. yes indeed, mr speaker, we will do that and i am delighted to say that bolton will receive at least, in addition to the £40 million being spent on coronavirus

job retention scheme, a plan for jobs, and will receive 500,000 from the town is a fund to spend on your high street and community. the new leader of the lib dems, ed davey. research by the disabled children's partnership shows that three quarters of families with disabled children had their care support stop during lockdown. the coronavirus act is partly to blame as it relaxes the duties to assess and meet the needs of disabled people. as the father of a disabled child and a patron of the disability lo service i have seen legal advice that suggest that his government broke international law in how the coronavirus act reduced the rights of disabled people. so, before this house is asked to renew the coronavirus act, will he meet

with me to discuss how we protect the rights to care, of disabled people, and act lawfully? first, can i congratulate him on his securing the leadership of his party? i would say to him i am not aware of that particular allegation to the legal effect of the coronavirus act, and i would be only too happy to write to him very shortly to clarify that. today, after it became clear that the council did not necessarily have the council did not necessarily have the power to resist it giving the ongoing public health crisis and could the prime minister ensure that councils can resist such festivals in the interest of public health?” thank my honourable friend for that important question because i believe it illuminates a question that councils are asking themselves and

they wish to reaffirm strongly that they wish to reaffirm strongly that they do have the power to stop such events in the interest of public health, and they have taken the right decision. last week, the secretary of state for northern ireland said that the uk internal market bill would breach our obligations under international law. yesterday the advocate general for scotla nd yesterday the advocate general for scotland said that the secretary of state was wrong to say that. today, the secretary of state says that the advocate general was wrong to say that he was wrong. now, it is of course possible that they are both right in saying that the other is wrong, but surely an important matter such as this requires clarity, and, for that reason, will the prime minister now undertake to publish the advice he has had from all of his law officers, so that the house can make an informed decision on the question of legality, for

monday? i thank the right honourable gentleman. i think he asked substantially the same question last week and as he knows, we do not publish at all general‘s advice, governments do not generally publish such advice but what i can say is what i have said to the right honourable gentleman, the leader of the scottish nationalists, of course this bill is intended to uphold the economic and political and territorial integrity of the united kingdom and i believe that it should be supported by every member of this house. my right honourable friend has always highlighted the importance of jake emmitt connectivity and digital infrastructure has been vital in keeping us connected throughout the pandemic —— gigabit connectivity. and in particular, whether the £5 million of government funding is being used to connect hard to reach areas like those in my north devon

constituency? i can, and i thank her very much, we are rolling out full fibre broadband to the north moor area, gearing up to invest over 30 million across devon and somerset, to target 70,000 premises in her constituency that do not have good enough connectivity. thank you, mr speaker. figures released this week by the trussell trust forecast that they give out six emergency food parcels every minute of this winter. will the prime minister commit to urgent measures to tackle this humanitarian disaster which is happening in all of our communities, and can he commit an additional 250 million investment in the local welfare assistance schemes to bring england in line with the rest of the uk, that is requested by the children's trust, and the trussell trust, and secondly will he meet

with organisations as a matter of urgency to bringing the right to food into uk law? i thank the honourable gentleman. what the government is doing is supporting local councils to the tune of £3.7 billion for the echo needs occasioned by coronavirus, 300 million going into supporting meals for pupils for young people who need it and for pupils for young people who need itand a for pupils for young people who need it and a massive programme of investment, £9 billion, to lift up universal credit to support the most needy in our society, but i can tell him that my right honourable friend the chancellor will continue to apply the maximum creativity to putting our arms around the british people, as we go forward through this crisis. mr speaker, does my right honourable friend agree that this government's internal market bill will protect our united kingdom, strengthen our levelling up

and back arrow negotiators? mr speaker, i could not have put it better myself. thank you, mr speaker, in a week in which the prime minister announced the government's new strategy on obesity, the eating disorder charity beat experienced a 165% increase in the number of people contacting their support service. i am pleased their support service. i am pleased the prime minister is focused on obesity, which is a very serious national health issue, but as chair of the committee on eating disorders, you have been contacted by many who have suffered from eating disorders and they have approached me with concerns on seven aspects of his obesity strategy and the adverse effects it would have on them. will the prime minister take these concerns seriously and commit to arrange a meeting between sufferers of eating disorders,

myself, and the relevant minister? yes, mr speaker, i am acutely conscious that there are no glib, easy a nswe rs conscious that there are no glib, easy answers in this area of public policy and i happily undertake that the relevant minister should meet the relevant minister should meet the honourable lady as fast as possible to understand her concerns and the concerns of her constituents. regional airports will play a crucial role in recovery from the pandemic and a levelling up our country, but many of them such as cornwall airport in newquay have been hit hard because of the lockdown and the demise of flybe. there is real concern that if smaller airports close at this time they may never open again, which will make the government levelling up will make the government levelling up agenda even harder to deliver so will my honourable friend please ensure that regional airports get all of the help they need, whether that be through grants, the government backing more public—sector obligation roots, and could it look at reducing air passenger duty, on domestic flights?

mr speaker, i can tell my honourable friend, i thank him for speaking up for newquay airport, a vital airport, i travelled it many times, in the way that he does. we will continue to consider applications for public service obligations on routes into newquay and elsewhere, and on air passenger duty, it would be wrong of me to make any fiscal commitment at this stage. the prime minister holds the power to save jobs or sacrifice the livelihoods of my constituents stop currently, 17,700 people in my constituency are on furlough, their future 17,700 people in my constituency are on furlough, theirfuture rests in his hands. next month, 22% of my constituents could lose theirjobs, and lose their futures, constituents could lose theirjobs, and lose theirfutures, unless furlough is extended. a flexible and mass, it is the only way forward. my

question, mr speaker is will the prime minister do this? mr speaker, i think it is very important, the honourable lady is not simply saying that she wants to extend the further scheme because i don't think that is the right way. i see the front bench shaking their head. i don't think thatis shaking their head. i don't think that is sensible. we need to get people off further and into work. that is what this government is doing. that is why we got the £2 billion kick—start fund to help young people into work. that is why we have a job retention bonus, to encourage employers to take people back on, to continue to employ people, and to answer her point directly, we will continue to apply, asi directly, we will continue to apply, as i said just now, the maximum creativity, as we have, in putting our arms around the workforce of the uk.

i visited a wedding venue to listen to concerns about the wedding industry. would the prime minister consider changing the number of attendees from 30 to a fairer system which allows venues to hold say 50% of their usually activity? this would allow many venues to bounce back and keep on their furloughed staff. i so understand and appreciate the concerns of his constituents, which i know will have raised with other members around this house. notjust raised with other members around this house. not just for the weddings business, but many other businesses facing restrictions as a result of the social distancing rules we have had to bring in. the trouble is, that in all these things there is an increase in the risk involved, an increase in the spread of the risk of contagion and we have

to balance that risk in what we are seeing in the spread of the virus. i must reluctantly say to the honourable member that we will work as fast as possible to get our whole economy open and the way to do that is if the whole country works together, as they have done, as we have done so far, to enforce social distancing, to obey the basic rules about hands, face and space and get about hands, face and space and get a test if you have symptom and the rule of six indoor and outdoors. that is way we will control the virus and allow weddings and other sectors to open again. mr speaker i too have had constituents contacting me with concerns on testing and it is clear the problems originate not in wales but with the uk system, leading to chaos and confusion and the virus spreading, we are told that his chum cummings has a seeing

room. it is clearly not working, because this should have been seen incompetent. when is he going to get a grip? i think that once again the opposition is at risk of undermining the colossal work of nhs test and trace and... let me give him one statistic, in the last week, the average distance that people have had to go for a test has come down from six or seven miles to five miles, we are continuing to improve this system the time and i would remind the house that we are testing more, conducting more tests than any other european country, testing more people per thousand of population than any other european country. those are the facts. he doesn't like it. all he wants to do is score

party political points. every day receive messages from residents about crime and how they want to see politicians taking a tougher stance. my own history involves learning and violent crime in a way i never wished to learn about it. the first duty of any government is to protect the public, but for too long our criminal justice the public, but for too long our criminaljustice system the public, but for too long our criminal justice system has the public, but for too long our criminaljustice system has fallen short of the mark. will my honourable friend assure me the government will take all steps necessary to keep criminals off our streets, to crackdown on crime and keep the public safe? yes that is why we are not only recruiting another 20,000 police why we are not only recruiting another 20 , 000 police officers why we are not only recruiting another 20,000 police officers and i think about 5,000 of them have already been recruited. but there, the opposition front benches is... making a noise, that is also why we

are introducing measures to stop the early release of serious sexual and violent offenders. i take from it the noises opposite they approve of that and will support us in the lobbies. martin day. thank you mr speaker. given that the 1950s women have lost their case in the court of appeal, any restitution for women needs political action. what will the prime minister now do to honour his own words from last year to return to this issue with fresh vigour and see what he can do to sort it out? i will have to study thejudgment in sort it out? i will have to study the judgment in detail and sort it out? i will have to study thejudgment in detail and i will be happy to write to the member.

we will be back at the house of commons very soon but that brings prime minister's questions to an end. angela raynor, labour deputy leader, standing in for keir starmer who was awaiting results of a covid terrace for a member of his household. that has turned out to be negative but it only came through at this morning. angela opening up with a letter from ikea. this morning. angela opening up with a letterfrom ikea. watching all of that was vicki young, our chief political correspondent. vicki, would you make of pmqs today? labour has been talking a lot about what they call the government's incompetence. they are really pushing that message, i think, politically what is going on around testing. i think the problem that

the government have is that they we re the government have is that they were telling people to go for test a few months ago to keep on top of this and find out where the virus is spreading, but within a couple of weeks, particularly with the return of skills, that capacity seems to have been used up. i think the prime minister there is really hoping the public will cut the government a bit of slack, saying that this is an unprecedented situation. the problem he has got is that the labour party and a lot of people are saying that this should have been forcing, we knew a lot people will go back to work and skills were opening up. —— should have been foreseen. we know there will be prioritisation, it won't just be there will be prioritisation, it won'tjust be a free for all. the prime minister echoing what i have been hearing from a lot of conservative mps today, that there isa conservative mps today, that there is a lot of testing happening but they are concerned that a lot of

people who are maybe not eligible are going. they say that is driving the demand even more. quite eye—catching right at the beginning when angela raynor asked the prime minister if he knew what the average hourly rate of a care worker in this country is. that's right, which he didn't answer. a point was made of how much the prime minister had made for hisjournalism how much the prime minister had made for his journalism and otherjobs. kit homes are desperate not to see a repeat of the dreadful scenes, leading large number of deaths that occurred at the peak of this pandemic. —— care homes. 100,000 tests are being sent a day to care homes, they are very keen to make sure there is not a repeat of what happened before, trying to protect their most vulnerable. you could also hear that the prime minister definitely suggesting a toughening up definitely suggesting a toughening up of the rules around workers going

between different care homes, but also we have heard lots of councils talking about restrictions to visiting, and many people expecting that to carry on. did you think that the prime minister was feeling pretty defensive there today because there was one question from labour criticising his handling of this, in response he said "there goes labour again criticising the efforts of what is going on to try to deal with the virus. what i've heard the prime minister said before that when he has come under attack from the opposition. i do think he is feeling particularly under pressure at the moment because of the situation with testing? we are now heading back into the commons, we will be hearing from the justice into the commons, we will be hearing from thejustice secretary, robert buckland, who is talking about the justice bill and changes to sentences for sexual and other violent offenders, amongst other

items in this bill. outline the measures contained within it. the first duty of any government is to protect its people, but the complex system of sentencing that we have in england and wales doesn't always command the confidence of the public to do that. at one end of the spectrum of offending, there are a serious sexual and violent criminals who, by optometric operation of the law, leave prison halfway through their sentence. we are going to ensure that most of these serious offenders stay in custody for longer. there are also criminals who, serving time for their offence, may become a danger to the public, but who currently would be eligible for automatic release. we are acting to prevent fewer of these offenders are leaving prison without being assessed as safe by parole board experts. these measures will keep offenders whose pose a risk to the public of our streets for longer and help restore public confidence that

robust sentences are executed in a way that better reflect the gravity of the crimes committed. at the other end of the spectrum, mr speaker, protecting the public from the effects of lower level offending means of finding new ways to break cycles of crime. to prevent a revolving door of short custodial sentences that we know offer little rehabilitative value. criminals in this category often have chaotic lifestyles and their offending can be driven by substance misuse, poor mental health or learning difficulties. they often have limited education, very few job prospects and experience generational patterns of offending. rather than continuing to send them back and forth to prison, doing the same thing but expecting a different result, we instead want to empower the sentencing system to use more effective community sentencing to get them off drugs and into the jobs that we know can lead them to a better life. we will do this by

better life. we will do this by better identifying individual needs, providing treatment options where appropriate and using technology such as a sobriety tags to drive compliance. these measures will support offenders to change their lifestyles for good. in the process, to protect the public from the ongoing effects from their crimes. these reforms will not work unless they are underpinned by a world —class they are underpinned by a world—class probation system that can understand and implement sentencing properly, backed up by a high quality probation workforce. i wa nt to high quality probation workforce. i want to pay tribute to the probation service and everybody who works within it to supervise offenders. we set ourselves an ambitious target to recruit 1000 new trainee probation officers this year. over the next few years, officers this year. over the next few yea rs, we officers this year. over the next few years, we are determined to invest in the skills, capability and ways of working probation officers will need to do theirjobs to the

best standard. within those new probation arrangements, we will unify a sentence management under the national probation service, to further grow confidence between the probation and the courts, with whom there is a much closer relationship than under the old model. the 12 new probation regions will have a new dynamic framework, making it easier to deliver rehabilitation services through voluntary and specialist organisations. we will legislate to give probation practitioners greater flexibility to take action where offenders rehabilitative needs are not being met or where they pose a risk to the public. these measures will empower probation services to be more effective at everyjuncture of the criminal justice be more effective at everyjuncture of the criminaljustice system. the white paper also contains measures to reduce stubbornly high reoffending rates by using gps technology to drive further compliance and to make it easier for offenders to getjobs by reducing the time after which some sentences

can be considered spent for the purposes of a criminal records check for a non—sensitive roles. in the youth system, it puts flexibility into the hands ofjudges to keep violent young offenders in custody for longer while at the same time allowing courts to passive sentences tailored to the rehabilitative needs of each young person. this white paper builds on the current sentencing framework to create a system that will be much better equipped to do itsjob system that will be much better equipped to do its job effectively. throughout this document, there are contributions from other ministerial collea g u es contributions from other ministerial colleagues right across whitehall. that is an acknowledgement of the cross government approach that will be required if we are going to make a su ccess be required if we are going to make a success of these reforms. we have got to come together to fulfil our ma nifesto got to come together to fulfil our manifesto commitments to bringing tougher sentences, to tackle a drug related crime, to treat addictions, to improve employment opportunities for offenders, to review the parole

system and much more. a smarter approach to sentencing will grow confidence, to deal with offenders and risk of harm to public. but also be smart enough to do the things that will really bring crime in the longer term. i look forward to bringing its various measures through parliament stop mr speaker, i commend the white paper and this statement to the house.” call on the shadow lord chancellor. mr speaker, i would like to thank the secretary of state for advanced side of his statement. we need to scrutinise the changes announced today in detail though i will start by saying that labour's priority is a lwa ys by saying that labour's priority is always to keep the british public safe. the secretary of state will remember it was a labour government in 2003 which introduced compulsory life sentences and minimum sentences for over 150 offences. it was a labour government in 2010 which raise the minimum prison sentence

for knife killers from 15 to 25 yea rs for knife killers from 15 to 25 years in the wake of the death of ben kinsella and it was labour government who apply to hand down a minimum of 30 year sentence for firearms and explosives. there is no doubt that illegal‘s killer got a too short sentence for the horrific crime he committed. i did it not the campaign has come under cross—party support in the labour party stands with her today. we are a party that welcome strengthening sentences did it make sentencing when it is necessary to protect the public. there are some exceptional cases in which a whole life sentence might be deemed appropriate for a young person over the age of 18. the murderer who helped plan the senseless terrorist attack on manchester arena is one such case. we do need to carefully scrutinise exactly how the government's

proposed changes are written into law, of course, and it is important to remember that either without the changes he is announcing today, no one leaves prison for crimes as serious as these if the parole board aren't satisfied that they are no longer a danger to society. it is also the case that the present general presumption in criminal law that when you are younger, there is more opportunity for you to reform and removing the opportunity for pa role and removing the opportunity for parole can also remove incentives for them to behave well in prison. i hope the secretary of state will confirm that these changes, while appropriate for the most extreme cases, will not be applied gratuitously and it will be a long delay might -- it —— it would be wrong to say reform

cannot be made possible. this is sorely needed. it is something called for in my review and may i pay tribute to the right honourable memberfor waverly who pay tribute to the right honourable member for waverly who is pay tribute to the right honourable memberfor waverly who is in his place who has campaigned on these issues for many years indeed. i also welcome the secretary of state's new pilots for problem—solving courts. he will recall that problem—solving courts were introduced by labour government, cut back by a conservative government will stop i am glad to see them back again but i wonder why just am glad to see them back again but i wonder whyjust pilots. am glad to see them back again but i wonder why just pilots. can't am glad to see them back again but i wonder whyjust pilots. can't we go further? we know they work for people with serious addictions and problems coming back and back into the system. it is also very good to see the ministry ofjustice now hearing our cause again. i raise this in the lambie review. for

offenders who need greater support because they have conditions it says autism, adhd. we welcome the government's announcement that it will recruit more probation officers after its u—turn on chris grayling's failed experiment with privatisation that missed targets, cost the taxpayers an extra £460 million. we will continue to hold the government to account as we get back to having a fully national probation service. labour also welcomes the government using this white paper as an opportunity to increase the maximum penalty for causing death by dangerous driving, as well as a maximum penalty for causing death by careless driving whilst under the influence of drink and drugs. sentencing reform is needed but on its own, it is not enough. the ministry ofjustice data shows that between 9th ofjune and the 31st of

july this year, nearly a third of prisoners, that is 2400 people, were released homeless or to an unknown circumstance. how will longer sentences protect the public if people continue to be released homeless and without the chance to turn their lives around ? homeless and without the chance to turn their lives around? the announcement around gps tagging in the community is welcome but what steps is the government taking to ensure services exist to support former offenders into work? why is there still no cross departmental plan to reduce reoffending and enable the reintegration of prison leavers ? enable the reintegration of prison leavers? does the secretary of state plan to publish one within the next three months as recommended by the public accounts committee last week? and does the secretary of state share the concerns of the victims commissioner that recent changes to the cps guidance could lead to the cps having the freedom to drop difficult cases are leaving victims feeling cheated if the current

system is overstretched? mr speaker, this statement follows in a week in which a secretary of state who took an oath to uphold the rule of law has let his office and the system down. the whole country have watched him squirm in his seat as he has stood with the prime minister. i hope he recognises the importance of the days ahead as he brings it back to the chamber. thank you, mr speaker. it was all going so well and then the right honourable gentleman spoilt it with an ill judged, ill timed and wholly inappropriate intervention. can i remind him that as a practitioner or yea rs, remind him that as a practitioner or years, i had to endure a labour government, a labour government, that past with incontinence, criminaljustice act after criminal justice act that created the chaos that i am now having to deal with in

terms of sentencing reform. i will ta ke terms of sentencing reform. i will take no lectures, with the greatest of respect, from him about a labour government that made automatic early release at the halfway term for so many sentences the norm. that is the wrong that we are writing now as a result of the reforms that we will introduce. but i'm grateful to him for the way in which he has sensibly engaged with the important issues about rehabilitation of offenders. i am particularly pleased that there isa am particularly pleased that there is a warm welcome for the work that we are going to do on neuro divergent conditions and disorders. that has been a long—standing passion and commitment of mine. autism, adhd, they are real conditions that affect thousands of people in our country and i have had personal experience in the criminal justice system of representing people with those conditions and i think we can do better, and that is

why we are going to take action. i can reassure him about the cross government work that is going on on offender employment. i am grateful for my right arm a friend who is deeply committed to increasing the number of offenders in work. we are working on plans, a cross government strategy. the committee is chaired by the prime minister which exemplifies the government's deep fundamental dedication to this bold agenda. i welcome the comments that he has made and it is in that spirit of constructive engagement that i am sure we will work together to make sense of criminaljustice after yea rs of sense of criminaljustice after years of failure, mainly by the government of which he was a member. thank you very much, mr speaker. can i very warmly congratulate the lord chancellor on what i think it is an excellent and very well balanced statement and it shows his own experience as a practitioner in these matters. a number of the themes in which the white paper

addresses are ones which at the justice select committee has picked up justice select committee has picked up on justice select committee has picked upona justice select committee has picked up on a number of occasions and i look forward to progress being made upon those. i particularly welcome the recognition that protection of the recognition that protection of the public and rehabilitation of those who can be rehabilitated are not mutually exclusive. but when he also perhaps use the opportunity that this white paper gives us a try and engender a wider debate across our society as a whole about the purpose of sentencing, the purposes of imprisonment and community centres is to give the public and sentences greater confidence in the sweep of measures available and perhaps create a broader base and better informed understanding of the complexities of the task of people in the justice system grapple with day—to—day? in the justice system grapple with day-to-day? i'm very grateful to the chairman of the justice select committee. we all know his long and deep knowledge of the system is a practitioner. he is right to remind us about the purposes of sentencing. you will see in this

studio: the justice studio: thejustice secretary, robert brundtland, angered by david lammy for labour who was responding initially to the government's response to sentencing. —— robert buckland. the justice response to sentencing. —— robert buckland. thejustice secretary response to sentencing. —— robert buckland. the justice secretary to get to the substance of that, calling for a new approach to sentencing as he sets out plans for a shake—up for powers for courts, also saying that any reforms will not work without a strong probation service and announcing plans to recruit 1000 trainee probation officers this year. now some breaking news just coming officers this year. now some breaking newsjust coming into is the last few minutes. parts of south wales are to be placed under a local lockdown from a 6pm tomorrow following an increase in coronavirus cases, the welsh government has announced. no more details from the welsh government at the moment. one person going to scotland now has died with coronaviruses yesterday. there are 267 new confirmed cases which is 3.6% of new tests. nicola sturgeon said it was very clear that cases were continuing to rise. ms sturgeon also called on the westminster government to extend the job retention scheme. she was speaking a short time ago at her daily coronavirus briefing. u nless we unless we act to stem community transmission now, it is highly likely that cases of serious illness and death will rise in the weeks to come. it may take some time for that to happen, given the incubation period of the virus and the course we know it takes. we hope it wouldn't be in a weight new to the same wouldn't be in a weight new to the sa m e exte nt wouldn't be in a weight new to the same extent that we saw earlier in the year. but if community transmission continues to rise, as night follows day, we will see more cases of people in hospital and u nfortu nately cases of people in hospital and unfortunately more cases of people dying. indeed, that trend is already

visible. some other country saw the rise in cases earlier than we did. for example, fans are seeing the increase in hospital cases, and deaths are now too. —— france is seeing. it is really important to underline how important it is that we do at now, all of us, to limit our actions as much as possible and stop the virus spreading. i'm joined today by the economy secretary and the chief nursing officer. any moment, the economy secretary will announce some additional support for cultural organisations and we will talk about some analysis published by the scottish government. today's figure for economic output published this morning showed that gdp fell by almost one fifth in scotland gently period from april to june. yesterday's unemployment figures showed unemployment over the past year has risen from 110,000 to 128,000. that rise is smaller than it would have been without business support from both the scottish and uk governments, in particular without the uk government's job retention scheme. the scottish government is not able to implement a scheme of that on our own and since we do not have the borrowing powers that would allow us to do so, that's why we welcome the uk government's scheme, it has protected around a third of the workforce in scotland. even now when more sectors of the economy have opened up, it is still supporting more than 200,000 jobs in scotland. the uk government's current plan is to enter thejob rotation the uk government's current plan is to enter the job rotation scheme the uk government's current plan is to enter thejob rotation scheme by the end of october, the scottish government's firm belief is that it should be expelled extended in some form or other well the peak of the warmth was yesterday, temperatures will come

out but the weather is looking settle, there will be some sunshine around. the temperatures will still be in at the mid 20s by 6p and, considerably cooler in the north. wind is blowing in from the north sea to many eastern areas of the uk, still some left over warmth in the south of the country, plymouth overnight drop—out no lower than 15 degrees, whereas in newcastle and edinburgh it will be into single figures. tomorrow, a bit of morning cloud but the afternoon is looking sunny. a bit more cloud across scotla nd sunny. a bit more cloud across scotland and northern ireland, temperatures back to the seasonal norm.

the prime minister faces criticsm in the commons. everybody can see, just in the last few days, a colossal spike in the number of people who want to test and who want to ascertain whether they've got coronavirus. and what we're trying to do now is meet that demand at record speed. they've had six months, mr speaker, to get this right. and yet the prime minister still can't deliver on his promises. the health secretary said yesterday it would take weeks to sort the situation out. well, mr speaker, we don't have weeks. there's still confusion, as people struggle to find covid tests wherever they can. we're not alone.