support people who face challenges because of coronavirus throughout the united kingdom and i would remind him that in scotland alone, the barnett consequentials up the support i think are now well over £5 billion. across the whole of the uk and the devolved administrations, about £i2.6 and the devolved administrations, about £12.6 billion. we will continue to send that support throughout the whole of the uk, to put our arms around the whole of the workforce of the uk and to protect jobs and livelihoods, but we also wa nt to jobs and livelihoods, but we also want to see is those business is continuing and jobs being created. i support the measures announced today and the prime minister decided with a heavy heart but with all the evidence from south korea, singapore, and other countries, is that early decisive action now is the best way to avoid a full lockdown later. i want to ask about testing. we have triple capacity

since may and will double it again by october. there has been a transformation. but we are not there yet. how can he reassure a school in my constituency, which has a child who has tested positive, but they only get a quote of tests every three weeks. they are worried that they may have people who are passing on the virus a symptomatically that they are not able to identify. what would he say to them and schools up and down the country that are trying so and down the country that are trying so hard to do the right thing? he is right that we are and have massively increased testing across the country. we are now prioritising teachers, as he knows, he raises a very important point about school pupils. there, there is a very interesting fact, the rates of infection and transmission amongst school pupils are much lower than in

the rest of the population. but i am not to hide that from him that the way to defeat this virus is massively to expand testing and not just for teachers, notjust massively to expand testing and not just for teachers, not just for schools, but throughout the country. that is why i am proud that nhs test and trace is, despite all the difficulties that have been legitimately pointed out, are now carrying out more tests than any other country in europe. we should be proud of that. there was one major omission from the prime minister's statement. a apology. will he now apologised for the gross incompetence over testing, tracing, clear communications, that have led to these latest restrictions on people's daily lives? and, mr speaker, as founders of businesses look for the forward to christmas, how will the government supporting of people who are on the brink of

losing theirjobs, losing their businesses, losing their livelihoods? what is the new plan for them? the plan is that we should continue to keep the economy moving in the way that i have described and the way that the government has set out, which i believe is supported by the opposition quite rightly. while suppressing the elite —— the virus. one of the lessons of the lockdown measures in the spring was that they worked, but almost everybody ended up worked, but almost everybody ended up wishing they had been introduced a week or two earlier. so i believe the prime minister is right to in but will he take the book into confidence and say, is the six months he mentioned irrespective of the experience of the infections and hospitalisation that we will see,

and what will be the criteria for lifting these restrictions and others like the rule of six? that is a really important question. the a nswer a really important question. the answer is, of course, we must look at the data and what it tells us and above all, we look at the r, unless the crucial one, and we look at rates of hospitalisations and new infections. if those facts change and things turn around and the british public can do what they did before and get this virus down and get it under control, then of course we will review the measures and review situation. the prime minister is right that testing is a vital pa rt is right that testing is a vital part of the government's response to the coronavirus. will he join part of the government's response to the coronavirus. will hejoin me in commending companies in northern ireland who have played a vital role at national level in helping to deliver the government's testing

programme? one company has committed 99% of its covid testing capacity to that programme and the 19th of september the successfully reported almost 10,000 samples beyond their committed daily rate. will the prime minister consider providing access to testing through local community pharmacies? to expand the capacity and access ability to testing at this time? i do indeed congratulate those companies and all the other businesses involved and we are massively expanding testing the whole time. i think it is very important for the house to understand that testing alone cannot fix this problem. there is a hiatus in the logic of the attacks are sometimes mounted, that the problem we have in the spread of this virus is that, alas, people have not been

following the guidance they might have done and what we are trying to do now is get everybody to focus on those rules, on that guidance, to enforce it strictly and to get the r down. i think the prime minister for all his hard work during these difficult challenging times to keep us difficult challenging times to keep us all safe. the prime minister will be aware that i previously put forward to private members bills to improve mental health care for all, which was supported by the royal couege which was supported by the royal college of psychiatrists. this morning, i spoke with professor alan young from king's college london, who raised with me real concerns with regards to the reduction in mental health care provision for those with severe mental health issues during covid—19. willie prime minister please urgently look into this matter and the representations

that i will forward to his office from experts such as that professor? i look forward to those representations and the government is spending £12 billion more on mental health provision, plus, throughout this pandemic, extra cash to mental health charities, but i will certainly look at the kc raises. at the start of the pandemic, there were concerns that people were gatherings are gathering and this happened again last weekend. local dance in wales now require people to remain within their local authority area, except for essential reasons stop no such requirement exists in england. in those unfortunate situations where people face local lockdown is, will he give clear guidance against out of area travel for leisure purposes? the gangs is given by the local authorities following the decision

about what exactly restrictions are going to be placed, but clearly the restrictions placed that she suggests is part of the mix.|j restrictions placed that she suggests is part of the mix. i felt the prime ministerfor his suggests is part of the mix. i felt the prime minister for his statement and for being here today. —— the reality, prime minister, is that national lockdown has shocked and any second lockdown increases the any restrictions on our constituents' lives require their ongoing consent and its incumbent on government, the scientists who advise them, and parliament to stress test these decisions and crucially, the evidence that lies behind them? i do agree with that, andi behind them? i do agree with that, and i think it would be greatly to the advantage of the debate and to the advantage of the debate and to the country these questions to be discussed in the house in the way that i have outlined earlier and

already proposed by our right honourable friend. the public have shown a great capacity for putting others first in this pandemic and 110w others first in this pandemic and now are being asked to do more. in return, the government needs to do more for them. public consent is dependent on not been asked into financial ruin. would he agree that hospitality and the arts need to get the continued financial support and will he meet with me and other honourable members to find solutions for over 3 million self—employed people who have not been covered by existing financial schemes? he says he will put his arms and on the whole workforce, many millions of the self—employed have not felt the benefit of that embrace stop she raises an important point and we have extended loans, grants, to every conceivable sector of the economy, and we will do... 1.75

billion to the arts sector alone, which she mentions. we will of course do more. the most important thing we can do, and the central message i'm trying to get over today, is that we have to push down on the r while simultaneously allowing as much as the economy to flourish as we possibly can. that is oui’ flourish as we possibly can. that is our collective objective today. the country is now full of amateur infection control experts, the odd captain hindsight, and i'm not one of those, but i must express to him the concern of my constituents, where the seven—day average is well below 20 and falling, where people are following the rules and have seen people at protests and parties, and now will suffer. hospitality will suffer. can i ask him to look again at the government's plans to halve the small breweries relief, which will damage craft breweries,

and can we look again at that? this is not the time to introduce such changes. he speaks eloquently. he speaks elegantly for those constituents and there is let down by the minority who are not obeying the rules. that is why we are out lining this programme of tough enforcement today and i will certainly look at the fiscal measures that he proposes in respect of small breweries. the prime minister will have support for taking the necessary measures to contain and suppress the virus. but he is receiving a very strong message from both sides of the house today that he does need to revisit the support measures, particularly in light of changed circumstances and bearing in mind that need to look at other creative and innovative solutions. therefore will he accept whatever the chancellor's statement back at the beginning of july, there was a certain set of planning assumptions and they no

longer apply with the virus. therefore could be change course on supporting as well?|j therefore could be change course on supporting as well? i en of the points that he has made and it is oui’ points that he has made and it is our intention to protect lives, livelihoods, put our arms around eve ryo ne livelihoods, put our arms around everyone in this country. i think no one can deny that the chancellor has been exceptionally creative and ambitious in the plans that he has set out and he will continue to apply the maximum possible imagination and creativity in this respect. don valley appreciate all the work of the prime minister and his team in relation to the rise in cases of covid—19. i must also say to my honourable friend that restrictions are affecting all people of all ages. could the government not ask individuals to carry out a personal covert risk

assessment, the result of which could be used to influence decisions? many peoples' lives are being affected by this, especially the young. he put his finger on the heart of the problem of the dilemma, because of course, the tragedy of the coronavirus epidemic is that people who are not badly affected themselves can nonetheless pass it on unwittingly to older or more vulnerable people, so your harmless cough can beat someone else's deathknell, unfortunately. that is why we have to apply the restrictions that we do. he is also right to look ahead to a time when i do believe we will be able, much more easily, to identify whether a not we are infectious and to allow us not we are infectious and to allow us therefore to go about our daily lives more easily, young and old. by

6pm this evening, both local authorities covering my constituency will be under welsh government local lockdown restrictions slowing the virus. among the restrictions will bea virus. among the restrictions will be a restriction on holiday travel, meaning constituents will not be able to go on planned holidays. some holiday companies are refusing refunds on the grounds that local restrictions, not covered by local olympic uk law, and pointing instead to foreign and, office advice on travel. what can the prime minister do to support constituents in this case? he asked an excellent question and is not an anomaly i have hitherto been unaware of, but if you would write to me with the details of the constituents ultimate concerns i will take it up. hospital in my constituency did an amazing job at the heart of the outbreak, as

did many of my local gp surgeries. however, they were under huge pressure. however the limit therefore with the prime minister consider extending the ability of local pharmacies and chemists to administer health treatment? so these gems on our high street are able to easily pressure on our health system charisma he is right at pharmacies and chemists are in the front line of our health care and an absolutely outstanding job in testing people for all kinds of things, covid amongst them, and we will support them in any way we can. thank you, mr speaker. we may well have to endure for six months or more, but it is less than six weeks until the furlough schemes and. germany, france and even ireland are expanding furlough schemes for specific sectors. it is a political,

not a health decision. many communities in my constituency were devastated by political decisions made by a tory government in the 19805 that caused mass unemployment. are they not to have that we visited upon them in 2020, or will the prime minister extend the furlough scheme? the comparisons with other european countries are illuminating, because the furlough scheme was far more generous than either germany or france or virtually any other country in europe. what we will continue to do is, as i have said repeatedly to the house, is put our arms around the workers of this country to make sure we help people throughout the crisis, but also, as i have told you before, we will do everything we can to keep the economy moving and key people in work where we can!. i welcome the

balanced and proportional set of measures that have been put together, and also recognise that these are finely balanced and very difficult decisions for him to take. lockdowns destroy jobs and difficult decisions for him to take. lockdowns destroyjobs and personal well—being. the fact that lockdown has damaged our economy, it means in the years ahead will probably have impacts on people's health in the yea rs impacts on people's health in the years ahead. yes, we should listen carefully to the epidemiologists, but also listen very carefully to the treasury, businesses and the economists, too. he is spot on. that is why we have to take action now to avoid the risk of having to take more drastic action later on that wood two greater economic damage. that is the key point of what we are doing today. dame diana johnson.

thank you. can the prime minister explain why and utah opening today on college university lamb for stu d e nts on college university lamb for students in the local community, and course of which that i welcome, will be run by private firms with no accountability to local bodies with statutory public health responsibilities for the local community, or the university, who are of course responsible for their students? how does this silo approach that the prime minister has created a testing help us to have a joined up approach that we all want to tackle this pandemic?” joined up approach that we all want to tackle this pandemic? i will study what she says about the testing unit in the whole university, but everywhere across the country, nhs test and trace has been working hand in glove with local authorities to get testing done, working hand in glove with public health england and with all

of our public services. i am surprised by what she says about the testing unit at hull university, but i will certainly ask test and trace to give her a full information, but everything is being done to enlist and mobilise the expertise of local government to get the testing done. many people are concerned that this dominant focus on covid for people who need nhs treatment for other treatment will be pushed back. can he assure us and make sure that the health secretary gives a priority to communicating the progress of dealing with the backlog in the surgeries as you go through the winter period? of course we must do everything we can to ensure that our nhs is not overwhelmed with covid cases. it is when you have our covid crisis, a booming cases, that he

rightly points out that other needs, other cardiac, cancer cases are pushed off. that is completely wrong and that is why it is so vital now that we suppress the virus and drive the rate of infection down and stop a boom in cases. the prime minister's objective does reply on the local public health effort. i wa nt to the local public health effort. i want to thank the local nhs in bristol for the remarkable work they are doing. reorganising health services always distracts from their job, destroys morale and it wastes money, so count the prime minister explain to us the benefit of abolishing public health england in the middle of this crisis? if he can, would he commit now to reversing that decision at least until we have an enquiry? reversing that decision at least untilwe have an enquiry? well, i think it is essential that we have the most powerful possible public

health organisation in this country and the national bio—security centre now needs to come together with public health england to deliver what i believe will be a better service for this country. in fact, the change to which she fares does not happen until next year, but we are getting under way now. the prime minister is a true libertarian and he must have agonised over the decision of today and recent months. my decision of today and recent months. my constituents are concerned about the second national lockdown, schools closing, businesses shutting down. does he agree that individual responsibility is more important today than ever, and will he do everything he can to avoid a second national lockdown? the whole objective today is to avoid that second national lockdown. nobody wa nts to second national lockdown. nobody wants to see that. he is indeed right to point the finger at us all. we can do this together if we take responsibility for the way we

behave, the way we enforce the rules, the way we act in public places. that is how people kept the number of macro down collectively and defeat the virus. back in july the government introduced the planning bill which allowed the sale of alcohol off the premises and the consumption of the premises. today, just a week later, the prime minister has come to the house and there will be no sales, no service and hospitality after ten o'clock at night. can he explain the rationale had the ten o'clock curfew and the very fast change of plan by the government? i am grateful. as members of sat across the house, these are not easy decisions, nobody wa nts to these are not easy decisions, nobody wants to be curtailing the right of restau ra nts a nd wants to be curtailing the right of restaurants and other businesses to go about their lawful business. what

we have seen from the evidence is that, alas, the spread of the disease does tend to happen later at night after more alcohol has been consumed. this is one way that we save driving joined the r number without doing excessive economic damage. that is the balance we have to strike. mark menzies. can i welcome the measures that the prime minister has laid before the house today. can i say to him that people who are vulnerable to covid are also extremely vulnerable to seasonal flu, a disease that killed 11,000 people in the uk last year alone and is one of the biggest sources of winter pressure in the nhs. in the summer the government promised one of the flu vaccination programmes in history. can he update the house and what is being done to deliver this? yes, indeed i can. i can tell my honourable friends that the biggest

flu vaccine programme is going ahead as we speak, and 30 million people will be able to have an flu jab this autumn andi will be able to have an flu jab this autumn and i thoroughly advise members to get one. there is a whiff of hypocrisy because as the prime minister and his cabinet bring in new measures to combat covid—19, he needs to tell us how expect citizens across the uk to follow his rules and laws when he and his government are openly admitting that they are willing to break international law and treaties themselves.” willing to break international law and treaties themselves. i think everybody in this house wants to see the people of this country, and to help the people of this country to obey the law of the lands and to get the virus down and that is the objective of this government. children are very unlikely to be harmed by this virus and they are

less likely to spread it, but in my role as a children as my doctor and has a constituency mp, i have seen exa m ples has a constituency mp, i have seen examples where children have been harmed by not being in school. can he reassure the size that he will do everything within his power to keep schools open? yes, and i want to thank herfor what schools open? yes, and i want to thank her for what she does, but also the millions, tens of millions of pa rents, also the millions, tens of millions of parents, teachers, pupils up and down the country who rose to the occasion at the beginning of this month and did go back to school and in overwhelming numbers they are still at school, despite of the difficulties they are currently facing. it is vital for children, young people, to be in school and we will do everything in our power to ensure that that remains the case. the prime minister will no doubt be aware of the alarming rate at which coronavirus cases are rising among ba and ma groups, and in particular

amongst the asian population, with some 34% of coronavirus in intensive ca re some 34% of coronavirus in intensive care right now being from ethnic minorities. could he tell the house why he thinks shutting pubs in our earlier will help this, and what action has its government taken to tackle the disproportionate effect it has an ethnic minority since the report in june? what we have done, she knows possibly already, is we have targeted testing and protection for those in front line groups, many of whom come from black and minority ethnic groups. what we are also doing in order to stop the spread of infection in some communities is working much harder with local government and local communities to get the messaging into those communities about the risks of

transmission at the basic rules about hands, face, space. that is among some of the things that we are doing. tracey crouch. sport and physical activity contributes over £16 billion to the uk economy. it directly employs over 600,000 people and indirectly many more. it has an ecosystem that reaches beyond the pitch, court, pool, and its social value is estimated at more than £72 billion, yet right now both rugby, football, cricket, hockey, swimming to name but a few are in a perilous situation due to spectators not being able to return and then unable to post income raising event such as conferences. sport and all it directly and indirectly involved cannot continue to face these kind of losses, so given the announcement today which passes the return of

spectators, will he elaborate on his comments on the financial support package, to make sure it is not now decimated after the pandemic? she is right to draw attention to the huge importance of sport to our national economy and to our well—being. that is why i right honourable friends is now working flat out with the premier league and others to identify ways in which we can keep these clubs going. we can support sport at all levels throughout the pandemic. one of the things we are not doing, as she will appreciate, is we are not stopping outdoor physical exercise, we are not stopping team sports outside. we wa nt stopping team sports outside. we want that to continue. that is why it is vital that we enforce the package of measures that we have outlined today. he will be aware of the recent imposition of further

restrictions in the north—east of england, so first of all, can i thank the prime minister for listening and acting upon concerns, both individually and collectively, from the northern group of labour mps about the informal child care arrangements in my constituency, and others. however, before he feels my warm embrace, can i ask him in relation to the latest announcement on restrictions on businesses, can i ask him to provide assurances to businesses in my constituency by outlining what sector specific support his government will offer to those worst affected by covid, such as the coach sector, which is on the brink of collapse, ? we as the coach sector, which is on the brink of collapse,? we will do whatever we can to support the coach sector, and all other sectors across

the country. as he knows, we have put in place a massive programme of loa ns, put in place a massive programme of loans, of grants and support of all kinds, but it is clear that the best thing for businesses in his constituency and across the country is not to paralyse the economy, not to go back into lockdown, but to defeat the virus in so far as we possibly can, and allow the economy to move forward. we will continue to give whatever help we can. thankful for the commitments on parliamentary scrutiny. he will know many members of the house and public are concerned about the use of delegated powers and i am sure he will remember the sifting committee from the eu withdrawal vote. can i invite him to please consider whether some innovative thinking can be applied to make sure that the authority of this house is brought to bear in advance on these measures that the public can have confidence that their representatives are authorising the use