this is bbc news. i'm jane hill. the headlines... the government adviser on ministerial standards resigns — after the prime minister backs the home secretary over a bullying inquiry. priti patel says she's sorry if her behaviour in the past has upset anyone — a civil service union says its disappointed. what is the point of the ministerial code, then? if actually what we are saying is that it doesn't matter what evidence is found, it doesn't matter what the prime minister's and adviser says, if it is politically convenient for the prime minister to ignore it, he will. a pay freeze looks likely for millions of public sector workers in england — though front line nhs staff are likely to be exempt. the test and trace system in england

has failed to track down nearly half the close contacts of people with coronavirus, in some of the worst hit areas. the drug ghb, which has been used in murder and rape cases, should have a higher classification according to an official report. and coming up we'll be speaking to douglas stuart — whose novel about growing up in glasgow has won this year's booker prize for fiction. hello, good afternoon. the prime minister's adviser on ministerial standards, sir alex allan, has resigned, following the inquiry into allegations of bullying by the home secretary. sir alex's report found that

priti patel had not always met the high standards expected of a minister. downing street said borisjohnson doesn't believe mrs patel has breached the ministerial code, and considers the matter closed. mrs patel has said she is sorry to have upset people. here's our political correspondent, helen catt. so we know that borisjohnson likes to stand by his ministers when they are under fire. we've seen that several times over the last year. and we know that priti patel would have been a loss to borisjohnson. she is a very popular member of the conservative party, particularly among the grass roots membership. and of course for a government that is regularly criticised for a lack of visible senior women, losing your most senior female government minister would have been difficult. and of course there was no precedent if she had have been found by the prime minister to have breached the ministerial code. there was no precedent for a minister staying in their post. but clearly downing street believes there is enough within this report and other factors at play

for the prime minister to make this decision. but what is going to be so controversial about it is that it is through the system where the prime minister is the ultimate arbiter, so he is effectively allowed to mark his own minister's homework on that. and the fact that he has taken this decision, having called an independent enquiry and then effectively overruled what that independent enquiry suggested, that is why it is going to remain controversial. and we've had a statement from the committee on standards in public life. it adviseses the prime minister on ethical standards across the whole of public life in the uk. i should explain, this is talking about the fact that sir alex allan is resigning. it says the committee has committed to look into the resignation. the chair of the committee,

jonathan evans said: "sir alex allan is a man of great wisdom and integrity and it is deeply concerning that he has resigned." "this episode raises serious questions about the effectiveness of the current arrangements for investigating and responding to breaches of the ministerial code." "the committee will be looking at this urgently as part of its review." simon clarke is a conservative mp and a supporter of the home secretary. hejoins me now. good he joins me now. good afternoon. why has sir alex allan felt the need to resign, then? this is a very complex case, and nuanced as its report set out. it is perfectly possible for people in good faith to come to different conclusions. the premise is the ultimate arbiter of the code. he has considered the evidence very carefully a nd he has considered the evidence very carefully and he has come to the conclusion that... and i agree with him on this. the home secretary...

is welcome that things are improving under a new home secretary. and therefore the home secretary should be able to get on with her important work, cutting down on crime, delivering managed immigration. there is all objectives are to support her in pursuing. if you have an independent enquiry that says someone, an independent enquiry that says someone, in this case priti patel, broke the ministerial code, and you have the prime minister who says no, thatis have the prime minister who says no, that is not the case, who is the average voter meant to believe? well, the premise is the head of the government, and is electorally accountable to the british people. in that sense, it is quite right that he should make the ultimate decision. it is important to note that this report emphasises that its conclusions need to be considered in the context that the home secretary was unaware that her behaviour was causing offence, that no feedback was given to her, and that there was

undoubtedly an issue with the support that she was receiving from her department in pursuing her goals. and it is in that context that that decision had arisen. clearly, there is no room for bullying. i know the home secretary believes that herself. she herself has apologised for the offence she has apologised for the offence she has given. of course it is a serious issue, but it is also important to contextualise what has happened here in the context of a very high pressure job, in the context of a very high pressurejob, turning in the context of a very high pressure job, turning around in the context of a very high pressurejob, turning around a department where there was a need to refocus on some of the government's really core agenda. it is a high—pressurejob, really core agenda. it is a high—pressure job, but lots and really core agenda. it is a high—pressurejob, but lots and lots of people in those sort of level jobs. there are many offices of with many people running them and are very difficult circumstances, not eve ryo ne very difficult circumstances, not everyone behaves in that fashion. very difficult circumstances, not everyone behaves in that fashionlj know everyone behaves in that fashion.” know priti patel well personally, and she is a lovely person. i do not believe, and the predator does not

believe, and the predator does not believe, that she is a bully or that this is in her nature. she is certainly a forceful personality, action orientated, and quite so. she has apologised if her behaviour has caused offence. i think that is the right thing for her to have done. but it is important to note the context in which this occurred, and the fact that things have now improved under new leadership in the department of the civil service aside. so things are moving forward ina aside. so things are moving forward in a positive direction. the department is now moving forward. and that in the end is what is in the public interest here, that we get on with delivering core priorities. some people listening to this with say the context is actually brexit ears sticking together, the prime minister rewarding herfor together, the prime minister rewarding her for support. no, the home secretary is an integral part of the government. she is a high—quality performer. let's clear that the work that she is doing to cut down on crime, to boost police

numbers, these are things which really matter to millions of people across this country. and yes, it is absolutely right that there was an investigation, and yes it is right that the prime minister is reflecting very carefully on the evidence that has been put forward. but it is also right that he is allowed to interpret the code, to make its judgment and allowed to interpret the code, to make itsjudgment and to allowed to interpret the code, to make its judgment and to conclude that the home secretary should remain in post and carry on focusing on delivering her mandate.” remain in post and carry on focusing on delivering her mandate. i mean, the independent adviser says that open macro i believe that senior civil servant should be able to handle robust criticism, but they shouldn't have too except behaviour that goes beyond that." that's right, isn't it? that is right. i know our service are very high performing and very loyal. but clearly there were issues here, and sir alex's report makes that clear, too. he reflects on the fact that there were legitimate concerns

around the degree of support that the home secretary was getting from the home secretary was getting from the top of her department. and that that has played a role here. and also it is equally important that she was not given this feedback, and thatis she was not given this feedback, and that is laid out in this report too. it's not as though she was told this behaviour was inappropriate before that. that was not what she was told, that was not the context in which she was operating. it is absolutely the case of this report needs to be considered in full, and thatis needs to be considered in full, and that is a much more nuanced picture than simply the home secretary was behaving in an unacceptable way. that is not... a final thought about the system generally. you will know perhaps that in the last few minutes the committee has said it is going to look into sir alex's resignation, saying "alex allan is a man of deep integrity, and it is considering that he has resigned."” integrity, and it is considering that he has resigned." i certainly share the high opinion of sir alex.

his long—standing career in public services were the oliver thanks. the premise to has considered sir alex's report and come to his conclusion and will be accountable for it. and thatis and will be accountable for it. and that is how it should work in an elective democracy. for now, thank you very much. thank you forjoining us. you very much. thank you forjoining us. we will turn now to coronavirus. new figures suggest the number of recorded coronavirus cases is falling in households across northern ireland, wales and parts of england. the office for national statistics found in its latest weekly survey that infections appeared to be flattening in scotland and across england overall. the government also says the estimated coronavirus reproduction number, or r number, in the uk this week is 1.0 to 1.1, down slightly from 1.0 to 1.2 last week.

let us try and unravel all of this. such tiny differences there, but this is what we cling onto every week stop it looks like small changes, but it is encouraging and shows that things are starting to go in the right direction. numbers are starting to fall in northern ireland and wales stop so i am talking about ons figures, which is of course into the week of the 14th of november, and that was showing the first full week of lockdown in england. in england, it has been a mixed picture. in the north—western east midlands, rates have fallen, but they have continued to rise in london, the southeast and east of england. while infections are down in young adults, they have risen in school—age children. on average in england, there are just under 40,000 new cases a day. that is down a little bit on previous weeks, were cases have stabilised at around

50,000 a day. as you mentioned, the r number, that is the latest estimate. it shows how many people and infected person passes the virus oi'i and infected person passes the virus on to. as you said, between one and 1.1. that is down a little bit on la st 1.1. that is down a little bit on last week. it shows that the epidemic is still growing but cases are not rising as quickly as they we re are not rising as quickly as they were in early october, but scientists sitting on the sage advisory committee are saying that you need to get are well below one and keep it there for a period of time to see a significant fall in new cases and hospitalisations. now, we've had hopes of new vaccines, of drug treatments and mass testing, but right now there are over 16,000 people with covid in hospitals across the uk, and we have not hit the peak winter months. that is when the peak winter months. that is when the nhs is traditionally at its most busiest. hospital leaders say that if they are going to continue to ca re if they are going to continue to care for all patients, notjust those with covid but emergency

cases, and to treat nonurgent conditions, they think you need strict level three conditions to replace lockdown in england come the 2nd of december. those details are still being finalised by ministers, and bisley today's r number and ons will help feed into the decision—making. we had to have a clearer picture by next week. thank you very much for now. the first minister of wales mark drakeford has said there is evidence the two week firebreak in wales has been successful in lowering the rate of coronavirus transmission. he said he'd seen evidence that the rate of transmission fell, and the number of people in hospital with covid—19 is stabilising. well we can speak to mark drakeford now, hejoins me from cardiff. good afternoon. not often in the story we have a rare smile. do you feel just slightly more story we have a rare smile. do you feeljust slightly more positive that things are getting a little better? of course, plenty of

families are suffering. but are you pleased with what you're seeing so far? well, our chief medical officer published his assessment of the firebrick period earlier this morning. he said there is good evidence that the firebrick achieved its aims in wales. we have had ten consecutive days of the numbers of people contracting coronavirus going down. ten consecutive days of the positivity rate, the number of tests, going down. and the number of people going into our hospitals is stabilising. and we hope to see that dropping over the week to come. so, all in all, the firebrick achieved what we hoped it would. whether we can sustain itjust depends on how people behave in the post firebrick period. and that is exactly the point, isn't it? what would you say to people about what you would ideally like them to do to try and continue to dampen things down? but we all have to do are the simple

things that we know about already. we should minimise the number of people we are in contact with, because coronavirus thrives on human contact. because coronavirus thrives on human co nta ct. we because coronavirus thrives on human contact. we should only travel when it is necessarily. we should work from home wherever we can. we should be respectful of other people in observing social distancing. we should wash our hands frequently and carefully. and, if we do those basic things, and we do them together, then here in wales we have a fighting chance that we can build on the success of the firebrick rather than see itjust fritter away. the success of the firebrick rather than see it just fritter away. the point being that you would like people to have some sort of normal christmas? to what extent is that factor into your decision making? well, it is impossible for us if we can to have a pathway through to christmas where we don't have to repeat further restrictions on peoples lives. i am very committed toa peoples lives. i am very committed to a uk—wide approach to christmas. i met with michael gove and the

first ministers of scotland and northern ireland on wednesday of this week. we agreed a number of important principles. we asked officials to work together on the details, and we will meet again once that work is complete. and i think, if we are able to, a common set of rules across the united kingdom will be clear, simple for people, i will be clear, simple for people, i will be going into that next meeting hoping to find that common ground. do you think that across the uk we would be looking at another lockdown in order to make a bit of a break over the actual christmas period possible? well, what i think is inescapable is that if we do have a period of relaxation around christmas, and people mingle more, and that is what people want to do over christmas, coronavirus will thrive in those circumstances. and we need a plan for how we will respond to that when that period of

relaxation comes to an end. again, that was discussed between us this week, and we need to work further on some common measures that we may be able to take to respond to the inevitable fact that coronavirus will rise if a period of relaxation is agreed. i realise i'm making it sound there with my question is if there is an assumption that everyone thinks that relaxing at christmas is a good idea. we know that there are scientists that say, "actually, it is just scientists that say, "actually, it isjust a scientists that say, "actually, it is just a few days. why ruin the advances we have made so far?" and i'm interested where you stand between those two camps? we have taken a lot of advice in recent weeks from behavioural scientists. because there is no point having a rule that people simply aren't prepared to abide by. at the moment, the views we get back from people in wales are that it is genuinely important to people to have some

days around christmas where they are able to see people that they have not been able to see for many, many weeks, and spent some time in their company. but i've been explained to people in wales today is that, if we're going to be able to do that, we're going to be able to do that, we have to act very carefully between now and then. and we will have to deal with consequences of it. if in the end people felt that that was not worthwhile then we would of course take that into account. but at the moment the views we are receiving are that people really do want to have a brief period where the rules are, in a careful way, relaxed. period where the rules are, in a carefulway, relaxed. but we period where the rules are, in a careful way, relaxed. but we will have to find a way to deal with the consequences. before you go, a thought if i may about education. because that is something that all the nations have really tried to keep going in this second lockdown, ifi keep going in this second lockdown, if i call it that. what are your thoughts on that as we look ahead to january? university students coming

backin january? university students coming back in january, is january? university students coming back injanuary, is that advisable? is it doable? people need to plan. what would you need to say to families of people who have children of that age? all our schools are back and open, and our universities are teaching people face—to—face as well as online. i think we really will have to assess the circumstances a bit closer to the time. coronavirus is full of surprises. it is difficult to predict even if you weeks ahead. halfway through january, i predict even if you weeks ahead. halfway throughjanuary, i simply think it is not sufficiently predictable to give people a reliable basis for planning. we continue to work to give certainty when that has some reliability about it. a quick final thought about christmas. when is that next

meeting? i'm trying to think when viewers might have just a little bit more of an idea. well, we have been meeting on a wednesday. if the work we have asked our officials to do in drawing upa we have asked our officials to do in drawing up a more detailed plan is completed earlier, then i would certainly be happier to meet earlier than wednesday. if we have the material we need to work on. we may well talk about that again. thank you for now. the headlines on bbc news... the government adviser on ministerial standards resigns — after the prime minister backs the home secretary over a bullying inquiry. a pay freeze looks likely for milions of public sector workers in england — though front line nhs staff are likely to be exempt. the test and trace system in england has failed to track down nearly half the close contacts of people with coronavirus, in some of the worst hit areas.

let's talk more about that. millions of public sector workers in england are expected to face a pay freeze, under plans to be announced by the chancellor, rishi sunak, next week. more than 5 million people would be affected, including key workers praised for their service during the pandemic — though it's thought nhs staff will be exempt. unions say the proposals are a ‘body blow‘ for their members and have threatened industrial action — but new figures this morning underline the challenge ministers face in restoring the public finances. andy verity reports. it's public sector workers who have been clapped as the heroes on the front line of the pandemic, but now the chancellor, rishi sunak, is floating the idea of freezing public sector pay to address a ballooning budget deficit caused by the huge cost of the government's antivirus measures. nhs workers may be left out,

but other public sector workers would see real—terms pay cuts in years to come. it's a measure now being floated but not yet confirmed. i'm not going to go into internal discussions. you know how much i value nhs workers. and colleagues right across the nhs. but i'm afraid i am going to respect cabinet confidentiality as i always do and instead allow the chancellor of the exchequer to set out the details. public sector workers currently get 7% more, on average, in pay and pensions than private sector workers. if rishi sunak takes up a suggestion by the right—leaning think tank, the centre for policy studies, the government could save £23 billion a year by freezing public sector pay for three years — or 15 billion if nhs workers were exempt. of course our incredible nhs staff have been at the forefront of this. but so have care workers. so have local authority workers. so have civil servants. if this pandemic is demonstrated

one thing, it's how the government relies on the entire public service. freezing public sector pay was one of the main austerity measures after the financial crash — there were no pay rises in the public sector for three years, until 2013, and after that they were capped at 1%. that, over the decade, has cut the difference between public and private sector pay. if you strip out pensions, it is now very little. it's like going back to the days of austerity in the last decade. pay freezes, 700,000 jobs lost. it's pretty much harder to deal with in the pandemic. it is a kick in the teeth. government borrowing £215 billion in seven months coming according to figures, spending cuts and tax rises are inevitable. but enhancing them now are controversial. it is said that it would hit women hardest, worsening

the pay gap. about two thirds of the public sector workforce are men. in some parts, it is much higher than that. 85% of primary school teachers, for example. more than 90% of teaching assistants. whereas the private sector workforce is only 42% female. so this would be something that hits women harder than men. economists have urged the chancellor to wait to fix the roof this time until the sun is clearly shining on an economic recovery, rather then proposing spending cuts before it has got going. the government there is keen to be seen to addressing a deficit that hasn't been this high since the 60s. analysis by the bbc shows england's test and trace system has failed to track down nearly half of the close contacts of people with coronavirus in some of the worst hit areas. the figures cover the six months since boris johnson promised the system would be world—beating. ministers say many of the contacts the system didn't reach were in the same household, and the message to self—isolate would have been passed on.

sophie hutchinson reports. foot soldiers in the war against coronavirus — this is the length leicester council, one of the worst hit areas, is going to, door—knocking people who have tested positive with the virus and to the national track and trace system has failed to reach. it is the first time this operation's been filmed, but we were not allowed to show people's homes. the first one was for a case that was under 18, so we had to talk to a parent or guardian. when we knocked on the property, they weren't there to talk to. but we were told if we ring back from one o'clock this afternoon they will be able to talk to us. the second visit that we did this morning was successful. they answered all the questions and gave us all the information. around half of england's councils are now contact tracing to address some of the problems of the national track and trace. according to bbc analysis, in the six months since the government promised a world—beating system, it has failed to track down nearly

half of the close contacts of people with covid—19 in some of the areas most badly affected. those include bradford, manchester, nottingham, newcastle upon tyne, and leicester. back in leicester, contact tracers in the office trawl the council's databases for people's addresses and phone numbers. this is a tiny team of contact tracers. there are a handful of people making calls here. but despite their size, they have had considerable success — tracking down and speaking to an average 89% of people that the national system has failed to contact. but councils are only allowed to trace those with positive test results. any details of close contacts they get have to be sent back to the struggling national system for tracing. officials in leicester believe they could be doing a lot more. contact tracing is not new for us, whether it is through environmental health officers, whether it is through sexual health services — this is something

that we do on a routine basis. and also that means that we have access to sources of information and data that perhaps others might not. and there are other problems with the way the national system is being run. after dad robin marlow tested positive for covid—19, his family were called more than 45 times over three days. we were told that every contact would have to be phoned separately, so we could expect about 20 phone calls from track and trace, just to the one family. and obviously we all knew that we had covid. and i asked the lady who was on the phone to me during the first day whether there was any way of avoiding these phone calls, and she said, i guess slightly menacingly, that they would just keep calling me until i answered and gave the information. but the government says, from this week, track and trace will no longer insist on talking to children. it's also said that it continues to refine and improve, building an integrated national and local system that can quickly scale up and down as the virus changes. sophie hutchinson, bbc news.

that is just pause and take a look at the weather prospects. it was a cold night last night for some of us, particularly in the east, but we have had cloud and rain spreading from west to east through the course of today, turning things milder. that is the story for the rest of today into this evening, that rain continuing eastwards and things turning milder than yesterday. temperatures in the west up to 13 degrees, still chilly around the east coast, 8 or 9 degrees, outbreaks of rain that will be clearing out towards the east through this evening and overnight and the next area of rain working in from the north—west. but really strong winds especially across the north of scotland, gales likely here for the northern isles, northern highlands, western isles as well. a much milder night than last night with many of us staying in double figures. as we head through the day tomorrow we will see this cold front slipping south, introducing cooler, fresher conditions in from the north west. further heavy and blustery showers

for scotland and northern ireland, gales again across the north of scotland — quite breezy further south, a line of cloud and rain pushing south across england and wales, highs of 10—13. bye— bye.

kluger hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: the government adviser on ministerial standards resigns — after the prime minister backs the home secretary over a bullying inquiry. priti patel says she's sorry that her behaviour in the past has upset anyone — a civil service union says it's disappointed. what is the point of the ministerial code, then? what is the point in the investigation, then? if actually what we are saying is that it doesn't matter what evidence is found, it doesn't matter what the prime minister's adviser says, if it is politically convenient for the prime minister to ignore it, he will. a pay freeze looks likely for millions of public sector workers in england — though front line nhs staff are likely to be exempt.

the test and trace system in england has failed to track down nearly half the close contacts of people with coronavirus, in some of the worst—hit areas. the drug ghb, which has been used in murder and rape cases, should have a higher classification according to an official report. douglas stewart. and coming up, we'll be speaking to douglas stuart — whose novel about growing up in glasgow has won this year's booker prize for fiction. i hope he's still smiling that much. coming up later in this half an hour but first we are going to catch up with the sports news. we will hear from tottenham manager jose mourinho who says he wants a nswe i’s jose mourinho who says he wants answers from the england boss gareth southgate after revealing that certain managers were putting

players under pressure to manage their international workloads. jose mourinho has questioned why the likes of raheem sterling was allowed to miss england boss make dead rubber clash with iceland. the manchester city forward is now likely to come against mariniere's spurs side on sunday in the league. supposedly said some football club managers put pressure on the players not to play for the national team, and because of that he feels the need to call club managers to try to cool down the emotions and to try to control the difficult situation for him. i would liken to say who. i would liken to say which other coaches that put pressure on the players not to go. we have also heard from liverpool bossjurgen klopp who says he has spoken to mo salah about his conduct after the striker tested positive for coronavirus.

it follows his brother's wedding ceremony in egypt where salah was seen on camera dancing and socialising with guests. he's now in isolation in liverpool and will miss sunday's premier league clash with leicester. klopp says he's happy to have him back on home soil. it is better you have them around because then you can judge exactly what they do and stuff like this. we do things there used to handle this kind of thing. they go to the national team, there are other fitness coaches, they didn't work with them may be for the last weeks, and they are in it. that's possible. but that's the situation. the most intense period is coming up now so i'm happy that they are back and i'm happy that still most of them came back healthy and how fit we will see. rugby union now and scotland's final autumn nations cup pool match against fiji at murrayfield next weekend is off. the decision was expected after fiji's matches against france and italy were also postponed following a covid—19 outbreak within the touring party. there have been 29 cases

among the fijian staff. organisers say postponing the match was "unavoidable" due to the ten—day isolation period required for players. scotland face france on sunday in a pool b decider. head coach gregor townsend has made five changes for that game with blair kinghorn, jamie ritchie, matt fagerson, fraser brown among the changes from the win over italy. jamie bhatti and sean maitland are also back in the squad. former two—weight ufc champion conor mcgregor will return to the sport injanuary. he retired for a third time injune. but the 32—year—old says he'll be back in the octagon to fight dustin poirier. ufc president dana white also added he's hopeful fans would be able to attend the fight. a week before their white ball series against england gets under way — south africa have cancelled a practice match after a positive

test for covid within the squad. the unnamed player has been moved to separate accommodation from the team. it comes two days after another three players were put into isolation after positive tests. the first of three t20s in cape town against england starts next friday. the last semi—final place is up for grabs at the atp finals this afternoon — we can go live to the o2 right now where the world number one novak djokovic on court taking on alexander zverev — who won here two years ago. he beat djokovic then — but can he do it again for a place in the last four? djokovic leading 4—2 in the first set. he has break point. you can follow this match on bbc two right now and on the bbc sport website as well. that's all the sport for now.

back to you, jane. thank you, holly, we will see you in the next hour. the health secretary, matt hancock, has said the nhs will be given whatever resources it needs to roll out a mass programme of vaccinations, as soon as a covid jab is approved. the last fortnight has seen promising announcements by the scientists working on three of the potential vaccines. so how soon might the public receive the jabs — and who would be first? our health correspondent james gallagher has this assessment. vaccines are being developed at unprecedented speed — ten years of work has been condensed into around ten months. more than 200 vaccines are being researched, and the most advanced are starting to produce results. so, how do they work? well, first of all, i want to point out something on the coronavirus itself. this is known as the spike protein and that is what most vaccines are training your body to attack. now, there are broadly four different approaches being used to make coronavirus vaccines.

the first kills or inactivates the coronavirus and then injects it into people. this triggers the immune response, but without causing an infection. the second approach takes the spike proteins from the coronavirus and just injects that. these are tried and trusted methods of making vaccines, but they are slow to get up and running. a faster and more experimental style of vaccine takes a common cold virus. it is genetically modified to stop it causing an infection, and then again, to give it the blueprints for making the spike protein from the coronavirus. this is the technique being pioneered by the university of oxford, so you'll have heard about that in the news a lot in the past week. now, the final approach is something quite new. part of the genetic code, here, of the coronavirus is injected inside patients. once there, it starts making copies of that spike protein, which the body learns to react to. this is how pfizer and moderna have

developed their potent vaccines. to be honest, we need all of these techniques because we still do not know which will prove to be best. the crucial question — who might actually get the vaccine? this is the draft priority list drawn up by thejoint committee on vaccination and immunisation. right at the top are people living and working in care homes. the vaccination programme will then prioritise people with age, with hospital staff and people with some medical conditions also getting jabbed. and this is why. each of these icons represents 1,000 deaths in the first wave of the pandemic. and, look at it, you canjust see how many deaths there were in care homes and in the older age groups. the government hopes that by vaccinating all these people, 99% of those at risk of dying from covid would be protected. i must warn you — if you're healthy and under 50, then you're in for a long wait.

no decisions have been made on vaccinating the under—50s and they are a tiny proportion of all deaths. we are now, though, at the point when the first vaccines could be approved for use very soon. then the long and mammoth task of vaccinating millions of people can begin. james gallagher. our health correspondent. let's turn toa our health correspondent. let's turn to a story away from coronavirus. the drug ghb should have a higher classification, according to a new official report. the drug has been used by murderers and rapists to knock out their victims, but is currently class c, the same level as anabolic steroids. the advisory council on the misuse of drugs says it should be moved to class b, the category which includes cannabis. the government says it supports the tightening of controls. ina in a moment i'm going to be talking to someone directly affected by the use of that drug within his family.

but first, this report is from our home affairs correspondentjune kelly. reynhard sinaga, described as the most prolific rapist to go through the british courts, convicted of offences against 48 men. stephen port, a serial killer, he murdered four young men and raped and sexually assaulted others. and gerald matovu, a drug dealer, who also became a killer. all three used the drug ghb on their victims. it often originates from a colourless liquid and is described as a party drug. but it can also be used to spike drinks and knock a victim unconscious and in higher doses it can kill.

gerald matovu was a thief who drugged the men he met to steal from them. the dose of ghb he gave eric michaels proved fatal. his sons began a campaign for ghb to be reclassified. they wanted to be class a. today's recommendation is that it should go from c to b. today is a big success and we are happy to see the classification has been suggested to be changed. with that in mind, there is still work for us to do, we still have to make sure we keep pushing. for something like this, us losing our father to it, as sam said, we wouldn't want anyone else to go through it. it was the serially offending by the rapist reynhard it was the serially offending by the rapist reynha rd sinaga it was the serially offending by the rapist reynhard sinaga that reinforced the dangers of ghb. but it is notjust about reclassifying it according to the watchdog. we have also said we want better training for front—line clinicians so they can detect and treat

ghb—related harm when it occurs. so, the professionals are recommending more public awareness, prevention and treatment to reduce the harm done by ghb. june kelly, bbc news. with me is dr graham bloor — his son, paddy died of an overdose of ghb in 2018. drgraham dr graham bloor, thank you for agreeing to talk to us about something so painfulfor agreeing to talk to us about something so painful for your family. just briefly so that the audience understands why you want to talk about the reclassification of this drug, are you able to just explain briefly what did happen to your son? good afternoon. paddy was 21 when he died from a ghb overdose. he basically enjoyed parties and concerts, music events, and he got carried away with drug use. it wasn't just ghb, but carried away with drug use. it wasn'tjust ghb, but it was ghb that ultimately killed him because it is

so dangerous. so he went to a party. they are referred to as cam sex parties, paddy was gay, and he went toa parties, paddy was gay, and he went to a party in brighton. —— chemsex. and at five o'clock in the morning he had a cardiac arrest because of ghb overdose and two days later he died in intensive care. you talk about how dangerous it is, you would know, did he understand just how dangerous it is? do you think that people of his age do you understand? is that part of the problem? well, thatis is that part of the problem? well, that is part of the problem. paddy, as many young kids, teenagers, they feel invincible. paddy was

intelligent. he thought he knew about drugs in terms of how to take them, what to take on how to be relatively safe. he had experience with that and he was very confident. the problem is that with ghb, whether you are a naive user taking it for the first time or whether you have taken other drugs and then tried ghb, the risk of dying is the same in both groups. the reason is because it is so difficult to take safely because of its dose response curve. the difference between the dose which has an effect and the dose which has an effect and the dose which has an effect and the dose which results in coma, fitting, epilepsy and death, the doses are very similar. a routine dose would be perhaps one millilitre of a solution that is then put into a drink. if you take two or three millilitres, or forget that you have

taken the first dose and then take another dose half an hour later and you are at risk of overdose from this drug. and unlike some other recreational drugs, and overdose of ghb is very, very dangerous. given what you describe there, what difference, however, with the reclassification make? the government says it supports this idea to put it into a higher category, of course. but in terms of using it in the way your son was so sadly using it, i wonder whether the classification issue would make much difference. i don't think you will stop people taking the drugs and i don't think reclassification will influence many people who then choose to take drugs. but it gives a warning to people as a relative idea

as to how dangerous it is. what i found out from adi's friends, and he had a lot of them, is when the drug is said to be like cannabis, they don't think that it's dangerous. when it is now classed as class b and is like amphetamines, then it matches it to being a more dangerous drug and it flags it as such. i think those people who possibly are beginning to experiment with drugs would see that it is labelled as a more serious or a more dangerous drug. if it is simply labelled like cannabis it's going to be treated as like cannabis and people will die with it. i can see the argument against reclassification. does reclassification work? but whilst we

classify all of these drugs, then at least ghb should be in the right box thatis least ghb should be in the right box that is reflecting just how dangerous it is. personally i think it should be a class a because of its dangerous but i understand why the government is saying class b until we get more information on the prevalence and knowing what is actually happening with ghb. one of the problems as we don't actually know the figures. i'm interested on that point, if i may, that you really pushed to have the existence of ghb, and i am correct to say, that you push to have that listed on the death certificate, because your point is you want there to be a record of how many people are suffering in this way? it is not currently necessarily routinely tested for. it is not routinely tested for. it is not routinely tested for, neither in the hospitals

nor at the coroner's inquest. paddy would have been labelled as having died of other drugs. in the gay community when ghb is being used it is rarely that it is one drug, it tends to be a cocktail of drugs as pa rt tends to be a cocktail of drugs as part of that experience. because we routinely test for amphetamines, cocaine, etc. if you have a dose of amphetamines and cocaine that is recognised, the death will be labelled as that and you will miss the ghb because you are not testing for it. that's what happened with paddy. in the end they did test for ghb but they were not going to and i asked them to, and i offered to pay for it and they heard the story and then they tested for it and then we

had to change the death certificate because the cause of death was different. and that sucked me in to finding outan different. and that sucked me in to finding out an awful lot about the lg bt finding out an awful lot about the lgbt community use of drugs, but also the coroner system and how inaccurate the quotas are no causes of death can be. and on a general note, how can you determine what we should do with government advice, with medical advice with monitoring in hospitals if we don't know there isa in hospitals if we don't know there is a problem? we believe there isn't a problem. we don't test for it, and we are confirming, therefore, that there isn't a problem. when it is looked at, there most certainly is a problem. ghb is the fourth most common drug in accident and emergency presentations. but u nfortu nately,

emergency presentations. but unfortunately, it is not tested for. drgraham unfortunately, it is not tested for. dr graham bloor, i'm sorry to cut you off and i'm very appreciative of you off and i'm very appreciative of you being so open and helpful in this regard. thank you, and we are so sorry and we wish you and your family all the very best. good to talk to you about paddy and all the good work you are doing there. thank you very much indeed to dr graham bloor who lost his son in 2018, in relation they are talking about the reclassification of the drug ghb. the time right now is 2:50pm. we'll return to talk about coronavirus a bit more. more than two million people in west and central scotland will move to the country's toughest level of coronavirus restrictions this evening. the level four rules will apply in 11 council areas, including glasgow. nonessential shops will close, along with pubs, restaurants, hairdressers, gyms and visitor

attractions — but schools will remain open. the measures remain in place until the 11th december. james shaw reports. this is one of the busiest, most high—value shopping streets in scotland and there is definitely a sense at the moment of the scotland and there is definitely a sense at the moment of a last—minute rush on. but by six o'clock tonight, almost all of this will be shut down. shoppers i spoke to were anxious about the restrictions which are about to be imposed. to be quite honest with you, i think a lot of people are not going to take any notice of what they have been told to do because we have had nearly a whole year of this. ijust think it must be really upsetting for the shops, the small businesses, and i think this is a time of year when they would be making money. especially when they had the lockdown earlier in the air. they must have been putting all of their hens on this basket. it is a shame. it is notjust shops. all hospitality, entertainment venues

and sport centres will close, schools will stay open. this is a big area. all the way from ayr on the west coast to livingston further east and north to stirling in the countryside around it but health experts believe the new controls are necessary. this is a moment when we have to work together and understand that, yes, there are people struggling economically throughout this, but there is hope on the horizon. there is a vaccine that has been seen as viable. the fact some areas have been moved to level 4, that is to help protect the nhs workers. in those areas, hospital rates are well above capacity. this is not a full national lockdown so travel restrictions will be used to stop people spreading the virus into low—risk areas. nicola sturgeon addressed the toughness of the new restrictions at her daily briefing. these restrictions are

difficult and we are all thoroughly scunnered, and fed up with them and i will never stand here and pretend otherwise because i feel the same sense of being utterly scunnered and fed up as the rest of you do. we do now see a possible end in sight to all of this and i think it is really important we don't forget that. it will be illegal to travel into or out of areas under level 3 and level 4 restrictions and even between council areas under those controls, except for essential purposes including work, education and caring. nicola sturgeon promised the restrictions will only be in place until the 11th of december. james shaw, bbc news, glasgow. we are going to talk about one more story before the top of the hour. let's ta ke story before the top of the hour. let's take a moment to think about the booker prize. you might know that douglas stewart won the booker prize last night. that prize is for the best novel of the year written in english and published in the uk.

and he's won for his debut — shuggie bain, about a boy in 1980s glasgow trying to support his mother as she struggles with addiction. the chair ofjudges, the publisher and writer margaret busby, said their decision was unanimous and they'd taken only an hour to decide. the panel described the novel as "challenging, intimate and gripping". i'm delighted to say that douglas stuartjoins me now from new york where he lives. with that wonderful smile that not so surprisingly was plastered across your face last night. i expect you to still be smiling. many congratulations. goodness, has it sunkin congratulations. goodness, has it sunk in yet? thank you. it hasn't quite sunk in yet, everything feels like it is happening through a screen! sadly, life is happening through a screen. i wish you were sitting here but it is a pleasure to talk to you nonetheless. my goodness, for your debut, i mean, really, that's just showing goodness, for your debut, i mean, really, that'sjust showing off! you know, i think sometimes davies have

a unique power in the world because writers are carrying the story inside them for so, so many years and it builds up. and so i always think there is a unique power to debuts and i'm just really proud to have won. notjust building up inside you, but actually, in fairness, it took you a really long time to get it published, didn't it? it did, it took me about ten years to write the book and it was about 12 years until it was published. but was turned down initially by my agent, he told me 20 publishers but it turned out to be 32, she was just sparing feelings after a certain point. but it actually found its right home, that's the point of rejection, to find someone who loves your book as much as you do. yesterday was just an amazing moment. forgive me, sadly, i have not read your novel and i do not wa nt to not read your novel and i do not want to sit here and pretend i have when i haven't and i want to make that absolutely clear, but i've read a lot about it and i have read the reviews of people whose judgment i trust, and it sounds to me like a

remarkable combination, because some very, very gritty subject matter, but moments of tenderness as well. is that fair? moments of humour as well, maybe. i think is that fair? moments of humour as well, maybe. ithink that is is that fair? moments of humour as well, maybe. i think that is fair and it is also life. what i wanted to capture in the book is the glaswegian spirit. glasgow is such a dynamic city full of incredible humanity. there are so many contrasting emotions living next to each other, there can be tenderness with real sort of violence there can be sadness with joy amongst it, and pa rt be sadness with joy amongst it, and part of what it means sometimes to be glaswegian is to embrace all of that and take it as it comes. ijust wa nted that and take it as it comes. ijust wanted to show that full spectrum and bring lesley ridgeon erik does to life. fantastic. i cannot and bring lesley ridgeon erik does to life. fantastic. icannot wait and bring lesley ridgeon erik does to life. fantastic. i cannot wait to read it. this time yesterday i was talking to bernardine evaristo, last yea r‘s talking to bernardine evaristo, last year's winner, and it was so fantastic to hear her reflections on what the last year has done for her andi what the last year has done for her and i said to her, what will tonight's winner be going through? what will it mean to them? she said

essentially they are in for the most fantastic year, that it will change your life but in a brilliant way. i wonder what expectations, if any, you have now for the coming months. i think because i'm just starting to get a taste of that, and i'm excited for what lies ahead, i hope it not only changes my life, though, i hope it changes, or it allows more opportunities to lots of writers who are perhaps writing about working—class tories, who feel like regional voices. so i hope the win also signals to them that we want to read their work and hear what they have to say. absolutely. is your next novel already written? what point are you at? it is, my next novel is already written, so hopefully in the future we can share some exciting news about that. i've been writing for a very long time, i just didn't necessarily feel like i belonged in the literary industry, or in the publishing industry, and so i'm excited to share all my work. because you didn't feel you belonged for what reason? growing up poor and

working class in glasgow it always felt like another world to me. it is fairto felt like another world to me. it is fair to say that kids that grow up in poverty like that can feel excluded by that. and so for a lot of my adult life i've been writing for myself and in private, because that's the important thing. the important thing is just the writing and the creating of the work. but i was also happy there and i didn't know that necessarily, and actually shuggie bain was rejected 32 times so it almost proved me right in my instincts. but i didn't know there could be a place for me. the well, there is now, you are the booker prize winnerfor 2020. there is now, you are the booker prize winner for 2020.” there is now, you are the booker prize winner for 2020. i have to pinch myself! you are not on the outside any more, that's for sure. fantastic and i can't wait to read it and fantastic and i can't wait to read itand a fantastic and i can't wait to read it and a pleasure to talk to you, thank you very much indeed. thank you. douglas stuart, the winner of the booker prize. it is nice to have a smile once in awhile, isn't it?

now it's time for a look at the weather with sarah keith—lucas. it was a cold night for some of us but with cloud and rain spreading from west to east it has turned things either, so that's the story for the rest of today into this evening, that rain continuing the progress eastwards and things are turning milder than they were yesterday. temperatures in the west up yesterday. temperatures in the west up to about 13 degrees, still chilly around the east coast, eight or 9 degrees. we have outbreaks of rain that will clear towards the east through this evening and overnight, the next area of rain working on from the north—west. but really strong winds, especially across northern scotland, gales likely for the northern isles, northern highlands, scotland, western isles. a much milder night than we had last night with many of us staying in double figures. but as we head through the day tomorrow we will see this cold front slipping south, introducing cooler, fresher conditions from the north—west, further heavy blustery showers for scotla nd further heavy blustery showers for scotland and northern ireland and gales once again across the north of scotla nd gales once again across the north of scotland and quite breezy further south, a line of cloud and rain

pushing south across england and where, highs of 10—13. pushing south across england and where, highs of10—13. bye—bye. —— and wales. this is bbc news. i'm jane hill. the headlines... the government adviser on ministerial standards resigns — after the prime minister backs the home secretary over a bullying inquiry. priti patel says she's sorry that her behaviour in the past has upset anyone — a civil service union says its disappointed. what is the point of the ministerial code, then question what is the point ofan code, then question what is the point of an investigation if in fact what we are seeing is a doesn't matter what evidence is found, what's the premise to's own adviser says, if it is politically convenient for the prior minister to ignore it, he will ignore it. a pay freeze looks likely for milions of public sector workers in england — though front line nhs staff are likely to be exempt. the test and trace system in england has failed to track down nearly half

the close contacts of people with coronavirus — in some of the worst hit areas. the drug ghb, which has been used in murder and rape cases, should have a higher classification according to an official report. and 75 years ago today, the surviving leaders of nazi germany went on trial at nuremberg in the world's first international war crimes trial. i'll be speaking to holocaust survivor about her experiences. good afternoon. the prime minister's adviser on ministerial standards, sir alex allan, has resigned, following the inquiry into allegations of bullying by the home secretary.

sir alex's report found that priti patel had not always met the high standards expected of a minister. downing street said borisjohnson doesn't believe mrs patel has breached the ministerial code, and considers the matter closed. mrs patel has said she is sorry to have upset people. here's our political correspondent, helen catt. after months of waiting, there is a verdict and a resignation. but it is not the home secretary's. a report said priti patel had not consistently met the standards of the minister's code of conduct, and that some of her behaviour could even be described as bullying in its impact. but only the prior minister can decide if she actually broke the code. borisjohnson said she did not. instead, he said that she had inadvertently upset as she worked with. in a statement, priti patel said that she was sorry that her behaviour in the past

but the report also said that the home office was not as flexible as it could have been in responding to her. and she had legitimately not a lwa ys her. and she had legitimately not always felt supported by the department. the report makes clear that there was some very, very challenging relationships on both sides during that period, and i think it is clear that the home secretary did not always receive the support that she did. but the important points are firstly that this was not raised at the time, so she was not aware aware that she was intentionally hurting people around her to that extent. so priti patel stays in her post, but the man who wrote the report has quit. sir alex allan, the independent adviser, said he was recognising that it was for the prior minister to decide. sir alex allan couldn't have been clearer that the home secretary has not consistently met the high

standards of the ministerial code. the home secretary of the person in government responsible for law and order. i am frankly shocked that the home secretary remains in post when sir alex allan note there is findings it is him who resigned today. there's been a furious reaction from the civil service union, too. across the civil service. if you want to raise a complaint, the outcome of that will depend on the politics. that is the clear message. there are calls from critics and allies from priti patel for the report to now be published. the premise to's spokesman says that would not be right or proper. and we've had a statement from the committee on standards in public life. it adviseses the prime minister on ethical standards across the whole of public life

in the uk. the committee has decided to look into the resignation of sir alex allen as part of its review into standards of public conduct. the chair of the committee, jonathan evans said: we speak now to the constitutional expert and senior fellow at the institute for government, catherine haddon. good afternoon. what does this tell us good afternoon. what does this tell us about the way issues are investigated in government circles. because you have an independent enquiry that says a minister, priti patelin enquiry that says a minister, priti patel in this case, broke the ministerial code, the prior minister says no, then we have a resignation.

what does this tell us? it is posing the questions about whether or not this way in which we currently investigate ministers is fit for purpose. the prior minister benefited from the fact that we have a flexible system that recognises the fact that these decisions are often quite political stuff as well as being about particulars of the code. but the process of how this has come about, the long delay to it, the apparent arguments about what the conclusions were, and now the fact that we have the prior minister saying one thing and his own ministerial standards adviser coming toa own ministerial standards adviser coming to a completely different conclusion, and then resigning, this person big questions about if the syste m person big questions about if the system works. i mean, what happens now? because if of state have to carry on. ministers are under

enormous pressure. these are very enormous pressure. these are very challenging times, particularly this year. but equally we've been hearing from the civil service union who say, "our members need to be looked out for two." i wonder where the balance lies. yeah, this is a very awkward situation for a number of civil servants. they carry on doing their jobs. civil servants. they carry on doing theirjobs. and we are talking about a specific case, and also about behaviours that were back in march. but this does raise a lot more questions about how accusations of bullying are handled within government, and what happens and how civil servants are supported. it is ina sense civil servants are supported. it is in a sense quite extraordinary the government's defence on this, that the home secretary wasn't aware of how her behaviour was being seen. just as in parliament that poses questions about, firstly, how she has been approaching her own behaviour, whether ministers need

more education about the lies between assertion and aggression, and also whether or not officials need more support in being able to speak out when someone who is politically much more powerful than them is behaving in such a way, and whether they feel empowered... government government have also pointed out that there were problems within the home office, priti patel is struggling, there is an implicit criticism of senior ministers. it still there are a lot of civil servants are going out, talking about the tolerance for bullying. it's difficult question about how billing is handled in government. pa rt billing is handled in government. part of the defence is that people had not raised their concerns. it's as if people were sort of talking amongst themselves, then we are having a hard time, we do not agree with this, but no formal complaints we re with this, but no formal complaints were actually made. does that suggest that there are also just

isn't either a system in place for someone isn't either a system in place for someone to make a complaint or they feel it doesn't work, or they are too scared to come forward. that frankly could happen in any workplace, this is not necessarily just a government issue. it could. this is a problem that we saw in parliament. the reason why they have had to try and develop a system between the political conversation and the politicians themselves. we need to find out. that is something that senior officials need to take on. it is about a specific circumstance ? on. it is about a specific circumstance? 0r on. it is about a specific circumstance? or is this a more widespread problem that staff can feel able to speak out when they feel able to speak out when they feel behaviour has crossed a boundary, including by other

officials, not just by boundary, including by other officials, notjust by ministers. is there a deeper issue that is going on here in terms of circumstances in which... because if there is a deeper problem, that is something that really needs to be addressed. very interesting to hear your perspective. thank you very much. millions of public sector workers in england are expected to face a pay freeze, under plans to be announced by the chancellor, rishi sunak, next week. more than 5 million people would be affected, including key workers praised for their service during the pandemic — though it's thought nhs staff will be exempt. unions say the proposals are a "body blow" for their members and have threatened industrial action — but new figures this morning underline the challenge ministers face in restoring the public finances. andy verity reports. siren blares

it's public sector workers who have been clapped as the heroes on the front line of the pandemic, but now the chancellor, rishi sunak, is floating the idea of freezing public sector pay to address a ballooning budget deficit caused by the huge cost of the government's antivirus measures. nhs workers may be left out, but other public sector workers would see real—terms pay cuts in years to come. it's a measure now being floated but not yet confirmed. i'm not going to go into internal discussions. you know how much i value nhs workers. and colleagues right across the nhs. but i'm afraid i am going to respect cabinet confidentiality as i always do and instead allow the chancellor of the exchequer to set out the details. public sector workers currently get 7% more, on average, in pay and pensions than private sector workers. if rishi sunak takes up a suggestion by the right—leaning think tank, the centre for policy studies, the government could save £23 billion a year by freezing public sector pay

for three years — or 15 billion if nhs workers were exempt. of course our incredible nhs staff have been at the forefront of this. but so have care workers. so have local authority workers. so have civil servants. if this pandemic is demonstrated one thing, it's how the government relies on the entire public service. freezing public sector pay was one of the main austerity measures after the financial crash — there were no pay rises in the public sector for three years, until 2013, and after that they were capped at 1%. that, over the decade, has cut the difference between public and private sector pay. if you strip out pensions, it is now very little. it's like going back to the days of austerity in the last decade. where public service workers who have paid the price, pay freezes, 700,000 jobs lost, which made it much harder to deal with in the pandemic when it came. it is a kick in the teeth.

with the government borrowing £215 billion in seven months, according to figures released today, spending cuts and tax rises are inevitable. but announcing them now is controversial. independent analysts say leveling down the public sector to private sector levels would hit women hardest, worsening the pay gap between men and women. about two thirds of the public sector workforce are women. in some parts of the workforce, it's much higher than that. 85% of primary school teachers, for example. more than 90% of teaching assistants are women. whereas the private sector workforce is only 42% female. so this would be something that hits women harder than men. economists have urged the chancellor to wait to fix the roof this time until the sun is clearly shining on an economic recovery, rather then imposing spending cuts before it's got going. the government, though, is keen to be seen to address a budget deficit that hasn't been this high since the 60s. andy verity, bbc news. analysis by the bbc shows england's test and trace system has failed

to track nearly half of the close contacts of people with coronavirus, in some of the worst hit areas. the figures cover the six months since boris johnson promised the system would be world—beating. ministers say many of the contacts the system didn't reach were actually in the same household, and the message to self—isolate would have been passed on. sophie hutchinson reports. foot soldiers in the war against coronavirus — this is the length leicester council, one of the worst hit areas, is going to — door—knocking people who have tested positive with the virus and who the national track and trace system has failed to reach. it is the first time this operation's been filmed, but we were not allowed to show people's homes. the first one was for a case that was under 18, so we had to talk to a parent or guardian. when we knocked on the property, they weren't there to talk to. but we were told if we ring back from one o'clock this afternoon they will be able to talk to us. the second visit that we did this

morning was successful. they answered all the questions and gave us all the information. around half of england's councils are now contact tracing to address some of the problems of the national track and trace. according to bbc analysis, in the six months since the government promised a world—beating system, it has failed to track down nearly half of the close contacts of people with covid—19 in some of the areas most badly affected. those include bradford, manchester, nottingham, newcastle upon tyne, and leicester. back in leicester, contact tracers in the office trawl the council's databases for people's addresses and phone numbers. this is a tiny team of contact tracers. there are a handful of people making calls here. but despite their size, they have had considerable success — tracking down and speaking to on average 89% of people that the national system has failed to contact. but councils are only allowed to trace those with positive test results. any details of close contacts

they get have to be sent back to the struggling national system for tracing. officials in leicester believe they could be doing a lot more. contact tracing is not new for us, whether it is through environmental health officers, whether it is through sexual health services — this is something that we do on a routine basis. and also that means that we have access to sources of information and data that perhaps others might not. and there are other problems with the way the national system is being run. after dad robin marlow tested positive for covid—19, his family were called more than 45 times over three days. we were told that every contact would have to be phoned separately, so we could expect about 20 phone calls from track and trace, just to the one family. and obviously we all knew that we had covid. and i asked the lady who was on the phone to me during the first day whether there was any way of avoiding these phone calls, and she said, i guess slightly menacingly, that they would just keep calling me until i answered and gave the information.

but the government says, from this week, track and trace will no longer insist on talking to children. it's also said that it continues to refine and improve, building an integrated national and local system that can quickly scale up and down as the virus changes. sophie hutchinson, bbc news. it is 3:17 p m. the headlines on bbc news... the government adviser on ministerial standards resigns — after the prime minister backs the home secretary over a bullying inquiry. a pay freeze looks likely for milions of public sector workers in england — though front line nhs staff are likely to be exempt. and the test and trace system in england has failed to track down nearly half the close contacts of people with coronavirus, in some of the worst hit areas. new figures suggest the number of recorded coronavirus cases is falling in households across northern ireland, wales and parts of england.

the office for national statistics found in its latest weekly survey that infections appeared to be flattening in scotland and across england overall. the government also says the estimated coronavirus reproduction number, or r number, in the uk this week is 1.0 to 1.1, down slightly from 1.0 to 1.2 last week. our health correspondent katherine da costa has been looking into the figures and says it is encouraging. it shows that things are starting to go in the right direction. so the number of people with covid in england and scotland is a levelling off and numbers are starting to fall in northern ireland and wales. so i'm talking about the ons figures, of course, which is obviously to the week to the 14th of november, and that was showing the first full week of lockdown in england. and within england it has been a mixed picture. in the north west and east midlands rates have fallen, but they have

continued to rise in london, the south—east and the east of england. and while infections are down in young are down in young adults, they have risen in school—age children. on average in england there were just under 40,000 new cases a day. that is down a little bit on previous weeks where cases had stabilised around 50,000 a day. now, as you mentioned, the r number, the latest estimate shows how many people an infected person passes the virus onto. so, as you said, between one and 1.1. so that's down a little bit on last week, so it shows that the epidemic is still growing butcases are not rising as quickly as they were in early october. but scientists sitting on the sage advisory committee have said that you need to get r well below one and keep it there for a period of time to see a significant fall in new cases and hospitalisations. now, we've had hopes of new vaccines, drug

treatments and mass testing, but right now there are over 16,000 people with covid in hospitals across the uk. and we have not hit the peak winter months. that is when the nhs is traditionally at its most busiest. and hospital leaders have said that if they are going to continue to care for all patients, notjust those with covid but also emergency cases, and to treat nonurgent operations, they think that you need strict level 3 restrictions to replace lockdown in england, come the 2nd of december. now, those details are still being finalised by ministers, and obviously today's r number and ons will feed into the decision—making. we hope you have a clearer picture by next week. the health secretary, matt hancock, has said the nhs will be given whatever resources it needs to roll out a mass programme of vaccinations, as soon as a covid jab is approved. the last fortnight has seen promising announcements by the scientists working on three of the potential vaccines. so how soon might the public

receive the jabs — and who would be first? our health correspondent james gallagher has this assessment. vaccines are being developed at unprecedented speed. ten years of work has been condensed around ten months. more than 200 vaccines are being researched, and the most advanced are starting to produce results. so, how do they work? first of all, i want to point out something on the coronavirus itself. this is known as the spike protein. that is what most vaccines are training your body to attack. there are four different approaches being used to make the coronavirus vaccines. the first kills or inactivates the coronavirus, and then injected into people. this triggers the immune response but without causing an infection. the second approach takes the spike proteins from the coronavirus and just inject that. these are tried

and trusted methods of making vaccines, but they are slow to get up vaccines, but they are slow to get up and running. a faster and more experimental style of vaccine takes a common cold virus, who is genetically modified to give it the blueprints for making the spike proteins from the coronavirus. this isa proteins from the coronavirus. this is a technique being pioneered by the university of oxford, so you will have heard about that in the news a lot the past week. the final approach is something quite new. pa rt approach is something quite new. part of the genetic code here of the coronavirus is injected inside patients. once there it starts making copies which the body learns to react to. this is out pfizer and madonna have developed their vaccines. to be honest, we need all of these techniques at the moment. because we still do not know which will prove to be best. the crucial question, who will actually get the vaccine? this is the draft priority list drawn by the joint committee.

right at the top are people living and working in care homes. the vaccination programme then protest people with age. and this is why. each of these icons represents 1000 deaths in the first wave of the pandemic. look at it. you canjust see how many deaths there were in ca re see how many deaths there were in care homes and older player older age groups. the government hopes that by vaccinating all of these people and many of those at risk will be protected. i must warn you, if you are at the end under 50 then you could be in for a long wait. no decisions have been made on vaccinating the under 50s, and they area tiny vaccinating the under 50s, and they are a tiny proportion of deaths. we are a tiny proportion of deaths. we are now though at the point where the first vaccines can be approved for use very the first vaccines can be approved for use very soon. the first vaccines can be approved for use very soon. then the long and mammoth task vaccinating millions of people can begin.

a 65—year—old man held in connection with the murders of 21 people in the 1974 birmingham pub bombings has been released. the arrest on wednesday morning came ahead of the 46th anniversary of the two deadly blasts which ripped apart the mulberry bush and tavern in the town pubs. officers from west midlands police assisted by the police service of northern ireland made the arrest. west midlands police say an interview was carried out under caution at a police station in northern ireland and the individual was released after a search of his home was carried out. senior eu diplomats have been told there's a good chance a brexit trade deal will be reached. ambassadors were briefed by a senior european commission official, on behalf of the chief negotiator michel barnier, who is self—isolating after a colleague tested positive for covid—19. fisheries and competition rules

remain the most problematic areas. a pre—inquest review has heard the tv presenter jeremy kyle may have caused, or contributed to, the death of one of the guests on his programme. steve dymond is suspected of taking his own life after failing a lie detector test on the show. a lawyer for his family told the hearing in winchester that mr dymond became distressed after he failed the test. the hearing continues. new figures released today suggest that the lack of contact with others has contributed to a rise in people falling victim to cold call scams, particularly amongst young people. a survey for lloyds bank involving more than 2,000 adults in the uk found that 15% of those aged 18 to 24 said they had been a victim of fraud

since the beginning of the pandemic. almost a third of all those surveyed also admitted that they had given out their personal details over the phone to someone they did not know. actress, sally lindsay was cold called by a scammer and we can speak to her now. hello. explain what happened to you. yes, it did personally happen to me. but i think also i play a lead in a drama that was about cold calling. so unbelievably accurate. i think thatis so unbelievably accurate. i think that is why i've been approached to talk about cold calling, because it is so much research on it. personally, what happened to me is that i got a call from what was supposedly the gas board. they said they would cut my gas off that day ifi they would cut my gas off that day if i did not pay this astronomical figure, because i have not paid my gas bill for a year and they are terribly sorry but you really need

to do this. she was a lovely woman, really approachable. and i went into a bit ofa really approachable. and i went into a bit of a panic. and then i remembered actually, it is my government's bank account that goes out to. even then i was a bit of a panic. he got me off my phone, said my mum'sjust panic. he got me off my phone, said my mum's just had panic. he got me off my phone, said my mum'sjust had the same call. when i did the drama last year, i knew about all of these ridiculous scans or scams. it is so awful, because they play under niceness, your personality, and your vulnerability. the nicer you are, the more likely you are to get scammed. it is all about urgency with these scammers. they create a drama, they create an intensity that

things got to be solved. "you are going to lose your full connection, your internet connection." and then they give you the solution. i think what we're trying to say today is that the way to combat this is to essentially, if anyone is rushing you to do anything, the company would ever rush you to make a decision about money. eh, no internet provider, back, would cold copy. secondly, they would never rush you timewise. and i think this is the real red flag. i mean, i'm feeling slightly stressed just listening to your stories. it is terrifying, isn't it? i think your point about they would never rush you is really interesting, because i think that is what we have to keep

in mind. but as part of the problem that actually we do all get annoying cold calls these days. it used to be about ppi, or what have you, but we do get sort of genuine calls like your phone provider mightjust call your phone provider mightjust call you once in awhile to ask if your tariff is the best for you. i do not know how people are meant to always get fact from fiction. the clear thing to do, and it is a really clear thing to do, is the take five method. if you get a cold call from anyone, what you say is, "thank you very much for your call. i'm going to put the phone down now and i will call you back in a couple of hours. " and that will keep you safe. take five minutes to think about it, find a phone number on the back of your credit card gas bill, or something that you trust, and then ring back.

i would advise to bring back on a different device, or e—mail. because i guarantee, you have done my creep at the politely, take the panic out of it. you should not be scared of your phone. i think that is the most horrible thing about scammers. at the moment, we are all and the communication portals of our computers and phones. you should not be scared of them. you should not be scared of picking them up or taking a call. you should be very cautious and just follow those guidelines. if they are rushing you, if you are not quite sure," excuse me, to put the phone down, i will call you back later. " even if phone down, i will call you back later." even if you have to write those rules in your moble phone, it

will save you from being scammed. those rules in your moble phone, it will save you from being scammedm really well. fantastic advice. do not be rushed. thank you, good to talk to you. it has just it hasjust gone it has just gone 3:30pm. very busy afternoon. now it's time for a look at the weather with sarah keith lucas. it was a cold night last night for some of us, particularly in the east, but we have had cloud and rain spreading from west to east through the course of today, turning things milder. that is the story for the rest of today into this evening, that rain continuing eastwards and things turning a lot milder than yesterday. temperatures in the west up to 13 degrees, still chilly around the east coast, 8 or 9 degrees, outbreaks of rain that will be clearing out towards the east through this evening and overnight and the next area of rain working in from the north—west. but really strong winds especially across the north of scotland, gales are likely here for the northern isles, northern highlands, western isles as well. a much milder night than last night with many of us staying in double figures. but as we head through the day

tomorrow we will see this cold front slipping south, introducing cooler, fresher conditions in from the north west. further heavy and blustery showers for scotland and northern ireland, gales once again across the north of scotland — quite breezy further south, a line of cloud and rain pushing south across england and wales, highs of 10—13. bye— bye. hello, this is bbc news. i'mjane i'm jane hill. these are the latest headlines. the government adviser on ministerial standards resigns — after the prime minister backs the home secretary over a bullying inquiry. priti patel says she's sorry that her behaviour in the past has upset anyone — a civil service union says it's disappointed. what is the point of the ministerial code, then? what is the point in the investigation? if actually what we are saying is it doesn't matter what evidence is found, it doesn't matter what the prime minister's own adviser says, if it is politically convenient

for the prime minister to ignore it, he will ignore it. a pay freeze looks likely for millions of public sector workers in england — although front—line nhs staff are likely to be exempt. the test and trace system in england has failed to track down nearly half the close contacts of people with coronavirus, in some of the worst hit areas. the drug ghb, which has been used in murder and rape cases, should have a higher classification according to an official report. we are going to be talking more about covid vaccines in the next half an hour but right now we are going to catch up with the sports news, here is holly hamilton. we have been hearing from tottenham managerjose mourinho who says he wa nts a nswers managerjose mourinho who says he wa nts a nswe rs from managerjose mourinho who says he wants answers from the england boss gareth southgate after he revealed certain club managers were putting players under pressure to manage their international workloads. mourinho has questioned why manchester city's raheem sterling

was allowed to miss england's dead rubber clash with iceland, that means raheem sterling is likely to feature against spurs on sunday in the league. i would liken to say which other coaches that put pressure on the players not to go. when eric dier left the national team injured in the previous month he didn't play two matches for tottenham. he needed a couple of weeks to recover and raheem is going to play tomorrow so these are the little details i think gareth should explain to us all. rugby union now and scotland's final autumn nations cup pool match against fiji at murrayfield next weekend is off. it's because there have been 29 cases of covid among the fiji staff. their games against france and italy had already been postponed following the outbreak. organisers say the decision was "unavoidable". scotland face france on sunday in a pool b decider. head coach gregor townsend has made five changes for that game

with blair kinghorn, jamie ritchie, matt fagerson, fraser brown among those who come in from the team that beat italy. jamie bhatti and sean maitland are also back in the squad. former two—weight ufc champion conor mcgregor will return to the sport injanuary. he retired for a third time injune, but the 32 year—old says he'll be back in the octagon to fight dustin poirier. ufc president dana white also added he's hopeful fans would be able to attend on that night. and the last semi final place is up for grabs at the atp finals this afternoon — we can go live to the o2 right now where the world number one novak djokovic is taking on alexander zverev — who won here two years ago. he hasjust gone he has just gone 6—5 up he hasjust gone 6—5 up in he has just gone 6—5 up in the second set. the winner of this will

get a place in the semifinals and ta ke get a place in the semifinals and take on dominic thiem. it is all to play for. you can watch the match live on bbc two right now and on the bbc sport website. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more in the next hour. jane. holly, thank you very much. 75 years ago today, the surviving leaders of nazi germany went on trial at nuremberg, in the world's first international war crimes trial. they were accused of causing the deaths of millions of people. fergal keane reports on the legacy of nuremberg. newsreel: attention. tribunal. judges from britain, america... it was a trial of crimes that defied the imagination. nazi leaders faced a court that established the principle of internationaljustice. 75 years later, we have been hearing from some of those who have lived in the long shadow of nuremberg.

newsreel: vengeance is not our goal, nor do we seek merely a just retribution. my name is ben ferencz. i am the sole surviving prosecutor from the nuremberg war crimes trials. ben ferencz was a soldier and lawyer and he wasjewish. but for him, seeing justice done meant leaving all personal feelings aside. i was able to turn myself into a robot.

newsreel: frank was a willing and knowing participant in the use of terrorism in poland. among the notorious defendants was hans frank, governor of occupied poland, seen here in sunglasses. 4 million died under his rule. his son, nicholas, pictured with his father as a child of the nazi elite, long ago denounced hans frank. really, i think my father had deserved the death penalty — for one reason — that he should himself experience the same death fear, which he distributed about hundreds of thousands of innocent people. so many deaths to account for. ida bach was ten years old when she was murdered. she'd left her sister while in hiding in order to return to her mother. they perished in auschwitz.

she would have been alive, my sister, if she had come with me but she left my hand. that, i felt guilty all the time. when they put those german leaders on trial at nuremberg, did you feel any sense of satisfaction? no, it was notjustice for me, not at all. how many were hanged? for me, it was too good to be hanged after what they've done, you know? nuremberg was a beginning, but the story at its heart, of massacred minorities, of intolerance, stains humanity still. the time is coming up to 3:40pm. now we will return to our coverage of coronavirus. it is time for your questions

answered. and again, lots of questions about the coronavirus vaccine. our health correspondent james gallagher is with me as you see and also joining me from imperial college, london, professor robin shattuck. thank you for joining professor robin shattuck. thank you forjoining us. it has been a remarkable couple of weeks with lots of stories and some positive news about vaccines and it means we keep getting an awful lot of questions, which is great. —— shattock. eileen in edinburgh asked if the vaccine will affect anyone with underlying health conditions, for example diabetes, heart disease, or even cancer. james, i will come to you first. it is right to raise this question because you don't always give every vaccine to everybody, you look at their underlying health in order to make decisions around it.

these vaccines are also quite new and don't work in the same way as some of the other vaccines. you don't always give some of the live vaccines to people who have really wea k vaccines to people who have really weak immune systems because that could be dangerous. but some of these new vaccines are not causing infection in the person, you want to train their immune system through novel and innovative ways. robin himself is working on one of those new ways of doing it himself so i'm sure he'll tell you about that. we haven't got the full eligibility of who would be appropriate for each of vaccine but things like heart disease, you will be at higher risk of covid to something you would still be appropriate for a coronavirus vaccine because not having it would be a greater risk than not having the vaccine. some of the immune deficit disorders, if you have a dis— functioning immune system, that is where people will look more closely to work out exactly who should and should not be getting it. professor robin shattock, i'm interested in your thoughts on that, because in the last few days we have had a lot of

queries from people with underlying conditions so i'm interested to hear your perspective too. certainly it will need to be looked at on a case— by—case will need to be looked at on a case—by—case basis and discussed with your gp. but the good thing about these vaccines is the fact that they are not infectious vaccines. so they are likely to be very safe in these populations, and certainly those with underlying health conditions that make you a higher risk to covid—19 are part of the population that we want to target with these new vaccines. robin, i will stay with you, we have been talking about three vaccines, three teams in particular keep on being talked about in the news and to that point elizabeth in plymouth wa nts to to that point elizabeth in plymouth wants to know, will we be told which vaccine we are getting? there are some reports that some are more long—lasting than others. that's interesting, isn't it? that's a great question and i think there is a bit ofa great question and i think there is a bit of a danger without with all

the reports about percentage efficacy that people will think one vaccine is better than another. and in reality, the difference between 90% and 95% is meaningless. we still don't know how effective these vaccines will be at six months or 12 months, or five years. vaccines will be at six months or 12 months, orfive years. it vaccines will be at six months or 12 months, or five years. it is very difficult to say one vaccine is better than another but at the moment the good news is they are all looking quite promising and even if something came in at 70% you might think it is not as good, but if it was 70% five years later it might look better than something that looks really good initially and then drops off over time. so personally, if it was me, i would take whatever of these vaccines was offered to me first because then i would be sure of getting a degree of protection as soon as of getting a degree of protection as soon as possible. none of these have regulatory approval yet, james, but we are thinking that perhaps all three will get that approval. the

fa ct we three will get that approval. the fact we get a lot of questions like this, suggests there might be some sort of scramble, or people might go to theirgp and sort of scramble, or people might go to their gp and say i want this one is not that one because that's what i've read, but that's for the logistics people to organise but it is potentially tricky. i don't think it is going to be a scenario where you go to the supermarket for your weekend shop and ask for that one. there will be a plan of which ones are rolled out for who and also it will depend on which vaccines are available at which time. we have 5 million doses of moderna vaccine coming in the spring but we already have 4 million doses of the oxford vaccine ready to go if it proves effective so it's notjust about what the data said, it is about what is available and what is logistically possible and the researchers will look at what works better in different age groups if there is a difference between those too. there is lots of factors. a question from rachel in bolton, perhaps a bit of overlap with what we have touched on, but she says i am concerned about possible side effects of the vaccine. would it work on someone with coeliac

disease, or another autoimmune disease. again, you can see where people's nervousness is. with autoimmune diseases they tend to have a slightly dialled up the immune system, if your immune system isa immune system, if your immune system is a thermostat it tends to run hotter and that is where you have an elevated risk of an autoimmune reaction. but again, it depends on the overall picture of the patient‘s health. if you are 78 years old in a ca re health. if you are 78 years old in a care home with coeliac disease, then yourgp care home with coeliac disease, then your gp will look at that and say i think the balance of the risk is that you should. whereas if you are much younger than the dynamic might change. we have not got the exact details of who is and isn't going to get all of these vaccines yet and i know that makes it difficult and frustrating for people at home because i want the answers just as much as everybody else does. i want to know. but we don't know all that. but there are things that people will be thinking about and your underlying health is both the reason that you might think, is a vaccine appropriate, but also a reason to

definitely have a vaccine because if it puts you at greater risk. there are so many it puts you at greater risk. there are so many things up in the air that it's very difficult to give very specific answers. i'm sorry. it's useless for a journalist to say that. it is better we had met when we are not sure because there are still so many variables. the point is that trials are still going on and that is why we are talking about all of this. professor shattock, priscilla eenkhoorn will say i'm 75 with a clean bill of health, can i volunteer for a vaccine trial? there are still trials ongoing —— priscilla in cornwall. if people wa nt priscilla in cornwall. if people want to volunteer they can go to the nhs website, type in sign up to be contacted for coronavirus vaccine studies and there is a page where you can actually put your name and contact details in. quite often people sign up and are not contacted because the trials may be full, and

also they have specific criteria. occasionally they are dealing with people who are keen to be part of a trial but are not actually eligible for particular reasons. ok, interesting. the next question is really interesting. it is from marie, i hope i'm pronouncing that correctly, it is a question from dorset. you may both want to comment. the questioner says, their mother is 93 and lives in a care home, and she hasjust been mother is 93 and lives in a care home, and she has just been told that in mid december she and all the ca re that in mid december she and all the care home staff are going to get a vaccine, probably the pfizer vaccine. how this received full approval yet because i haven't read that anywhere? this is interesting, it is new to me, is this something you have been aware of?” it is new to me, is this something you have been aware of? i have not heard that anywhere else but let me join some dots together and we can draw whatever conclusions you want to from that. from living in a care home and from her age, she would be at the absolute top of the priority list of the joint committee at the absolute top of the priority list of thejoint committee on vaccination and immunisation has drawn up for who should get the

vaccine first. in terms of the vaccine first. in terms of the vaccine the uk already has a ready to go it does have doses of the pfizer... it has doses of the pfizer vaccine and oxford vaccine, i don't think i could tell you which one she was definitely going to have. so we have got to this point where vaccine trial results are starting to show positive results, the regulators are assessing those trials to decide whether or not we should press go on actually immunising people. the priority groups have been identified. but that's as much as i can say. i cannot say that is true. professor shattock, i'm interested in your response to that.” professor shattock, i'm interested in your response to that. i think this represents advanced planning. nobody is going to receive any vaccines unless they have been approved. but i think everybody is wanting to get as much of the process ready so that if they are approved people can get vaccines as soon as approved people can get vaccines as soon as possible. sol approved people can get vaccines as soon as possible. so i suspect communications around preparation,

but for sure nobody will get a vaccine before it is approved by the regulators. ok. a question from frank clark in scotland. i'm sorry, i don't know where, itjust says scotland. this is also interesting, iam70 scotland. this is also interesting, i am 70 and my wife is 73. after vaccination, would we be given a certificate verifying we have had the vaccine in case you need that to travel abroad? the vaccine in case you need that to travel abroad ? another thing the vaccine in case you need that to travel abroad? another thing i hadn't thought about it all. james, do you know the rules? another of those completely unanswered questions. it is a cracking question because what we don't know is what will happen as the world starts to open a will happen as the world starts to opena begin, will happen as the world starts to open a begin, which will happen as vaccination happens and if some countries decide if you want to come in you and to prove you have been vaccinated, we don't know if those kinds of rules are going to come in. it isa kinds of rules are going to come in. it is a possibility. look at places like new zealand now where they say you need to spend two weeks in a hotel before entering the country properly. that is how they are controlling the virus. will they change the rules to so you don't need to do that if you have been

vaccinated? it need to do that if you have been vaccinated ? it is need to do that if you have been vaccinated? it is a great question. this is the worst performance i've ever done on the news channel! i've not answered a single question you have asked, jane! it is not a question of the performance, it is really what we know and what we can establish and how much more we have to learn. let's close with professor shattock, if we can. do you have any knowledge or insight on that one? no. i think again it is a wait and see, but if you have a vaccine and yourgp has see, but if you have a vaccine and your gp has recorded that, i'm sure in the intervening period before there has been any decisions about what should be done, if a country does insist on having a certificate, it may be possible to get a letter from your gp to evidence that you have had a vaccination. all right, we will leave it there. thank you very much, gentlemen. we have ably proved how many more questions they are and how much we don't know yet but it is fascinating and it means we will be talking again, i can safely say. professor robin shattock

and james gallagher, our health correspondent. can i make a cheeky point, i know it is rude because this is live tv, but i think all this is live tv, but i think all this interest shows the of running away where we are. we have had the first vaccine trial results showing these vaccines look like they work but there is still a huge number of unknowns about all of this, we don't have a single vaccine that is approved yet, we don't have a vaccine that we can actually give to somebody until it has gone through this process. all of these questions follow on from that. we are just at the beginning of thisjourney follow on from that. we are just at the beginning of this journey and we wa nt to the beginning of this journey and we want to know what the end of it looks like and ijust think want to know what the end of it looks like and i just think we want to know what the end of it looks like and ijust think we have to ta ke looks like and ijust think we have to take ourtime looks like and ijust think we have to take our time with it. sorry. excellent point on which to end. james gallagher and professor shattock, thank you. you're watching bbc news. we will continue with coronavirus coverage after 4pm. but before that. just to return to a key story that we touched on a little bit early on,

because 75 years ago today the surviving leaders of nazi germany went on trial at nuremberg in the world's first international war crimes trial. they were accused of causing the deaths of millions of people. let's mark this anniversary and reflect on that. joining me is eva schloss, who survived the holocaust; she is now a memoirist. she talks an awful lot about her experiences. and is the stepdaughter of otto frank, the father of anne frank. thank you forjoining us. you're welcome. your reflections, your thoughts, on a grim anniversary really, but an important moment as well. well, yes, i was only 16 when it happened and so i didn't quite understand everything, of course, but i thought later as well that it

was much, much too little. there we re was much, much too little. there were thousands of people who should have had a court case. and you know, many people escaped and never had any trial. and then only a few had really hanging and most of them got away with a relatively short internment. it was too short. the world had to learn from what happened and it wasn't really good enough. i think that's possibly your phone because lots of people want to talk to you today and they want to talk to you today and they want to talk to you all the time, because i know that you go into schools a lot and talk to schoolchildren about the importance of remembering the most

horrific events. just explain a little bit more for our viewers what you say to children today, young people today about what went on, and why we must all remember. it is amazing, just in this period the survivors garnered many people ask me if it is similar to your time in the war and me if it is similar to your time in the warandi me if it is similar to your time in the war and ijust smile because it is nothing like it. it is terrible what is happening now. this was a life—threatening event for com pletely life—threatening event for completely innocent people. now it is also life—threatening but this was man—made and we were two years in hiding, which is similar like what happened now, you can't go out and so on, but as soon as you would go out you would be arrested, so much worse, of course. and we didn't

know when it was going to end and it was really life—threatening continuously and then in the end we we re continuously and then in the end we were betrayed and sent to auschwitz. and what we saw there and experienced the was just completely inhuman and you just can't understand that all those people got away. when the russians started to approach, many of the guards just disappeared, went back to their homes, sometimes on farms or where ever and nothing ever happened to them. and that was just not good enough. i lost my father, my brother, many, many otherfamily members, i lost my home country, i lost my nationality. you know, you can't really compare it with the virus which is just nature.

can't really compare it with the virus which isjust nature. yes. your point is that this was so utterly inhuman because it was man—made. and some people turned a blind eye. well, yes. it was well known. the bbc sent broadcasts out to all the occupied countries. that was for us very important. it was not allowed where we were in hiding but we did. we were learning about what was happening. 300 death camps in germany and poland. you know, people knew about it. churchill knew about it, roosevelt knew about it, and nobody did anything about it. eva schloss, thank you very much for your time this afternoon. i will let your time this afternoon. i will let you go, i can tell you are a lady very much in demand. thank you very much indeed and thank you for your time. thank you. thank you. there will be more on that coming up after

4pm along with the rest of the day's news, of course. i will leave you with a look at the weather forecast with a look at the weather forecast with sarah keith—lucas. for some of us, last night was the coldest night of the autumn so far. temperatures at in the east of scotland. but the cloud and rain has been moving its way in from the west and we are all in that milder air now, so really for the rest of the day we are going to continue to see the rain putting eastwards, turning milder tonight compared to last night, so temperatures this afternoon into this evening around about 12—13 in the west, a little cooler on the east coast after that chilly start and the cloud will remain on top of that cool air. these are the average wind speeds for the rest of today, windiest conditions in the north west of scotland, winds are strengthening here as we head into this evening and overnight, gail is likely with gusts of 60 mph or more across northern scotland. some rain in scotland, much of england and wales remaining

cloudy with the odd spot of drizzle around, but a lot of dry weather as well and much milder than last night, most of this temperature staying in double figures, a little colder, for most of us, on that called front. this cold front will continue to push slowly further south through the weekend, fresher air, scattered, blustery showers and again very windy conditions across northern parts of scotland and quite a breezy day everywhere on saturday. we have got this line of cloud and rain spreading southwards across england and wales, to the south mostly dry, perhaps the odd brighter spell, fairly cloudy though, mild, temperatures 14 degrees. scattered showers across the north—west of the uk on saturday, and wind gusts are going to be a realfeature, gusting 20—30 mph widely, but about 60 mph for the western isles and northern isles and parts of the highlands of scotland. through saturday evening, we keep the showers, the blue colours here are the colder air mass working its way southward

here across the uk into sunday, but we are likely to keep that milder air in the far south, so cloudier and milder here on sunday, with the odd spot of drizzle. elsewhere, dry, sunshine, a few showers in the north—west, again briefly, but not as windy saturday and temperatures widely 8—9 in the north, 11 or 12 further south. a quick look at the first part of next week and things remain fairly u nsettled. next week and things remain fairly unsettled. cloudy and mild and some rain at times in the north—west. bye— bye.

this is bbc news. i'm martine croxall. the headlines at 4pm... the government adviser on ministerial standards resigns — after the prime minister backs the home secretary over a bullying inquiry. priti patel says she's sorry that her behaviour in the past has upset people — a civil service union says it's disappointed. what is the point of the ministerial code, then? the investigation if, actually, what we are saying is, it doesn't matter what evidence is found, it doesn't matter what the prime minister's own adviser on the ministerial code says — if it is politically convenient for the prime minister to ignore it, he will ignore it. the number of recorded coronavirus cases is levelling off in scotland and england and decreasing in wales and northern ireland according to the office for national statistics. a pay freeze looks likely for milions of public sector workers in england — though front line nhs staff

are likely to be exempt. the drug ghb, which has been used in murder and rape cases, should have a higher classification according to an official report. good afternoon, and welcome to bbc news. the prime minister's adviser on ministerial standards, sir alex allan, has resigned, following the inquiry into allegations of bullying by the home secretary. sir alex's report found that priti patel had not always met the high standards expected of a minister. downing street said borisjohnson doesn't believe mrs patel has breached the ministerial code, and considers the matter closed. mrs patel has said she is sorry to have upset people. here's our political correspondent, helen catt. after months of waiting,

there's a verdict and a resignation — but it's not the home secretary's. the report said priti patel had not consistently met the standards of the ministers‘ code of conduct. that she had shouted and sworn on occasion and that some of her behaviour could even be described as bullying in its impact. but only the prime minister can decide if she actually broke the code. borisjohnson said she didn't. instead, he said she had inadvertently upset those she worked with. in a statement, priti patel said, "sorry that her behaviour in the past had upset people, and it had never been her intention to cause upset to anyone." she said she "acknowledged that she was direct and had at times got frustrated." but the report also said that the home office was not as flexible as it could have been in responding to her, and she had legitimately not always felt supported by the department. the report makes clear that there were some very, very challenging relationships on both sides during that period,

and i think it's clear the home secretary didn't always receive the support that she did. but i think the important points are that firstly this wasn't raised at the time, so she wasn't aware that she was intentionally hurting the people around her to that extent. so priti patel stays in her post. but the man who wrote the report has quit his. sir alex allen, the independent adviser on the code, said he recognised that it was for the prime minister to make a judgment on whether actions by a minister amounted to a breach, but he felt it was right that he should now resign from his position. sir alex allen couldn't have been clearer that the home secretary has not consistently met the high standards of the ministerial code. the home secretary is the person in government responsible for law and order. i am frankly shocked that the home secretary remains in post when it is sir alex allen who has made those findings, and had a very, very distinguished career, yet it is him who is resigning today.

there has been a furious reaction from the civil service union too. what message does it send, notjust to civil servants in the home office but across the civil service? if you want to raise a complaint about a minister about their behaviour, the outcome of that will depend on the politics that's happening at the time. that's the clear message to civil servants from the prime minister. there are calls from critics and allies of priti patel alike for the full report to now be published. the prime minister's spokesman said that would not be right or proper. helen catt, bbc news, westminster. our political correspondent, jessica parker, is at westminster. so, clearly a lot of incredulity about what has happened today? yes, about what has happened today? yes, a pretty remarkable sequence of events. remember, this thing has been rumbling on for ages. the initial enquiry was launched back in march, and since then there's been repeated questions about where the result is. what we have had today is not the report itself, but rather a summary not the report itself, but rather a summary of its findings. the

premature's conclusion at odds with the standards chief, borisjohnson concluding that the ministerial code had not been breached. that led to sir alex allan resignation. so quite a remarkable terms of events in the way that this has played out. i think what it may mean is that there will be some renewed focus, some questions, about this process. we have already heard today from lord evans, who is the standards committee chair. he says that it raises questions about the current arrangement. it is something that his committee will be looking into. and where does this leave priti patelin and where does this leave priti patel in terms of her relationship with the people who work for her?” think there is a broader issue in terms of where it might lead relationships between the government and the civil service. borisjohnson today i think trying to emphasise that he is very grateful for all the work of the civil servants, but, look, the prime minister has all

along backed priti patel on this issue. mps becoming out overnight and into today supporting her. priti patel is pretty popular with a lot of the conservative party. i've spoken to mps before that say that when the home secretary comes to their events, people are pretty delighted to see her. she goes down well with the crowds. there have beena well with the crowds. there have been a lot of tory mps coming out today in support of her. remember of course the history between boris johnson and priti patel. both brexit years. she holds an incredibly important post. he was determined to stick close to her. this is supposed to be the prime minister's reset week, but it is not quite turned out as planned. initially, he has obviously had to self—isolate after coming into contact with a conservative mp that tested positive for covid. then there are reports

that he had said devolution had been a disaster north of the border. and then this priti patel report, our findings at least, causing some controversy. millions of public sector workers in england are expected to face a pay freeze, under plans to be announced by the chancellor, rishi sunak, next week. more than five million people would be affected, including key workers who were praised for their service during the pandemic — though it's thought nhs staff will be exempt from the freeze. unions say the proposals are a "body blow" for their members and have threatened industrial action — but new figures this morning underline the challenge ministers face in restoring the public finances. andy verity reports. siren blares

it's public sector workers who have been clapped as the heroes on the front line of the pandemic, but now the chancellor, rishi sunak, is floating the idea of freezing public sector pay to address a ballooning budget deficit caused by the huge cost of the government's antivirus measures. nhs workers may be left out, but other public sector workers would see real—terms pay cuts in years to come. it's a measure now being floated but not yet confirmed. i'm not going to go into internal discussions. you know how much i value nhs workers. and colleagues right across the nhs. but i'm afraid i am going to respect cabinet confidentiality as i always do and instead allow the chancellor of the exchequer to set out the details. public sector workers currently get 7% more, on average, in pay and pensions than private sector workers. if rishi sunak takes up a suggestion by the right—leaning think tank, the centre for policy studies, the government could save £23 billion a year by freezing public sector pay for three years — or 15 billion if nhs workers were exempt. of course our incredible nhs staff have been at the forefront of this. but so have care workers.

so have local authority workers. so have civil servants. if this pandemic is demonstrated one thing, it's how the government relies on the entire public service. freezing public sector pay was one of the main austerity measures after the financial crash — there were no pay rises in the public sector for three years, until 2013, and after that they were capped at 1%. that, over the decade, has cut the difference between public and private sector pay. if you strip out pensions, it is now very little. it's like going back to the days of austerity in the last decade. where public service workers who have paid the price, pay freezes, 700,000 jobs lost, which made it much harder to deal with in the pandemic when it came. it is a kick in the teeth. with the government borrowing £215 billion in seven months, according to figures released today, spending cuts and tax rises are inevitable. but announcing them now is controversial. independent analysts say levelling down the public sector to private

sector levels would hit women hardest, worsening the pay gap between men and women. about two thirds of the public sector workforce are women. in some parts of the workforce, it's much higher than that. so 85% of primary school teachers, for example. more than 90% of teaching assistants are women. whereas the private sector workforce is only 42% female. so this would be something that hits women harder than men. economists have urged the chancellor to wait to fix the roof this time until the sun is clearly shining on an economic recovery, rather then imposing spending cuts before it's got going. the government, though, is keen to be seen to address a budget deficit that hasn't been this high since the ‘60s. andy verity, bbc news. new figures suggest the number of recorded coronavirus cases is falling in households across northern ireland, wales and parts of england. the office for national statistics found in its latest weekly survey that infections appeared to be flattening in scotland and across england overall. the government also says

the estimated coronavirus reproduction number, or r number, in the uk this week is 1.0 to 1.1, down slightly from 1.0 to 1.2 last week. our health correspondent, katherine da costa, has been looking into the figures and says it is encouraging. the number of people with covid in england and scotland is a levelling off and numbers are starting to fall in northern ireland and wales. so i'm talking about the ons figures, of course, which is obviously to the week to the 14th of november, and that was showing the first full week of lockdown in england. and within england it has been a mixed picture. in the north west and east midlands rates have fallen, but they have continued to rise in london, the south—east and the east of england. and while infections are down in young adults, they have risen in school—age children. on average in england there were just under 40,000 new cases a day. that's down a little bit on previous weeks where cases had stabilised around 50,000 a day.

now, as you mentioned, the r number, the latest estimate shows how many people an infected person passes the virus onto. so, as you said, between one and 1.1. so that's down a little bit on last week, so it shows that the epidemic is still growing but cases are not rising as quickly as they were in early october. but scientists sitting on the sage advisory committee have said that you need to get r well below one and keep it there for a period of time to see a significant fall in new cases and hospitalisations. now, we've had hopes of new vaccines, drug treatments and mass testing, but right now there are over 16,000 people with covid in hospitals across the uk. and we have not hit the peak winter months. that is when the nhs is traditionally at its most busiest. and hospital leaders have said that if they are going to continue to care for all patients, notjust those with covid but also emergency cases, and to treat non—urgent operations, they think

that you need strict level 3 restrictions to replace lockdown in england, come the 2nd of december. now, those details are still being finalised by ministers, and obviously today's r number and ons will help feed into the decision—making. we hope you have a clearer picture by next week. and we'll get more on those latest figures and on the vaccine roll—out in a downing street news conference lead by the health secretary, matt hancock. that's at 5pm here on bbc news and we'll be building up to that briefing with a special bbc one programme at 4:30. northern ireland has come out of it's coronavirus circuit break today — but it's heading back into tighter restrictions next friday. our ireland correspondent, chris page, is in belfast. yes, some business owners here...

today, hairdressers, beauticians, are closed again, having been closed since the middle of october. the same goes for coffee shops. this one has customers eating and drinking inside for the first time in about five weeks. but that is only going to last for about seven days. because they were close again, so too will all the shops here in belfast and right across northern ireland. leisure facilities will be closed. schools and childcare facilities will stay open. business leaders are facilities will stay open. business leaders a re really facilities will stay open. business leaders are really very angry about the way the government has handled this situation. an organisation that represents independent retailers say these measures will not kill the virus but will kill small businesses. the reason they are particularly critical is that this new lockdown is being imposed a week

after the stormont executive voted to partially ease the restrictions, hence the be opening of coffee shops today. the party of the five parties that most pushed for that reopening was the democratic unionist party, the biggest party. yesterday, rather, they met with the four parties and all agreed that the time was now right to impose the tightest restrictions northern ireland has seen restrictions northern ireland has seen since the lockdown in march. the first minister said today, she did not think it was a u—turn. that is what she has been accused by political opponents. she said the evidence presented to her showed that hospitalisations were not at a low enough level. the r number had risen, and therefore if the measures had not been taken out hospitals would be overwhelmed by the middle of december. so northern ireland heading into another lockdown, close toa heading into another lockdown, close to a full lockdown, for two weeks. all in all, it is looking to be a pretty difficult start to december. thank you very much.

the headlines on bbc news... the government adviser on ministerial standards resigns — after the prime minister backs the home secretary over a bullying inquiry. a pay freeze looks likely for milions of public sector workers in england — though front line nhs staff are likely to be exempt. the number of recorded coronavirus cases is levelling off in scotland and england and decreasing in wales and northern ireland according to the office for national statistics. more than two million people in west and central scotland will move to the country's toughest level of coronavirus restrictions at 6pm this evening. the level four rules will apply in 11 council areas, including glasgow. non—essential shops will close, along with pubs, restaurants, hairdressers, gyms and visitor attractions — but schools will remain open. the measures remain in place until the 11th december.

james shaw reports. this is one of the busiest, most high—value shopping streets in scotland and there is definitely a sense at the moment of the last—minute rush. but by six o'clock tonight, almost all of this will be shut down. shoppers i spoke to were anxious about the restrictions which are about to be imposed. to be quite honest with you, i think a lot of people are not going to take any notice of what they have been told to do because we have had nearly a whole year of this. ijust think it must be really upsetting for the shops, the small businesses, and i think this is a time of year when they would be making big money. especially when they had the lockdown earlier in the year. they must have been putting all of their hens in this basket. it is a shame. it is notjust shops. all hospitality, entertainment venues, gymns and sport centres will close, schools will stay open. this is a big area.

all the way from ayr on the west coast to livingston further east and north to stirling and the countryside around it, but health experts believe the new controls are necessary. this is a moment when we have to work together and understand that, yes, there are people struggling economically throughout this, but there is hope on the horizon. there is a vaccine that has been seen as viable. the fact some areas have been moved to level 4, that is to help protect the nhs workers. in those areas, hospital rates are well above capacity. this is not a full national lockdown, so travel restrictions will be used to stop people spreading the virus into low—risk areas. nicola sturgeon addressed the toughness of the new restrictions at her daily briefing. these restrictions are difficult and we are all thoroughly scunnered and fed up with them, and i will never stand here and pretend otherwise

because i feel the same sense of being utterly fed up as the rest of you do. but we do now see a possible end in sight to all of this and i think it is really important we don't forget that. it will be illegal to travel into or out of areas under level 3 and level 4 restrictions and even between council areas under those controls, except for essential purposes including work, education and caring. nicola sturgeon has promised the restrictions will only be in place until 11th december. james shaw, bbc news, glasgow. more now on the resignation of the prime minister's adviser on ministerial standard following the inquiry into the allegations of bullying by the home secretary, priti patel. sir alex allan's report found that ms patel had not always met the high standards expecting of a minister, but borisjohnson said he did not believe she had broken the ministerial code.

lord kerslake is a former head of the civil service and a crossbench peer. welcome. what is your view of sir alex allan decision to resign? look, his report is a fair and balanced report, but in the end he comes to the view that she has breached the ministerial code, no question about it. and the prime minister has not accepted that. he says she has not breached it. and that is why he has resigned. it is clear in my opinion that she should resign, and if she does not resign the prime minister should dismiss her. and it is absolutely clear cut breach of the code on a very serious issue of bullying, and in those circumstances, in any other time, the minister would have gone. but she is not going to, is she? she's not going to resign and he is not going to sack her? that is reg retta ble going to sack her? that is regrettable in my view, and yet it

is his decision. it diminishes people's trust in the standards of government. if there was any other bona fides organisation, public or private, there is no doubt in my mind that the person would have gone. we expect highest from our government. we expect them to follow the hired possible standard of behaviour. she has not made it. she should go. and the fact that she is not going, according to what we hear, isjust in my view reprehensible. what is the atmosphere in whitehall at the moment like? between ministers and civil servants? i think, on moment like? between ministers and civil servants? ithink, on the whole, civil servants work well together, they always have done and i hope they always will do. but what's this set of events tells us is that we are losing our grip on the standards of government. we have seen some very the standards of government. we have seen some very questionable issues about contracts, we have seen the retention of dominic cummings, only

to then be fired at a later date, and we then have this issue. i think it will bury people that when we are under pressure political expediency will trump proper standards of conduct and behaviour, and that will undermine confidence. and i think it will buy the weight make it very much less likely that civil servants will speak truth unto power, they will speak truth unto power, they will call out behaviour. i think this is a very bad day for anything that looks like good government. i'm old enough to remember when it seemed that ministers would resign for mildly intemperate language. can you track the decline? what do you need to do these days to be forced to resign? because it didn't seem to be such a high bar in the past. no, i think you are right. there has never been an incident like this where the code has been breached and the minister has not resign. i don't like saying this, the standards have

fallen sets borisjohnson became prime minister. i do think, and others may have different views about theresa may, but on the whole she was pretty rigorous, fastidious, about the application of standards, and people did go when they breach them. there is no question about it. soi them. there is no question about it. so i think it is a change, a significant change, by the prime minister, who appears to believe that you simply write these issues out and they will go away. they do not. they come back and bite you. the decline i think can be measured from the point at which he took on the role of prime minister. i'm sorry to say that, but that is the reality. you are a crossbench peer, a former civil servant to yourself, so a former civil servant to yourself, so politically impartial. however, i believe you have been advising the labour party, so any conservatives watching will just say you have become political. no, i'm talking here about behaviour that i would

have exactly the same view about whether it was a labour government ora whether it was a labour government or a conservative government. this is about how you behave regardless of politics, and by the way, other former senior civil servants, gus o'donnell, have said exactly the same as! o'donnell, have said exactly the same as i have. yes, i have given advice, but that does not diminish from my passionate belief, regardless of politics, i would call out this issue whoever was in charge. thank you very much for joining us this afternoon. a new report has suggested that the pandemic has had a "devastating" impact on workplace equality — and there's a continuing gap between the pay of men and women. the fawcett society says the uk is at a "coronavirus crossroads" as large numbers of working women say they are worried about their job or promotion prospects due to the pandemic. let's get more from our business presenter, sima kotecha.

yes, we have talked about different demographics throughout this pandemic, haven't we? we have talked about the pan a, young people, and today we are talking about women. and one survey suggests 43% of working women are worried about their job working women are worried about theirjob and their promotion prospects. so dismal news for some women out there, and to speak to me about this is sam smith from the fawcett society, a equality campaigning group. it's 2020, and we are still talking about pay equality. it is that they? well, it says that progress has been incredibly slow. we have any really static picture for the last 50 yea rs. static picture for the last 50 years. this year, the gender pay gap has narrowed, so any face of it that looks like a good new story. but we know that the data we is incomplete. so it is a bit skewed by the impact

of the pandemic. until we... next year, we will not really know until that point what the picture is. we also have other data that suggests women are having a bad experience during the pandemic in terms of labour market participation. they are more likely to be furloughed. that means a cut in pay, down to 80% of their earnings. it means they are also more likely to be made redundant, because they are working in shutdown sectors, like retail, tourism, beauty, and so on. that puts them at risk. and then we have the significant and quite profound impact of additional caring work they have taken on during certainly they have taken on during certainly the first lockdown, and is still happening and impact now. school closures, nursery closures. all of these factors together are really having an impact on women, and really, until we can address that, we are going to see potentially the gap widened between women and men,

rather than narrow. that is the reason we are presenting this crossroads decision. if government make the right choices, we can go forwards from here. if you make the wrong choices, we are going to turn the clock back. thank you so much for joining the clock back. thank you so much forjoining us. talking to us about why women have been affected by this crisis, and how many of them are worried about their future going forward. thank you very much. in a moment we'll be joined by bbc one viewers for special coverage of the latest downing street coronavirus briefing. now it's time for a look at the weather with sarah keith—lucas. hello, it was a cold night last night. but we have had cloud and rain spreading west to east today. a much milder night ahead tonight compared to last night.

so temperatures this afternoon and into this evening around 12—13 in the west. a little bit cooler around the east coast after that chilly start. cloud may have moved on top of that cooler air. these are the average wind speeds we are likely to be seeing for the rest of today. windiest conditions up across the north—west of scotland. and winds are really going to strengthen here as we had through this evening and tonight. gales are likely, with gusts of 60 mph or more across the north of scotland. quite busy further south, too. it cloud and rain pushing across.

this is bbc news building up to the latest coronavirus briefing from downing street, today led by health secretary matt hancock. first the headlines. the level of coronavirus is levelling off and decreasing in northern ireland according to the ons. more than 2 million people in parts of scotland faced tough tier for restrictions from 6pm tonight including a ban on household mixing indoors and the closure of nonessential shops. in northern ireland, businesses such as hairdressers reopened today but will have to close again in a weak‘s time when even tougher restrictions come in. bbc investigation has found the test and tray system in england has

failed to track down nearly half