in france, radar and equipment in france, radar and increased binoculars so beaches can be patrolled more effectively. but i think the key thing to emerge from this, britain wants to give the message it is very serious about this issue, but there have been many agreements in the past between britain and france talking about close cooperation that have only had limited success and groups supporting migrants have told me you can throw money at the issue but that will not necessarily stop the desire of people to get to the uk. simonjones, desire of people to get to the uk. simon jones, thank you. the snp has pledged to extend free school meals in scotland to provide breakfasts and lunches for all primary school pupils. the expanded scheme, expected to cost £230 million per year, would run in school holidays — notjust term time. speaking at the party's virtual conference, john swinney, scotland's deputy first minister and education secretary, praised the campaign led by the footballer marcus rashford. more than 2.5 million vulnerable people in england will be offered free vitamin d supplements this winter. it follows scotland, which has provided free supplements

to some people during the pandemic. vitamin d helps to keep bones, teeth and muscle healthy — and a new clinical trial has just started looking at whether it can also protect against coronavirus. our science correspondent rebecca morelle reports. a dose of sunshine, helping us to make vitamin d, which is essential for our health. but at this time of year, the sun's in short supply, and with lockdowns we've been getting out less. from october to march, people in the uk are advised to take vitamin d, and now in england people in care homes and those classed as clinically extremely vulnerable will get a free supply too. but can vitamin d also help with covid? this lab is trying to find out. there's some evidence the vitamin helps with other respiratory infections. now a clinical trial involving more more than 5,000 people is looking at its impact on coronavirus.

it's not going to be as powerful as a vaccine, but it might reduce the risk of covid—i9 or the severity of the disease significantly. we only need to demonstrate a modest effect for it to be worth implementing, because vitamin d is very safe and it's very inexpensive. there are still questions about vitamin d, but we do know that it has an effect on the immune system. as soon as a virus infects as, vitamin d boosts the body's first line of defence. the barrage of molecules that kill off an invading virus. but it also plays a later role too. inflammation is vital against infection, but if it goes into overdrive it can cause damage, and vitamin d may dampen down this inflammation. so is this the case with covid—i9? the vitamins for the clinical trial have been sorted into different doses. then they're packed up and sent out to volunteers across the uk. daniel heery is one of them. there's the sort of great groundswell of public goodwill to try and beat covid, so quite a small commitment on my part could actually create

the base to generate really massive benefits further down the line. the trial should give us answers early next year. the uk government's also reviewing the existing science on vitamin d and covid and will publish those findings in the coming weeks. rebecca morelle, bbc news. there's more throughout the evening on the bbc news channel. we're back with the late news at just after ten. now on bbc one it's time for the news where you are. now on bbc news, finland has a coalition government led by five women. the bbc has had world—first exclusive access behind—the—scenes to explore how the coalition works in practice and its impact. when i was younger, my perception of politicians was also that they are men in suits who talk

on the 8:30 news. sanna marin is the world's youngest serving female prime minister, and heads a coalition of five parties all led by women. from being the first country in europe to give equal voting rights, finland has been praised for its historic approach to gender equality. but is all as good as it seems to be? five white educated females, it is not very representative in the end. and is this really a country for every women? of course our background still affects the possibilities that we have in life, and this should not be the case, but of course we have problems. for the first time, finland's all female leaders open their doors exclusively for the bbc to show the inner workings of this historic government.

li andersson is one of the five female party leaders that make up the country's coalition government. this week, the cabinet are going to be meeting to launch signature government programme — the equality plan aimed to improve equality across society, including on race and gender issues. there is so much been made since december 2019 about this being such a young government and the gender of this government, as well. what are your thoughts when you read those headlines and you see the kind of top line of what the international media has been saying? i have mixed emotions regarding it, because on the one hand, i understand the power of example and the symbolic value of that.

but i also think there is kind of this tendency of some people to say that because there is women, you will make a certain type of policy or it is easier for you to agree when you are all women and so on. that is not, i think, necessarily the case. that is why i also want there to be a focus around policy of the government, notjust the gender of the female party leaders. i mean, in finnish media, there has been some kind of comments around whether we all go to the sauna together, because there is this old cliche about finnish politics that the decisions are made in the sauna. something that had been heavily criticised in feminist circles because, you know, the whole idea of male decision—makers sitting in the sauna is based on this concept of decision—makers being solely men. like a boys club? yeah. and of course, i mean, what we want is not to reproduce the excluding structures that men have used, as women, but kind

of to change those structures. li andersson and sanna marin were both members of their respective youth parties years before taking office. a tv debate featuring them both from 2011 was one of the first times the wider finnish public was introduced to them. when i was younger, my perception of politicians was also that they are men in suits who talk on the 8:30 news. and they are at a huge distance from me or my family or my everyday life.

i mean, especially when we were in the youth organisations, i think there is a huge amount of idealism, which you should have when you are working in the youth organisations, which i kind of miss in a way in myself. so i think both me and sanna were a lot more work focused, and maybe also a bit more aware of the political realities of the field we are working in now compared to what we did when we were in the youth organisations. prime minister sanna marin grew up in a modest sized town two hours north—west of helsinki, called pirkkala. she was raised in a low income family of lesbian mothers and was the first person to go to university in herfamily. while she speaks honestly about her background, she remains fiercely guarded about her family and private life. so, she would have been in any one of these classrooms? she has been in all of these classrooms and i have taught in all of these classrooms.

at pirkkalan high school, pasi kervinen, herformer head teacher, recalls his memories. she was just an average girl. nothing extreme, nothing special. when you look at her and her first year of leadership, do you think any parts of her childhood or her upbringing would have informed how she is as a leader now, from what you can see? i think, in common sense, that her childhood has not been very easy. her strength and hard—working way to do things and leadership must have got something from her youth and childhood. education minister li andersson is attending a round circle chat with high schoolers. how did you guys feel when you saw this new government? well, i didn't really mind that much. i mean, it is nice. i am not saying it is bad.

it is nice to see women, but i mean, i feel like, as i have grown up, i have always felt that i could do whatever i wanted to do, so that's why seeing a woman didn't really mean that much, because i knew that it didn't really matter. li's government has an equality plan that is going to be addressing a lot of issues, including education, to make your experience easier in school. what would you suggest would be a change? maybe like in health education, like, sexuality and gender, it is more focused on, you know, cis gendered and heterosexual people. it is mostly the students, i think, who talk about it more. you know, bring it up in classes. yeah, iagree. the education, it tells a lot about what is important, what is valuable, what is the thing that you want to, like, teach to the young people, and if you don't include the minorities, then you don't...

people don't learn about it. in reality, it's quite a lot dependent on teachers, and it is also dependent on school, and i think all teachers do not necessarily have the tools that they would need to educate you, and maybe sometimes you need to educate the teachers. although finland is celebrated for its equality, recent reports from the council of europe have detailed what they call "a concerning rise in racism" in the country. bella forsgren is the only black politician in finland's government. and akunna 0nwen is the chair of finland's anti—racist forum. for us on the outside, when you look at finland, one of the first countries in the world to allow women to vote and run for government, you know, really good laws when it comes to maternity leave and also paternity leave, real conversations that are being had about the pay gap. is that inclusive of all women?

would you say that it is inclusive of black women, as well? if we had exactly the same conditions, exactly the same timing, exactly the same age, exactly the same family background,

and yet sanna marin was black, would she be prime minister? now? not now. no. not now. she was the first female minister of the interior in the '80s, but you saw quite many from the previous decades. she was in office while it was the chernobyl accident. what happened in finland was that people did not know what is happening there and we got the information quite late and so on. so she did not get re—elected any more afterwards. but then we have had some females after. not too many. and actually, i am the first green ever in this ministry.

so that is something new. i think the representation with five white, educated females is not very representative in the end. and there were a lot of critical writings when this photo went viral. that, hey, if we really look at the equality here, it does not show. and i agree on that. the idea of maintaining, taking care of the welfare state as a system led me to study social politics, and i thought that, 0k, i've got quite a lot of help from the welfare state. my dad, especially, was unemployed and had some substance abuse problems. my parents divorced when i was one year old, so i was also brought up with a single mother for a little while in my life. so maybe these background is something that in many countries,

this would not be the beginning for a political career. it was actually tarja halonen, who you probably know, the first female president, and the only female president. she says that it is not the person who breaks the glass ceiling, but it is the people who follow, and i think that is to the point. you always need the people who break the ceiling, but then you also need all the people who will follow, and you should never stop that. far up in the arctic circle, finland's northern territory is home to europe's only indigenous population — the sami people. sami's ancestral lands spread across from russia to sweden, and the sami people still live off the land. in finland, they were only officially recognised by the government in the '90s, and they still face a battle for their right to the land

and their way of life. can you only get these berries in finland? i think all over the arctic region. it is an arctic fruit. yes. it is our vitamin bump. it is a little vitamin pill? yes, it is very good for you. sara wesslin is a journalist based in a sami town. she works for the finnish broadcaster yle, where she is one of the two reporters to work in the sami language. what are the major sort of issues concerning sami people right now? we do not have a sami representative in the finnish government. is that worrying? yes, of course. and there has been many years, there has been talk and discussion about should samis have their own representative, for example, in eu?

in your ideal future, what would you like this government to do? what would you like sanna marin to do for sami women? we don't have to be ashamed that we are sami living in finland. we can be proud that we are part of finnish nation. even being on the table, even being in the room with the decision—making. one old saying, that nothing about us without us. one of the main issues addressed in the government equality plan is the rights of gender minorities in finland. trans rights activists have, for years, asked for a reform of the trans act — a law that currently requires those seeking legal gender recognition to undergo enforced sterilisation. finland is the only nordic country that still requires infertility in order to get your legal gender recognised. so, in order to get that m to f or f

to m, you need to prove that you cannot have biological children. in some cases, the people can become infertile enough by taking hormones, but if you are unable to take hormones or do not want to take hormones, then you will not get your legal gender recognised until you are, in some other way, found infertile, meaning that at the end if nothing else helps, then it is a surgical removal of the organs. for example, for me, the case was that i was already perceived as a male when i started the legal process. and it still took me two and a half years with a female passport, meaning that i could not travel outside of basically nordic countries. and i could not apply for a job, couldn't apply for nothing without having issues,

having to prove my identity. that made me be in a hurry with the medical part. we have had a female president, we have the youngest female leader of country, but alone, that does not... it is just a token alone. it has to have the support of the system behind it before it actually makes a difference in the world. we have had a coalition with some sort of a very conservative party saying that "if this goes forward, we will resign from the coalition." and all the other parties have caved in and said, "ok, fine, let's do it next time." so it is possible that the trans act could be the sacrificial lamb once again? it looks like it. any coalition government is a mixed bag of politics and agendas that have come together in hope of being more effective. but to implement any real change or government plans requires unanimous support across the board.

when you build a government in finland, you put a lot of effort on what we call the government's programme. and there is negotiations, we had it for three weeks in 2019, and when you have that programme, everyone knows that this is it. this is what we have decided together. when you are five different parties, you have to all the time try to see how you find solutions when you have different opinions. i mean, no party can have it just their own way. sometimes there are going to be tensions, that has to do with making compromises behind closed doors. of course, we are all one government, so we have to defend the compromises that we make in public. nice to meet you. shall we walk up together? yeah. great.

finland's party leaders are meeting at helsinki's houses of the estates for a cabinet meeting to discuss the new equality programme. trans rights and racism are on the agenda. do you prep yourself up before doing these questions? they ask and i will answer honestly, so you do not need any preparation. please enter the conference password. finland has had a coalition government forever, so of course we are used to trying to make compromises and trying to find consensus between different parties and ideologies. i think it is also

a big strength for us. of course, it is not always the fastest way to get things done, but i think it is more... it goes further, these kind of decisions, than ones that you only make yourself. there is always one or a few issues on the table that we all want to discuss together so that we will have different perspectives. for example, the equality programme is something that not only one minister or a ministry can do, it is something that every ministry has to focus on and make decisions in their field. gender minorities are also discussed in the equality programme, particularly transgender people, and finland has been

in the spotlight, it has been three years since the european court of human rights has said that forced sterilisation should not be allowed in terms of recognising personal gender identity, but it is the case still in finland. what do you think about that? everyone should have the right to determine their own identities, so i think we need to do many changes in our legislation, and our governmental programme actually supports this kind of idea. for you, are trans women women? it is not myjob to identify people. it is everyone's job to identify themselves. if someone feels that he or she is a woman, then it is not my place to say.

one of the things with early covid response was a lot was written about how well finland, taiwan, new zealand, germany did in terms of the covid response as there was quick, decisive action. and the other thing that all those countries have in common are female leaders. well, of course, there are countries led by men that have also done well, so i do not think it is a gender—based issue. i think we should more focus on how the countries that have done well, what they have done, what they have learned, what we all can learn from each other, and that we also have response together because this is a global pandemic.

at some point, something might change and the popularity may change when a decision needs to be made, especially maybe during covid times, as well, does that worry you at all? i don't look at polls. the most important thing is that we try to make the decisions that we have to make based on the best knowledge that we can use. and also that we are trying to make decisions in a way that helps ordinary people in their ordinary lives. in crisis and also in normal times.

of course our backgrounds still effects the possibilities that we have in life, and this should not be the case, but of course we have problems. it is not the last time that we will discuss these issues, and of course, it is important that we are all focused on how we will make the programme a reality. so, this is my mission as a prime minister. but there are challenges ahead, and no prime minister in finland has seen a full term for decades. but with 85% approval rating, sanna marin is enjoying a striking level of confidence in uneasy times.

hello again. it has been a day of a big contrast weather—wise across the country. england and wales, many areas keeping the low cloud. the mist and the hill fog loitering into the afternoon. further north, though, in scotland, quite a contrast with clear blue skies, beautiful sunshine here in glasgow, light winds, and stunning reflections. looking at the picture overnight, we will keep the clear skies across northern scotland. here it is going to be cold and frosty with temperatures down to about —3, “11. patches of drizzle will tend to work northwards across england and wales as we go on through the night. still some mist and fog patches lingering around. and those temperatures continuing to slowly rise across parts of northern england and northern ireland, as well. tomorrow, well, it is another cloudy day coming up for most. cold, frosty, but sunny start

across north—eastern scotland. just like today, there could be a few areas where the cloud breaks up, but equally, probably some drizzle and mist still loitering across the midlands and eastern areas of wales. temperatures 8—10, turning breezier with a threat of a little rain in the far north—west of scotland later in the day.

this is bbc news. the headlines at 6pm: a warning that hospitals in england could become overwhelmed with coronavirus cases, if mps don't back new restrictions. the prime minister appoints nadhim zahawi as minister for the deployment of coronavirus vaccines. iran's president rouhani blames israel for the assassination of a top nuclear scientist, saying his country won't be deterred from its nuclear ambitions. violent clashes in paris as thousands protest against a new law to restrict the sharing of images of police officers. it comes days after footage emerged of officers beating up a black man. a worrying weekend for 13,000 workers at some of the uk's biggest retail names — arcadia, the group that owns top shop, dorothy perkins, and miss selfridge is on the brink of collapse.