more than 70 protesters have been detained in russia as they demanded the release of the opposition leader, alexei navalny. he was arrested just hours after he returned to moscow for the first time since being poisoned last year. he had called for demonstrations against president putin's government. the rate of coronavirus infection is beginning to fall in the united kingdom. in the past 2a hours there have been fewer than 40,000 new cases, the first time that has happened this year. but hospitals are still battling against rising admissions and a shortage of critical care beds. joe biden�*s administration has said the united states says it will maintain covid travel restrictions which have banned visitors from most of europe and brazil. the announcement was made shortly after the outgoing president, donald trump ordered the measures to be lifted from next week.

now on bbc news, it's monday in parliament. hello, and welcome to monday in parliament. on this programme: mps call for a temporary benefit increase to be made permanent. labour reckon cutting it could be devastating. the uncertainty it will add in an already uncertain time, the loss it will bring when we have already lost so much. the fear it will cause. but the minister insists it's too soon to make decisions. if the honourable gentleman opposite is certain about what the economic and social picture will look like in april, well, to be frank, he must have a crystal ball. more questions for the head of the test and trace service about its effectiveness. and concerns over the consequences of records being wiped off the police national computer. if these 400,000 lost- records are not recovered,

then this human error- will have an impact on public safety, won't it? but first: mps have backed a call to keep a £20—a—week uplift in universal credit due to be stopped at the end of march. the increased payment — worth £1,000 a year — was introduced by the chancellor at the start of the pandemic as a temporary measure. 0pposition and some conservatives want it to stay, but the vote to keep it isn't binding on the government. at the start of the debate, labour reckoned millions of families were struggling before the coronavirus pandemic. reducing universal credit and working tax credit this april would be fundamentally the wrong decision. it would be a profound mistake — forfamilies, for the economy, and for our ability to effectively tackle and recover from the covid—19 pandemic. all the evidence suggests that the restrictions which have been caused as a result of the measures

taken to deal with covid have hit the poorest in society hardest. poverty is up, and those people who most depend upon this kind of support are the ones who are the most damaged at the moment. i agree with the statement the honourable member has made. i think inequality and differential impact on people have been one of the defining features of this crisis. i don't think anyone can avoid that. the government's own estimate is that 4.2 million british children live in poverty. now that's shameful, it's wrong, and it's unnecessary. the uk, along with ireland, is an outlier compared to the rest of europe when it comes to inequality. it means the reality for millions of families is that they went into the crisis already under significant pressure. does the opposition propose to| make this increase permanent? and, if so, how do they propose to pay for it? i grateful again for the intervention. so we believe this uplift should stay in place during the crisis — and i don't think anyone believes the crisis

will end in april. and he finished with an appeal to conservative mps elected for the first time in 2019. i urge everyone to take a moment to reflect on what this cut will mean to the people who send us here. the uncertainty it will add in an already uncertain time, the loss it will bring when we have already lost so much. the fear it will cause when what people need is hope. so, for our constituents, for the economy, and for the national interest, we need to cancel this cut. the minister began his reply by pointing out how many more people were now claiming the benefit, and how it had adapted to help them. one of his conservative colleagues intervened. it does need to be fully costed, it is a lot of money, and i was hoping from the shadow minister that he would lay out how they intended to pay for this uplift. i thank my honourable friend for the intervention. - she's absolutely right. maintaining the uplift would be a huge amount of money, - somewhere in the region of £6 billion. _ but it's not just about that, mr deputy speaker. - throughout this pandemic, i we have always looked at how best to support the poorest, most vulnerable, and -

disadvantaged in our society. now the chancellor has always been clear that this measure l remains in place until the end of the financial year. - now i hear the calls, mr deputy speaker, i from the party opposite, - and indeed, from the honourable gentleman, for a decision now on whether universal credit i and the uplift is - continued post—april. and i have sympathy- with the argument that it would give claimants certainty. however, one of the evident features of a pandemic - is uncertainty. if the honourable gentlemen opposite is certain _ about what the economic. and social picture will look like in april, well, i to be frank, he must have a crystal ball. i know my right honourable friend the chancellor well. i and i put it to honourable - members that throughout this pandemic, he has consistently stepped up to support - individuals' jobs and livelihoods. this is the chancellor- who created the furlough scheme, the self—employment income support scheme. - the chancellor who up—rated . universal credit by £1,040 this year, lifted the local housing allowance by £1 billion, - protected renters from _ eviction, protected homeowners, gave grants to businesses, - supported rough sleepers to get

off our streets. the uk government seem intent on cutting the temporary uplift at the end of march, meaning families will be a further £1,000 per year worse off. that would give this uk government an enviable record. if they go ahead with this cut, they will be responsible for cutting out—of—work support to its lowest level since 1992, and its lowest—ever level relative to average. and the concern wasn'tjust on the opposition side. but the question for us right now is whether the end of march this year, just ten weeks away,

is the right moment to begin unwinding this support — specifically to remove the extra support for universal credit claimants. and i don't believe it is the right moment. and opposition criticism came from all sides. for the government to cut this vital support in order- to save face would be i morally reprehensible. the secretary of state should have the courage to say, - "the facts have changed, i i have changed my mind." the prime minister stated last week that what we want to see is jobs and growth. we all do, mr speaker, but between covid and brexit, that's simply not a realistic solution at the present. wanting a better economic climate will not meet the basic needs of those on universal credit and ignores the fact that 40% of claimants are already in work. but conservative mps continued to ask where the money

would come from. their proposal today would cost £6 billion per year. how would they pay for it? would they increase income tax by 1% for 30 million taxpayers, and put a 5p increase on fuel duty? or would they increase vat to at least 21%? or would they raid one of ourjob creation schemes or existing support packages? or one of the new commitments we'd already made — commitments to raise the national living wage, worth £345 a year for someone working full—time? but when it came to the vote, mps backed a motion to keep the uplift by 278—0, with conservative mps abstaining. but the vote isn't binding on ministers. mps have raised concerns about the the loss of data from the police national computer on police investigations. the minister told mps a mistake occurred during an automated exercise to delete records on individuals against whom no further action was taken. kit malthouse said work

was under way to retrieve the information. last week, the home office became aware that, as a result of human error, the software which triggers these automatic deletions contained defective coding and inadvertently deleted records that it should not have, and indeed had not deleted some records which should have been deleted. an estimated 213,000 offense records, 175,000 arrest records, and 15,000 person records are being investigated as potentially having been deleted. it's worth the house noting that multiple records can be held against the same individual — so the number of individuals affected by this incident is likely to be lower. 0perational partners are still able to access the police national computer, which holds, as i say, over 13 million records. mr speaker, clearly this situation is very serious, and i understand colleagues across the house will have concerns — which, of course, i share. he said engineers would be analysing the impact of the data loss. i would urge patients, while we continue our rapid internal investigation and begin the recovery — i hope the house will appreciate that the task in front of us

is a complex one. several mps asked why the home secretary wasn't making this statement. it was the home secretary who needed to show leadership and take control. it's what previous home secretaries have done in a crisis. 0n the passport office, on windrush, on knife crime — whatever their mistakes, home secretaries came and answered to this house. they didn'tjust offer a media clip, as has happened today. this home secretary — failing on violent crime, failing on the windrush compensation scheme, with chaos on border testing, found to have broken the ministerial code — now won't even answer to parliament and the public on this most serious of issues. mr speaker, you really couldn't make it up — i yet curiously, the home secretary is nowhere . to be seen. instead, she sent herjunior minister to take the flak. i was this data cleaning -

operation in any way connected to the removal of records from the police national computer. following the end of. the transition period, and does the 400,000 figure i include the 40,000 records that were removed from the police . national computer post—brexit? or is it on top of that? the minister said the incident had nothing to do with eu data. as to the sentiments expressed by the right honourable gentlemen and the right honourable lady about the home secretary, i can only apologize that they're facing someone who is an inferior to their own status. but they will understand that the home secretary has an enormous drawer upon her duties, she takes her duties in this house extremely seriously, there's no doubt about it. the home secretary likes to talk tough on crime, but the shocking loss of 400,000 records is a major failing on her watch. and she is incapable of facing up to it. she should be here before the house today. the policing minister talked about mitigation in his statement — so can he give the house an absolute guarantee that no investigation has been

or will be compromised because of the deleted information, and that couldn't be cross—referenced? well, mr speaker, the honourable gentlemen again casts aspersions on the home secretary, who is one of the hardest—working politicians that i've come across in my 20—odd years in politics. and i think it's deeply, deeply unfair to make that claim — as he knows, it's perfectly usual for ministers of state to take urgent questions or even make statements in this house, and we're doing no different to a government that existed that he supported in the past. we will know the full extent of the impact of this issue over the next few days, and we are working very closely with police forces across the country through the national police council to make sure any operational impact is obviated or mitigated. my honourable friend has repeatedly said that thisl dreadful state of affairs - was caused by human error. can he confirm to the house that there is no suggestion i of there being any criminal

intent in this regard? - and also, that one of- the strengths of this system is that when this error - happened, it immediately set off alarm bells so that| action could be taken? the minister confirmed that it was human error — which prompted a question from a labour mp. if these 400,000 lost records are not recovered, then this human error will have an impact on public safety, won't it? we won't know entirely, as i say, until we've analyzed the reports. but early indications were optimistic about recovery, as i say, because the data is held elsewhere. and, if in some circumstances, the right honourable lady says, the data is recoverable, we will have to consider other mitigations with policing partners to remain as safe as we possibly can in this country. kit malthouse. the head of nhs test and trace has told mps that the service has had a "material impact" on tackling the coronavirus pandemic.

appearing before the public accounts committee, dido harding was challenged over the £22 billion cost of test and trace and its use of private sector consultants. her appearance, alongside senior health officials, came after the government's scientific advisory group for emergencies, or sage, said the testing programme had had a "marginal" impact. to what extent do you think has the test and trace programme been succeessful in reducing new infections so far? measured at its highest level by its impact on the r rate, the transmission rate. independently verified analysis suggests that, since october, test and trace was impacting r by between 0.3—6. and our plans that take us to the end of march, were implemented, will

take that up to 05—8 in high—prevalence areas. she said more than 950 people were taking a covid test every minute. the first week ofjanuary, our contact tracers successfully reached a million people, both people who tested positive and their close contacts. that translates into 198 people a minute successfully contact—traced every minute of the working day, seven days a week. how does that square - with sage's assessment — albeit a few months agoi in september — that test and trace was having a marginal impact on transmission? - so, we are reaching more than 80% of people who test positive. we are reaching more than 90% of their contacts, and the 92% of all contacts that we reached last week, three quarters of a million people, 97% of them we reached in less than 24 hours. so no, i don't believe we are having a marginal impact, actually, as measured, we are having a material impact in the fight against covid. mps also questioned the value for money to test and trace. i think at the beginning of november, there were 2,300

consultants and contractors working on this project. are you really getting value for money from that spend? we've seen reports in the media that the highest day rates has been £7,000 a day — can you confirm whether that is accurate? what we've seen is good evidence of a range - of consultancy companies dropping their normal- public—sector rates to rather lower levels, as part- of their support to our work on covid — not only on test| and trace, but acrossl the department sector this past year. so i don't think that we'rej being taken advantage of. he said the average cost of a consultant was £1,000 a day. are you confident that there is no super profits being made out there as part

of your programme? yes, as comfortable as i cani be, based on the information that i've seen based - on the regular reporting that comes up through the test and trace commercial- and finance staff. lady harding defended the use of consultants. i view this as an extraordinary national effort where, as we've built an organization, as you've rightly said, it's a very large organization, a £22 million national service from scratch in nine months — in order to do that, we've had to call on talent from across the whole of society. the chair had a final question. we are in the middle of a very tough tier 3, the nhs is overwhelmed, and you're running test and trace. what keeps you awake at night? what keeps me awake at night

is what we don't yet know about the path of covid—19. so continuing to build this collaborative, agile partnership across all of the public sector and private sector to fight covid is the only way forward, i think, because i'm certain the disease will throw stuff at us that we've not been able to anticipate. you're watching monday in parliament with me, alicia mccarthy. labour has accused the education secretary gavin williamson of not being up to the job. last week, photographs appeared on social media of meagre free school meal parcels, which the prime minister branded "disgraceful". when gavin williamson appeared in the commons for his regular round of questions, labour went on the attack. the utterly inadequate school food parcels we saw last week were an absolute scandal, a scandal that was, however, entirely in line with the government's own guidance. so, why has it taken the secretary of state until the third week of term to initiate a a voucher system? as the honourable lady

will know if she had taken the time to read our guidance, actually, those food parcels didn't meet the expectations or the guidance that we have set out and they are not acceptable, and we have made that clear. gavin williamson said the national voucher scheme was now open to all schools in england. a conservative mp pointed out that a hotline had been set up by the government for people to report inadequate food parcels. i'm absolutely certain that - most schools are providing good quality parcels for children. so, please, can my right- honourable friend confirm how many complaints about food . parcels the hotline that's been established has received? there are around 1.4 million children on free school meals. by the end of last week, we had received a total of seven calls in relation to unacceptable lunch parcels. each has been fully investigated. we expect high quality lunch

parcels for our children. another issue exercising mps was the provision of laptops for disadvantaged children. and even with the laptops the secretary of state hasj already provided and evenl with the laptops he intends to provide, the provision. of devices and the provision of dongles falls well short. why is it that the secretary of state is willing to accept standards for other people'sj children that he would never expect for his own, and why is it that, once again, - the incompetence of his own department has left childrenj across the country- seriously disadvantaged? at every stage, we on the side of the house, as i'm sure on that side of the house as well, wanted to deliver the very best for every single child, wherever they live and whatever background they come from. and the honourable gentleman may want to play politics

over children's lives. what we're focused on is delivering for those children. that's why, including the stock of 2.9 million laptops and tablets that are already out there, we took the decision to invest £400 million in terms of purchasing and distributing an additional 1.3 million devices on top of that, making that a total of 4.2 million devices into the school system. a conservative praised the government's efforts. with more than 750,000| laptops already delivered, taken together with the 2.9 million laptops already- available in schools - for the use of children, the digital divide has been i very substantially overcome. but labour hadn't finished. ..that he was late in planning the voucher scheme, late getting laptops to students, late consulting on replacing exams and late announcing that students would not return to school injanuary. after delay after delay, has he finally realised what parents, pupils and staff have known for months — he just isn't up to the job?

time and time again, we have recognised where there are real challenges in terms of dealing with a global pandemic. that is why we've taken the action that we have. that is why we have distributed 1.3 million laptops right across the country. that is why we put the national voucher scheme in place. that is why we're supporting families who are often the most vulnerable, and we will continue to support families who are the most vulnerable. the education secretary there. the former chair of the covid—19 rough sleeping task force has warned that homelessness organisations are facing "fear and fatigue". louise, now lady casey, said everything had got more challenging and relentless during the pandemic. giving evidence to the housing committee, she compared the challenges with those faced by people working

in the health service. staff have been doing this now close on to 12 months, so i think there is, in the same way that we are hearing loud and clear and rightly so about fatigue within the national health service, i think i would say there is a level of relentlessness, fear and fatigue in many of the homelessness organisations, many of whom are dealing with people who clearly have very significant drug, alcohol and mental health problems, who can't self—isolate and so on and so forth. lady casey led the "everyone in" programme that saw rough sleepers brought off the streets during the early days of the pandemic. the committee chair wondered if the programme's initial success had endured. the first weeks when the everyone in programme was going, everyone knew exactly what was required. people on the streets shouldn't be on the streets, they should be somewhere safe, and everyone got it, and everyone worked that end. i think that certainty of objective is actually

being diminished now, and it's not always absolutely clear to everyone. that's what the objective is. lady casey said it was important to have someone dedicated to carrying on the work. until this pandemic is closed down, we're vaccinated and we're reaching the next stage, i do actually think the issue of people that move around, that are homeless, that are in secure accommodation — many in hotels — isn't something anybody can walk away from any time soon. lady casey. finally to the lords, where peers wanted to know what the government was doing to reduce waste and increase recycling, known as the "circular economy". 0ne crossbench or independent peer thought the government's approach so far had been "piecemeal" and reckoned part of the solution lay in design. 80% of the environmental impact is in the design phase. so, to really prevent waste, we have to be looking at things like built—in obsolescence, and also the manufacture of white goods, which can only be repaired by the manufacturer or designed to be thrown away, rather than reused. so, will the government produce a proper circular economy action plan, as the eu has done, and lay out how it can be

put onto the statue book? the environment bill includes. powers to introduce legislation on product design or eco—design. i for example, to support durable, repairable, - recyclable products. it will also enable us _ to introduce extended producer responsibility schemes - for packaging a whole range of products, as well as a drs, a deposit return scheme, - for drinks containers. so, we are absolutely ready to initiate a whole suite - of measures that are going to reduce waste and also . remove built—in obsolescence. another peer raised a recent report by the sustainability organisation, wrap. my lords, wrap has recommended that as we recover from the economic impact of covid, government financial support to businesses should focus on remanufacturing and repair, which will generate newjobs and tackle structural

unemployment. does the minister agree with this approach, and what is he doing to deliver that investment? reusing and repairing - products saves people money. low—income households have saved, we believe, £468 million in 2019 - through reuse and repair. widespread adoption of circular economy business models hasl the potential to add £75 billion in value added i to the uk economy, according i to wrap, who also believe that moving towards a more circular economy, including recycling, i could create around half- a million jobs across all skill levels and regions in the uk. so this is absolutelyl central to what we're attempting to achieve. lord goldsmith. and that's it from me for now — but do join me at the same time tomorrow for another round—up of the day at westminster. but for now, from me, alicia mccarthy, goodbye.

hello there. storm christoph has been named by the met office and it will bring a double whammy of severe weather and disruption in the next few days. first up is the rain and flooding. this is rain accumulating in the next three days, and the bright colours show where we are expecting the heaviest of the rain. it will be very wet in the welsh hills, but the main concern is the amount of rain expected in the southern pennines and northern peak district. we have an amber rain warning here that has been extended into the midlands, and parts of eastern england as well. river levels already very high, and the ground is very wet as well. we've got rain developing at the moment across much of england and wales. keeping it mild as the wind picks up. further north, though, it's much colder. frost and some icy patches in northern scotland. but the rain is still around during tuesday, and it will rain all day, pretty much, across northern england and northern ireland. further south across england

and wales, after the overnight rain it should be drier for a while but we will see more rain coming in, especially across wales and the south west. some of that rain pushing into southern scotland bringing the threat of sleet and snow in the southern uplands. it is certainly colder across scotland with a few showers and some sunshine in the north. much milderfor much of england and wales. 11 or 12 degrees with some wind and, of course, some rain. that rain continues, actually, on tuesday evening, tuesday night and into wednesday as well. particularly across england and wales. it should dry off a bit across northern ireland. more wet weather coming into some southern and south eastern parts of scotland threatening some more snow over the high ground as well. again, it's quite cold across scotland and northern ireland, much milderfor england and wales with more rain on the way. that rain coming from storm christoph, that's the centre of the storm there. it is actually going to strengthen during wednesday night. the winds are really going to pick up as it moves northwards into the colder air there will be more snow falling overnight and into thursday morning. especially in scotland, could be 40 cm of snow and perhaps as much as that over the high ground, some snow over other hills of scotland and the northern pennines. drier further south, but it will be colder, and it will feel colder

in the wind as well. so two main areas of concern, really, the wet weather in the next few days bringing flooding. especially across parts of northern england, the midlands and eastern england. and then as if that was not enough we've got this increasing risk of snow, particularly in scotland with some blizzards and drifting of the snow in the hills.

welcome to bbc news, i'm mike embley. our top stories: supporters of the jailed russian activist alexei navalny have been arrested after he urged people to protest against president putin's government. 0utgoing us president donald trump orders covid travel bans to be lifted, only for president elect joe biden to say he will maintain the restrictions. the fbi vets all 25,000 national guard troops on duty in washington for wednesday's inauguration, looking for possible right wing extremists. the covid pandemic leaves some uk hospitals at breaking point. we have a special report from london where staff are stretched to the limit. i wasn't convinced we were going to have a second wave at all, and the huge numbers that havejust, absolutely slammed us, it's just... i never thought it would be possible.