a policing reform bill quickly, in memory of george floyd. the president met family members exactly a year after mr floyd was killed by a white policeman. mr floyd's family have expressed disappointment that the bill has not yet been approved. the us secretary of state, antony blinken, has stressed that a two—state solution — establishing a palestinian state alongside israel — was the only option for lasting peace in the region. he was speaking after holding talks with israeli and palestinian leaders. the un human rights watchdog has demanded the immediate release of the journalist, roman protasevich, by the authorities in belarus. it said the manner in which he was detained — after a plane was forced to land in minsk — was "tantamount to extraordinary rendition". now on bbc news, it's tuesday in parliament.

hello and welcome to tuesday in parliament. coming up — anger at new advice in areas where covid cases are growing. can he understand how insulting it is to have new restrictions imposed upon us, local lockdowns by stealth, by the back door? a minister dismisses claims of confusion. what we are asking people to do in those affected areas is to be cautious, be careful. also in this programme: labour accuses ministers of letting down rape victims. no more pilots, nol more consultations! what we need is action! we need a plan. and a new familiar face in the house of lords. i, john lord sentamu,

do swear by almighty god. but first, downing street has denied that the government is imposing local lockdowns by stealth amid concerns about the spread of the so—called indian coronavirus variant. the denialfollows the emergence of government advice urging people not to travel into and out of areas hardest hit by the new variant unless absolutely necessary. the advice was published online last week without an announcement and urges "an extra cautious approach". a message reinforced after a day of some confusion by the vaccines minister. we are taking rapid action in bedford, hounslow, burnley, leicester, kirklees and north tyneside. as the prime minister set out two weeks ago, we are urging people in these areas to take extra caution when meeting anybody outside their households or support bubble. including meeting outside rather than inside when possible, keeping two metres

apart from people you don't live with and that people should try to avoid travelling in and out of the affected areas unless it is essential, for example, obviously for work, if you cannot work from home or for education. labour said the guidance should be withdrawn. can the minister understand how upsetting it is, can he understand how insulting it is to have new restrictions imposed upon us, local lockdowns by stealth, by the back door, and the secretary of state doesn't even have the courtesy to come and tell us? why was this guidance plunked on a website, on friday night, and not communicated to everyone? why were local directors of public health and local authority leaders not consulted? why weren't mps informed? what does it mean for our constituents? for the parents in bolton planning to take their children to see grandparents on the other side

of greater manchester this bank holiday monday? should they rearrange their plans? what we are asking people to do in those affected areas is to be cautious, be careful, so on visiting family that he asks about, meet outside rather than inside when possible, meeting indoor is still allowed in a group of six or two households but meeting outdoors is safer. meet two metres apart from people you don't live with unless you have formed a support bubble, this includes friends and family you don't live with. so yes, people can visit family in half term if they follow social distancing guidelines. some mps wanted the vaccine programme to go further. we know children don't tend to get bad symptoms but they can spread the virus. so is it time to look at vaccinating over 12s as they are doing in the united states? is it time to look at whether we can use some of the fda analysis to speed up that decision—making process so that by the time they come back in the autumn, schools are protected and we can be comfortable they will be able to stay open?

he will be aware as well as that the us regulators, the canadian regulators have approved the pfizer vaccine for 12—year—olds. we will operationally be ready but ultimately the decision has to be a clinical one. the snp were worried about the new variants. the b1617.2 or april 02 variant appears to be 50% more - infectious and is affecting even younger children. i can the minister explain why on earth the government - ended the wearing of face coverings in schools? - the minister didn't address that point. he faced other practical questions from mps in or near the affected areas. hundreds if not thousands of people go back and forth every day for school, for work, to get food and other essential supplies and for medical appointments. could the minister firstly advise my constituents whether they should be getting

on buses and trains which cross the borough boundary, going to supermarkets and accessing medical services over the borough boundary? people need to exercise caution, the common only travel if it is essential outside of the area. some conservatives were sceptical. will he confirm when these local lockdown measures were agreed with leadership at local council, can he confirm wgeb the prime minister formally agreed that this updated guidance being imposed? i'm grateful to his question. he will recall the prime minister on the 14th actually addressed this issue. yes, he did absolutely address that issue. he did in his press conference. the minister has done a good job on the vaccines but this statement is utterly chaotic. it has completely confused what advice he is actually giving

to people in the northwest, people going to the pub, weddings, travel, even about whether or not if they're allowed to travel out of bolton, travel to portugal on the green list for holidays or not. leicestershire surrounds. leicester, so the question i have is what advice does - he have for those people who are in leicestershire - who send their kids to school and leicester, who work in- leicester and who are thinking of having bank holiday time with family in leicester? i i thank my honorable friend for that question. i hear the member saying good question. he is absolutely right. they have to exercise caution and common sense as i described in my earlier remark around visiting. they absolutely can visit family and friends in half term if they follow social distancing guidelines. lockdowns breaks our economy and society, i cause mental distress, i delay vital treatments, leads to further unemployment,

and exacerbates inequalities. i instead of for example fixing test, trace and isolate, can i he explain why the government response is always more - restrictions and endless cycles of lockdown? - ithink... i hope she agrees the vaccination programme has given us a way out of the non—pharmaceutical interventions, which were the only thing we had at our disposal to try and slow down this pandemic and this virus. nadeem zahawi. the government has said it will publish a review next month into how the criminal justice system deals with rape cases in england and wales. labour said ministers were letting down victims "on every front". in 2020, there were more than 52,000 rapes reported in england and wales. yet only 843 resulted in a charge or summons. that figure translates to a shocking rate ofjust i.6%. like the many others,

i initially welcomed the government commitment to end of end rape review of the criminaljustice system. yet, we are now more than two years down the line and after a number of delays, this vital review is still nowhere to be seen. the minister explained that the report had been delayed on the advice of the victims�* commissioner. she will know that the crown prosecution service and the national police council launched a joint action plan only in january this year and i am pleased that progress has been made there as well. that is of course against the background of significant action by this government over the last decade in various areas of violence against women and girls, which i hope she will appreciate and applaud, ranging from creating an offense of coercive control, to outlaw skirting, stalking, revenge _ porn and the threat thereof, we just passed a landmark domestic abuse bill to great support across both houses. i've heard harrowing - testimony from a number

of my constituents about their experience of seeking justice i after rape and sexual violence. the majority of whom felt they had been further- traumatised by the process and felt like they— were the ones on trial. whether it was being required to hand over the digital- devices, not being able to access pretrial- therapy or the myths - and stereotypes that abound. listening to this testimony, i felt vindicated in my- own position not to go i to the police, a decision thousands of women sadly take because they understandably. feel that their trauma _ will only be compounded by this process with a minuscule likelihood of securing - a conviction. will the attorney general therefore please commit| to supporting labour's call for the establishment - of a pre and post—trial. survivor support package including a full legal advocacyj scheme for victims and better training for professionals - around myths and stereotypes so survivors can finally have some confidence|

in the process? it is obviously a matter of deep regret that anybody feels prevented from coming forward to report a rape or indeed a sexual assault to the police. that is one of the issues that we need to address, building confidence among victims _ last month a constituent of mine sent me a very powerful account of how her case has taken nearly three years to reach court. and during that time, she has been told not to have therapy, then told she could as long as the notes were shared with the defence, told that she should not claim compensation, told that she shouldn't speak about it, told at one point she wouldn't be able to watch the trial. can my honourable friend assure me that the review will look both at how we can get cases to court more quickly but also how the victims will feel more supported rather than she has felt, which is inadvertently silenced?

as a former sexual offences trained police officer, what the stats make clear is that police and prosecutors need more resources and training to bring perpetrators to justice, whether it is supporting survivors, handling handling investigation sensitively and analysing digital evidence or countering dangerous stereotypes. no more pilots, nol more consultations, what we need is action! we need a plan. labour has one. what we will do is set out i in our survivor support plan and in our green paper forending violence- against women and girls. so today, i ask the minister, will he commit to backing. labour's survivors support plan? _ i would be more than happy to look at the labour green paper because i don't think there's any monopoly on good ideas in this area. as i hope that my opposite number will look with an open mind at the plan we have published and the work we intend to do. we all have a shared desire here, which is to see better outcomes and more justice for victims in court. and we will have to stand

shoulder to shoulder if we are going to make that happen. kit malthouse. you're watching today in parliament with me, david cornock. still to come — the man who pulled out 18 of his own teeth. the business secretary has told mps that nationalisation is the least likely option to keep liberty steel afloat and save thousands ofjobs. appearing before the business committee, kwasi kwarteng said the uk steelworks that have been put up for sale by liberty steel and its owner gfg alliance are "good assets" which were likely to find buyers. the sale is set to include stocksbridge's mill at brinsworth, and performance steels at west bromwich. gfg alliance, which is owned by sanjeev gupta, employs 3000 people and is in the process of refinancing after its main backer, greensill, collapsed. the questioning was opened by an mp who said many of his constituents worked in the threatened plants.

in the government's view, your view, how realistic is it that this will continue and create jobs? my own view and that of my officials, who i've discussed this almost on a daily basis with, is that the assets themselves are good assets. he believed buyers would be found. assets, fundamentally, are good assets. the workforce is skilled and dedicated, the managers of the plant are very experienced, and i've spoken to them very frequently. but the issue that liberty had in particular — maybe we'll go on to this — was to do with financial engineering of gfg, the leverage, the finance, the debt that they've incurred. all of that was what i think put a lot of pressure on those businesses. without that, i think there's healthy interest in the assets, and i think they have a vulnerable future. -- i think —— i think they have a viable future _ what measures the uk i

government are currently considering in terms of support for liberty steel, _ and particularly whether as a strategic sector - if nationalisation of the uk steel industry is a viable . business option in your view. i look at all options. i think nationalisation is an extreme occurrence which is unlikely to happen, franklx _ and my view has been vindicated by the fact that the assets are for sale, i think there's considerable interest in the assets, and mr gupta, contrary to a lot of people's beliefs, actually got the thing refinanced. and i said at the time, if you'll remember, ms nichols, we've got to take him at his word. we've got to see if he can refinance the assets. and i'm glad to say that he's doing that. at the time, you will remember that there was a plea to nationalise, to intervene, to sign taxpayers' money over to him, and i resisted that. i wanted to see it play out. but questions remained over gfg's finances. firstly, do you know where the money is coming from? look, myjob is not to be the finance manager of gfg. we have to give them some credit.

mr gupta said that he would look to refinance the assets. it would appear that he's succeeding in doing that, but as a quid pro quo, as a compromise, he has to divest some of the uk assess. now, i'm not privy to the financial dealings that are gearing the leverage of the business, and that's a matter for the creditors. clearly, creditors at the moment are willing to extend him and his group more finance, and that's a matter for them. last year, the business department refused a request from gfg for support. clearly, the £170 million was a big ask on the british taxpayer, and i had doubts and i expressed those doubts to the committee. and just to go back, to be very clear, we enforced my position. there were two reasons — one was that the gfg group was opaque. we didn't know where the money was going. and secondly, related to that, if the uk government gave them money, it wasn't clear to me as the secretary of state that this money would

stay within the uk. gfg did receive £46 million from the british business bank via its coronavirus business interruption loan schemes, or cbils. do you think there any lessons to be learnt, i though, from this? i absolutely do. i think that the british business bank was clearly under a lot of pressure to disperse loans and to keep... and let's get this straight — the british business bank was giving bank certification, and it was the banking system that actually provided the loans, the window, as it were. and we had to keep liquidity going, we had to keep businesses going, and whilst banks were accredited in this way, they were allowed to disperse money. now, what subsequently occurred is that the bank of england now has doubts, has concerns which it didn't have last year, when the decisions about

the cbils would be made. kwasi kwarteng. now an mp has told how a constituent was forced to pull out 18 of his own teeth because he couldn't get a dentist's appointment. this week, a patient body, healthwatch england, said access to dentistry had worsened during the pandemic, with some people asked to wait up to three years for care. meanwhile, nearly half of all dentists in england responding to a survey said they were considering leaving their practice if covid restrictions remained in place. this is a service that is broken. many constituents i've heard from now face insurmountable barriers accessing basic health care. they face extreme delays in getting an appointment, if they can secure one at all, and then they're faced with prohibitive treatment costs, even for nhs services, which some simply can't afford. an mp who works part time as a dentist said it was time to lift covid restrictions. the time has come for a road map to release dentists from ppe and all other restrictions. we need a return to

the pre—covid treatment of patients, and we need sage to look at it and get on with it. but in his experience in east london, people's lifestyles were to blame for bad teeth. kids and parents did not tooth brush. some parents didn't know toothbrushes existed. and if you went to the supermarket, the biscuits and cakes shelves were packed and huge. the vegetables and meat were diminished. if you go to less deprived areas, it's the other way around. someone who owns a business in my constituency was forced to pull 18 of his own teeth out after receding gums left him in agony and the broken dental care system left him with no other options. perhaps the honourable member would like to come and tell this businessman that his agonies are his own fault and that of his diet.

i would suggest that the honourable member may want to change his dentist—side manner. it is franklyjust very, - very difficult in some parts of the isle of wight to find an nhs dentist. _ i thank the minister— for the extra money to soak up some of the outstanding appointments, but thatl money was reasonably . limited very, very quickly. —— and it went a very, very quicklx _ some islanders are now having to get treatment and the mainland, which is incrediblyj inconvenient, especiallyj with the most expensive ferries in the world. we have children on the island, some _ we have children on the island, some of— we have children on the island, some of whom _ we have children on the island, some of whom have _ we have children on the island, some of whom have never- we have children on the island, some of whom have never seen we have children on the island, i some of whom have never seen a dentist— some of whom have never seen a dentist in— some of whom have never seen a dentist in their— some of whom have never seen a dentist in their life. _ the government has set targets for dental practices to try to clear the backlog. the majority of practices hit these targets by adopting approaches such as working jobs contracted hours, prioritising routine cases, but the best

unsustainable and the worst are dangerous. furthermore, they've surveyed their members to find out what impact this last quarter has had on them. 29% say they intend to stop doing nhs work entirely. nearly half intend to reduce nhs work. a similar proportion say they're likely to change career or retire should the restrictions stay in place. the aerosol generating procedures obviously involved high—speed drilling, creating saliva, and that creates a heightened risk for transmission. in response to our usual high street dental practices, we had required dentists to wear ppe and rest rooms early in the pandemic for up to an hour. this caused problems and challenges. with the new guidance, however, it's down to as low as ten minutes in many cases, depending on level of ventilation and other things. jo churchill. england's minister for sport

has called on football to put more money into researching head injuries. nigel huddleston was appearing before mps on the culture committee. it's been looking at the impact of concussion in sport. you can't really say with a straight face that football's done anywhere near enough to fund the research but also, crucially, to ensure that those who may face damage from concussive head industry, the proper support and —— head head industry, the proper supportand —— head injury... and concussive head injuries a proper long—term care that they need. you can honestly say football is doing their job in this respect. —— you cannot honestly say that bell is doing theirjob in this respect. —— footballers doing theirjob. no, i couldn't, which is why i couldn't say that. i completely agree. more research has been conducted than most people recognise because some say

there's been nothing done or they're ignoring it. i don't believe that's the case, but as to whether they're putting enough money and research into it, my answer would be absolutely no, they're not and i would like to see them put more in. nigel huddleston. the social care minister helen whateley has promised that the government will be "bold and ambitious" about reforming the system in england. she was speaking to a parliamentary inquiry into the treatment of people with dementia. last week, the committee heard some powerful testimony from a former civil servant, jonathan freeman, who ended up selling his mother's home to pay for her care. the point he made is that he really wanted to be spending that time and all that energy looking after her, not having to fight the bureaucracy. i just really want to ask you, we've heard so many times over the last few weeks, reforms are going to be brought forward. but we know that since the prime minister's words, 10,000 people have had to sell their homes. are we finally going to crack that problem? we said in our manifesto we would bring forward reforms for social care, and we're going to do that and we are going to do that this year.

one of the things we said we will tackle is this problem of catastrophic costs where some people find that they have to sell their home to pay for their care. can ijust be absolutely clear that it is your ambition to make sure that by the time we go into the next election, no—one will face those catastrophic costs? whatever the mechanism is, it will actually be up and running by the time of the next election? well, i don't want to commit to something that might be impossible to do, so what i can say is we have committed, so we are going to bring forward our proposals and long—term plan for social care reform this year. there will clearly be an implementation process, and just the reality of that is it may take some time. i must admit i am worried that there is a great use l of overarching and general words like ambitious. - and we hear very, very little detail. i the minister tried to

address her concerns. i think what's important at the moment is to say to you and all of those who are waiting for reform to make it clear that we are going to be ambitious and bold, and to set out some of the vision for those reforms and the sorts of things we want to enable people to do. jeremy hunt sought the views of a civil servant. how are discussions going with the treasury? discussions are always engaged and positive and we look forward to it. “ we —— we look forward to the spending _ —— we look forward to the spending review. i don't think we can say much more than that at this point, i'm afraid, but thank you. i'm an eternal optimist on this particular issue. i think it's a prerequisite. one must be eternally optimistic. tom surrey. the former archbishop of york, john sentamu, has taken his seat in the house of lords as baron sentamu of lindisfarne in the county of

northumberland and of masooli in the republic of uganda, where he was born. it's his second time in the lords — his old job came with a seat there, and he's now swapping the bishop's bench for the crossbench, as an independent peer. i do swear by almighty god to be faithful and bear true allegiance to her majesty, queen elizabeth, her heirs and successor according to law, so help me god. lord sentamu. that was tuesday in parliament. thank you for watching. i do hope you canjoin me at the same time tomorrow for highlights of prime minister's questions and borisjohnson's former adviser, dominic cummings, giving what could be explosive evidence to mps. until then, from me, david cornock, bye for now.

hello there. the bank holiday weekend is fast approaching, and we could all do with something a little more settled, couldn't we, to make outdoor plans? well, i can offer you certainly some drier weather over the next few days and into the weekend, and it will be warmer, too. now, just how warm, take a look at this. with the wind direction coming up from the south by the weekend, we could see temperatures peaking into the low 20s, and we've only seen that once so far this may. so that's something to look forward to. during wednesday, however, this weather front will enhance some showers coming out of eastern scotland during the morning and sinking their way steadily south across north east england, down through the pennines, maybe into the east midlands, although weakening somewhat. behind, we could see a few scattered, sharp showers developing. one or two odd rumbles of thunder, as well, into scotland. the best of the sunshine across wales, central and south west england, but the wind direction coming from the north, so a cool source. that means that temperatures still on the disappointing side. 12—14 degrees into the north.

we could see 16—18 across parts of england and wales. so, moving towards thursday, a relatively dry start with some early morning sunshine. conditions will cloud over a little into the afternoon, but a ridge of high pressure is building keeping things largely quiet. winds light, and as a result, temperatures will be a degree or so higher, 18—19 degrees. there is a weather front for the start of friday. it's pushing in from the west, but it's a very weak affair. as it bumps into that high pressure, it will die away. so there is the potential on friday of some light patchy rain perhaps into northern ireland, western fringes of scotland, the isle of man, let's say. and it will be quite cloudy, misty, murky, patchy mist and fog to higher ground here. but the best chance of seeing that cloud breaking up perhaps the south east, east anglia, and temperatures will respond with highs of 20 degrees. that's going to feel very pleasant indeed. so if you are thinking about heading to the coast for the bank holiday weekend, i don't think you'll be too disappointed. we can't rule out the risk

of a few showers up into the north, but generally it'll be fine and warm. if you want something just that little bit warmer and you don't want to head towards the coast, stay inland. again, temperatures are likely to peak into the low 20s, very nice indeed. and after the miserable month of may, that will certainly be welcome news.

welcome to bbc news — i'm ben boulos — our top stories... president biden urges congress to approve a policing reform bill, in memory of george floyd — after meeting his relatives on the first anniversary of his murder. all in all, he just wants the bill to be right and meaningful and that it holds george's legacy intact. the us secretary of state pledges aid to rebuild gaza during his visit to the region — but says israelis and palestinians, must address the root cause of their conflict. world leaders call for hard hitting sanctions against belarus — after a flight was forced to divert to minsk — and a dissidentjournalist arrested. and — for the first time in 3,000 years, tasmanian devils are born in the wild — on the australian mainland.