gavin williamson at the press conference. a—level dance students, and possibly those are some of the subjects that will not be able to continue. it is a really worrying time for those students, isn't it? it is. we need to get our children, pupils and stu d e nts to get our children, pupils and students learning again. the lockdown has been nothing short of a national disaster. we know that something like over 2 million children have not been doing any homework at all and over a million have had very little contact with their teachers. this is according to academic studies. we face an epidemic of potential educational poverty, a lost generation, so crisis. we now know there is a huge digital divide with 700,000 children according to the children's commissioner, not having access to proper computers at home. so we have to get the children back into schools. i welcome what the government is doing. and i thank all the teachers and support staff, people often forget the support staff, for the work they are doing to try and make it

gavin williamson they are speaking in the commons.ernment guidance today but questioned its limitation. mr speaker, every child must be safely backin speaker, every child must be safely back in the school in september. i then, many children will have experienced nearly six months‘ gap in their education. some have been able to maintain their learning during that period, but there has been a huge gap in learning for others. especially the most disadvantaged. a senior official in the secretary of state‘s department has warned the attainment gap could widen by as much as 75% as a result of the crisis. today‘s announcement finally recognises the desperate pleas of heads, staff and governors for information and certainty about plans for the next academic year. for too long, the government has been asleep at the wheel. the announcement today comes just three weeks before the end of term, and an immense amount needs to be done to prepare. mr speaker, staff have been working flat out since february half term, andi working flat out since febru

we have been speaking to the education secretary, gavin williamson.nes efforts to source and develop vaccines across a range efforts to source and develop vaccines across a range of different technologies from these leading companies. do these agreements mean the vaccines, what do we know about them? none of this is proved to be workable or safe at the moment? you are correct, we are still in the process of running the clinical trials in the different vaccines we have secured rights to. what it means, we are assessing whether or not these vaccines are safe and whether or not they provide protection to those who are vaccinated. the rules at which we do that are very tightly regulated by the regulator in the uk that defines which vaccines and drugs can get licensed. we are well on the way. oxford, if you take that as an example is vaccinated over 9000 people so far. we are getting a good sense as to how these vaccines are behaving. in terms of that regulation, we have been looking at this for many months, sometimes that can take years for those regulati

that was the message from the education secretary, gavin williamson.aking sure that teachers have the ability to do an assessment of the children where they fallen behind, what they've missed out on, how we can get the right types of interventions. what we have been encouraging on the £650 million that has been announced going to schools, we are giving schools the discretion on how to spend that but we have been looking at them to give extra coaching for small groups of children, making sure that if they fallen behind on their maths or the english or foreign languages, they have been given that little bit of extra support. the other thing interesting was listening to labour on this issue. they are critical because they say this extra cash does not make up for the cash lost out under austerity. but the interesting thing i thought was they seem much more supportive of children going back to school in september. you will remember previously, they appeared more closely aligned to the unions and concern about whether children going back would increase trans

the education secretary gavin williamson set out plans to fully reopen schools in england in septemberble to resume their education. limits on class sizes will be scrapped, while all schools will be supplied with testing kits if pupils or staff show symptoms of coronavirus. schools will continue minimising contact between children, including through grouping children together in bubbles and encouraging older children to distance. at a minimum, this will mean keeping year groups in schools and colleges separate. in these challenging times, we are committed to ensuring the nation's children have not just a safe education, but also an excellent one. from september, we are asking schools and colleges to return to a broad and balanced curriculum. we expect exams to go ahead in the summer of 2021. labour's new shadow education secretary welcomed some of the measures, but said... for too long, the government has been asleep at the wheel. the announcement today comes just three weeks before the end of term. and an immense amount needs to be done to prepare. a senior official in the secretary o

when we get the official announcement from gavin williamson, are you hearing about any new details?ils of the draft plan were lea ked details of the draft plan were leaked earlier this week. are you hearing about anything else that will be contained in it?|j hearing about anything else that will be contained in it? i think we have the broad thrust of the proposals. but a lot of it seems to me is going to come down to psychology rather than detailed policy in terms of will parents have sufficient confidence to send their children back. we know injune they absolutely did not and a lot of it is going to be depend on stuff out with gavin williamson's control in terms of the overall level of infections in the community in september —— dependent on stuff out with. test and tracing, how quickly testing can be done, how swiftly mobile testing units can be deployed to schools if there is an outbreak. all of those bigger covid questions, it seems to me, are going to be as important as all the intricate details of how schools are going to operate and parents are going to have sufficient confid

that is 8.82 million children and the news was announced by gavin williamson, the education secretaryill once again be mandatory and no child should be out of school unless it has been agreed. this would be crucial if we are to minimise the effect of this pandemic on every child's long term education development. there was a bit of a false start, wasn't there, about schools going back? because initially the government was my dream scenario was all primary school children would be back now. absolutely. many people taking different views across the country of what is possible and what is not possible because no school is identical and the government has been heavily criticised for not taking more of a kind of forceful national role and saying, look, this is how it is meant to happen, we will do everything we can so therefore either return in september... there isa either return in september... there is a lot of pressure on that because the government cannot afford to have a political mess up twice in a row by not providing clear and offer guidance but today the guidance that came out, t

the education secretary for england gavin williamson also said the government is issuing guidance for extra—curricular clubs and wrap—around services available, such as breakfast clubs. schools and colleges should be able to return to delivering their full curriculum ahead of exams next summer. and parents could be fined if their children do not attend school. let's speak now to steve chalke, the founder and leader of oasis, who run 52 academies around england. welcome to the programme, thank you for being with us. i presume you're just digesting this like many teachers and head teachers around the country are. what is your reaction to what you have heard from the government today? the first thing is what you have already said about having children the opportunity to get back to school so we welcome this return is that so many children across the country will have missed out six months of education so we need to get them back. i think there is lots of unpacking of the big picture that the government has prevented and then they say where were you guys to work this out? it's easy to ann

and the news was announced by gavin williamson the educations secratary and our old friend the downingdaily briefing. from september attendance will once again be mandatory. and no child should be out of school unless it has been agreed. this will be crucial if we are to minimise the effect of this pandemic on every child's long term education or development. now, there was a bit of a false start though wasn't there wasn't there, laura? about school going back because initially the governments dream scenario is that all primary schoolchildren would be back now. of course and it's been very very messy because different schools, different kinds of schools, different parts of the country a different local authorities, different parents, different head teachers have taken very, very different views of what's possible and what's not possible and of course there've been thousands of different senses because no school is identical. the government has been heavily critics size of not taking more of a national role saying look, this is how it's meant to happen, we are going to do everything we

education secretary gavin williamson is due to announce the plans for getting all pupils back after theill announce today that pubs, cafes a nd restau ra nts will be allowed to re—open however, only licensed outdoor areas can be used. the welsh government says it will consider the use of indoor spaces at a later date. sir paul mccartney, sir rod stewart, annie lennox and other big names in the music industry have signed an open letter appealing for government support to avoid mass insolvencies. their demands include an extension to the furlough scheme for those working in the industry and the removal of vat from tickets when gigs can take place again. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: police in hong kong have made several arrests under china's new national security laws, on the first day they came into force. president trump dismisses reports that russia paid the taliban to kill american troops as just a hoax. officials in regions in the uk with high infection rates for coronavirus have said they are working hard not to follow leicester into lockdown. officials in manchester, brad

the uk education secretary, gavin williamson said the vaccines were the most advanced in development.ree of confidence but we'll be entering trials. we'll need half a million people to be able to trial these vaccines going forward through the winter. but it's a really important part of their development. but it's vital that britain is leading the way and as i'm sure you'll know, britain is a world leader in terms of research and development and we talk about the work that's going on at oxford, but similar work going on at imperial, some amazing universities in this country. but not only are we leading the way in terms of the research, we're leading the way in terms of manufacture as well. you'll see the investment and development of manufacturing facilities, you know, expansion in scotland at livingston, but also the creation of a new vaccine centre in 0xfordshire as well. so we lead the world on research and development but also lead the world on manufacture. the chair of the vaccine taskforce, kate bingham says the uks is at the forefront of the effort to source and develop vaccines

gavin williamson saying he's going to co—chair the first meeting of the cross government ministerialssence here. what are the key, immediate things you want to see done that aren't being done currently? i would like every local authority to audit where they are with care leavers to ensure every child within care is on the edge of any kind of age gap where they might move, to ensure they have stable accommodation, they have all the support they need, to actually put on hold any care leaving arrangements until much further down the road, unless it's in the interests of the young person but to ensure those young people, in the longer term, have the kind of stay put and stay close arrangements that people are aspiring to sew young people are aspiring to sew young people don't have to look at 18 as being a cliff edge. young people stay at home now well into their 205 and we need to expect the same for children in care and the government ha5 children in care and the government has promised a review in the manifesto la5t has promised a review in the manifesto last year. we need to see that

. £30,000 to have dinner with the defence secretary at the time, gavin williamson there is another british individuals? well, i'm not quite sure what you are insinuating. as i said, all our donations are accepted in accordance with uk law from people who are citizens of this country and comply with the regulations. there are lots of people who donate to political parties of all colours who have a background outside of the uk. we don't discriminate on the basis of their race or their immigration origin. the law is the law and we comply with that. and, happily for us, all donations politically in this country are very transparent and for people to see and, as you quite rightly said, people can go on to the website and examine those donations and see for themselves. 0k, donations and see for themselves. ok, i've wanted to ask you about face masks as well, seeing as you other policing ministers morning. the chairman of the north police association, a gentleman called and he must, said the force does not have the capacity to police face coverings. in england it becomes mandatory to wear them in

pandemic, and the downing street briefing, which will be led today by the education secretary, gavin williamsonthe government has published details of its plans to re—open all schools in england full time from september. different year groups will be placed in separate bubbles, in order to reduce contact — instead of social distancing. if there are two positive coronavirus cases within a fortnight, a whole group could be sent home to self—isolate. teaching unions say the plans are unrealistic. our correspondent dan johnson is at a school in crawley. yes there has been a lot of head scratching from head teachers, because they were facing the puzzle of how to get more children into the classroom, whilst trying to keep the children further apart. so reducing the requirement for social distancing has been a key part of this guidance. there will be bigger protective bubbles and restrictions on movement around schools. that is pa rt on movement around schools. that is part of key to unlocking the classroom conundrum these are the few already back in school after months of disruption. getting the rest