gavin williamson.on the coronavirus front since mps last met at the end of july, with local lockdowns being imposed in areas with a high number of cases and the replacement of public health england with a new agency, so there were plenty of questions for the health secretary, matt hancock, when he gave an update to the commons. he began with an appeal for unity. we're doing everything we can to prevent a second peak, to prepare nhs for winter and restore as much of life as possible. as schools go back, we must all remain vigilant and throughout this crisis. we all have a role to play. this is a war against an invisible enemy in which we are all on the same side, and as we learn more and more about this unprecedented virus, so we constantly seek to improve our response, to protect our health in the nation and the things we hold dear. he is now embarking on a risky, distracting restructuring of public health england in the middle of a pandemic. i know tory mps like to blame public health england because

i think we have had different reports previously about the various things gavin williamson and his teamnew in advance of the awful algorithm. and i think we have had different types of communications where bodies have come forward and individuals have come forward and individuals have contacted say we spotted a problem. i think it is also worth noting that we have a public report if you look at things that robert half in the chair of the education select committee said, pointing out potential problems. so i think that generally speaking, i think there is plenty of evidence to suggest gavin williamson should have been aware there were problems coming up the track but i think ultimately it does feel as though his position is secure for now in dentistry have decided to stick with them. and i think with the return of schools today and throughout the week, i think should they continue going to plan, ithink think should they continue going to plan, i think number ten is his biggest test and that you turn on a level. the biggest risk restrictions in glasgow after a rise in virus restrictions t

gavin williamson said quual was "very independent."o ensure fairness. i know that 0fqual, very much at the heart of what it does, wanted to ensure fairness. and without a doubt, any process that you introduce in the midst of a pandemic is going to have its challenges. now, sexual and violent offenders will serve at least two—thirds of their jail terms, rather than half as part of changes to the criminaljustice system in england and wales. it will also be possible forjudges to send people aged 18 to 20 convicted of terrorism causing mass loss of life to prison for the rest of their lives. the justice secretary set out the aims of the sentencing overhaul. to bring in tougher sentences, to tackle drug—related crime, to treat addictions, to improve employment opportunities for offenders, to review the parole system and much more. a smarter approach to sentencing will grow confidence in the criminaljustice system's ability to deal robustly with the worst offenders and reduce the risk of harm to the public, but also be smart enough to do the

the shadow education secretary, kate green, has written to gavin williamson, saying he should considerstart of term or pausing the arrival of students to allow improvements in testing capacity and remote learning. with little warning before they were asked to isolate, some students are worried about getting supplies. as for staying put over christmas, which the government hasn't ruled out, labour say that would be unthinkable. it's really difficult. i'm personally from near london, so my family is really, really far away. so it's not like they can just come and see me through the gate. we didn't have time to go to the food shops before security came in, so it's put us in a really, really difficult situation. and just the lack of knowing what's going on, really, it's difficult. the department for education said it was monitoring the situation very closely and working with universities to ensure they were well prepared for the return of students, who the government says should follow the latest health advice just like the wider public. jonathan blake, bbc news. professor mark woolhouse,

just finally, jack, let's look at the metro, more problems looming for gavin williamson.these freshman around universities around the country are in lockdown and not even sure there will be home for christmas? you see the picture of gavin williamson popping up on the front page, it always seems like when there is calamity, and his face is attached. never a great place for the minister to be. is attached. never a great place for the ministerto be. it is attached. never a great place for the minister to be. it all seems obvious that we would've gotten to this point, but you wonder if they we re this point, but you wonder if they were so this point, but you wonder if they were so focused on getting those primary school back after that went so primary school back after that went so badly wrong last time, and maybe that i was taken off the ball a little bit and there should have been measures brought in more quickly? we have to cut you short, we've run out of time. we will see you in 35 minutes' time. that's our first look at the papers. good evening, i'm chetan pathak with yo

there is an effort here to apply some political pressure on gavin williamson.s a devolved issue. i do not think gavin williamson will be the only minister andi williamson will be the only minister and i do not think the conservative party will be the only party to come under pressure. to what extent that ramps up potentially depends on whether we see more and more cases of stu d e nts whether we see more and more cases of students having to self—isolate in student halls for two weeks, which is obviously difficult for stu d e nts which is obviously difficult for students and the broader question about whether they feel they are getting value for money out of their education. thank you. president trump has picked a conservativejudge — amy coney barrett — as his nominee to fill the supreme court seat left vacant by the death of the liberaljudge, ruth bader ginsburg. the decision has been condemned by democrats who say he is trying to force through a judge who would help to destroy public healthcare and abortion rights. donald trump's presidential rival, joe biden,

we will leave gavin williamson there, the education secretary, who has been talking in the commons.t, in many things, being sorry for the pupils affected. labour accusing the government of a summer of incompetence and confusion. our political correspondent nick eardley is at westminster for us. at the very least, the government relief schools are back, finally. something that is been slightly familiar, they have been getting a bit of a ticking on education. we heard labour accusing them of incompetence there, the snp saying they do not heed the warning of scotla nd they do not heed the warning of scotland and the exam chaos. gavin williamson, i think was pretty clear there but he is quite confident that when it comes to schools, things are on the right path now, most children england are going to go back over the next few days. that is a confidence reflected in down a street as well, so perhaps we might start to see government strategy starting to work when it comes to education —— reflected in downing street. there is the question over a call we heard from the labour party to delay

gavin williamson came to the commons to explain and apologise.situation has, i know, cost a great deal of stress and uncertainty and i am deeply saddened that those who have borne the brunt of it have been students themselves. i can only apologise again for this. we took immediate action to provide certainty as soon as it was clear that if he didn't, too many students were to receive crates that did not reflect their hard work and their ability. he must now take responsibility forensuring a summer of incompetence does not this in further into an autumn of disaster and dismay. any normal cabinet with the repeated failure to take responsibility would lead to his sacking, but this government talks of mutant algorithms. a shoogly peg is a will be one carol monaghan clearly —— a shoogly peg is a wobbly one. carol monaghan clearly surprised to find gavin williamson still in a job. back at prime minister's questions, boris johnson came under pressure from sir keir starmer and others to extend the furlough or job retention scheme under which the governme

gavin williamson.e their human rights are protected as well as those of white people. that's according to a survey commissioned by the human rights committee. the study also suggested that 65% didn't think the nhs treated them equally, and 85% felt the police weren't fair. the report's authors appeared before the committee to expand upon theirfindings. there can't be smoke without a fire. our polling isn't saying, you know, 85% of people saying that 100% of their experiences have been negative with the police because of their race, but what we are saying is that they feel that there might be mistreated because of their race, and through that, it's more so looking at... if we were to say half of those people had actually had a negative experience, the other half are expecting it to happen because the existing research says it's more likely to happen to them. so even me as a person, i've never been stopped by the police, still, factually, the reality is i am more likely to be stopped by the police. so it

today, gavin williamson has been explaining why he took that decision.t, with pupils sitting exams in the conventional way. here's our education editor, branwen jeffreys. stu d e nts students have a lot of questions. candidate sit exams next year? how did the a—level chaos happen? we put together six form to watch mps grill the education secretary. was the exa m the education secretary. was the exam regulator to blame? what i'm asking is did 0fqual get it wrong and hence the resignation of the chief executive? i think the fundamental policy of calculated, moderated grades was the right approach to be taking in terms of the exam system. the reality was that there were too many inconsistencies in terms of the grades. what did the students make of it? as someone who was affected by the algorithm and things like that, for me especially i wanted a straight answer, as they had months and months to finalise this and figure out what they would do for us. figure out what they would do for us. and it ended in a shambles. gavin williamson came out and just dodged q

return to classroom by gavin williamson and other ministers this morning.s nice to be drowned out by a helicopter who his parked right over my head! a cabinet minister to start the autumn term in westminster. one minister, the defence secretary, managing to shake hands with someone in downing street across of —— in front of the cameras. he has since apologised saying it is not a good idea. another helicopter! let's hear the prime minister this morning. people are going back to the office in huge numbers across our country and quite right too, and we know that there is still going to be more of this disease, this wretched covid still to come and we know there will be more outbreaks but we are confident that we going to be able to deal with those outbreaks and bit by bit, this incredible country is getting back on its feet and recovering from this crisis. the cabinet not meeting in the cabinet office this morning but in the foreign office, in a far bigger room, allowing them to meet physically rather than remotely. so the political term is under way and befor

yes, and the rumours over the summer were that gavin williamson would be in place to field all these schools. he was being kept on despite the a—level debacle because he had to face the music on what it was likely to be a very difficult to return to school. we have actually seen a really high u pta ke we have actually seen a really high uptake in school returns, but then this university issue sort of came, might actually say it like it's came out of the blue for the government and it might be to the point that they concentrated so much on primary and secondary school that they didn't foresee these issues with universities. although, that does feel a little bit difficult. it's williamson once again facing the questions in the commons tomorrow and will no doubt be on the tv screen. and will no doubt be on the tv screen. he's being kept around by government to own these questions.|j think it might mean more viewers for us, actually, with freshers not being able to go to the bars, maybe have the tv on in the background. that's it for the papers this evening. thanks to kate and jack. than

gavin williamson, who has not been on the front pages for a while back in the comments yesterday todayare the french doing it any differently was glued not by the sounds of it. from my understanding of the french, 3296 of the cases, the second wave cases are coming from educational establishments, schools and universities and their warning this is not coming from lecture halls we re is not coming from lecture halls were students could study complexity coming from their flats and parties and bars. so, that's possibly students could be let out to universities and seminars into their studies, but be restricted on the parties. it underlines the problem with people in the halls of residence in shared houses and things like that. it's all very well if you have social distancing and online learning, it is controlling these kids when they are not in class and a lot of people are saying that we could have foreseen this months ago. my secondary school, the are describing with foreign students, because of the experience there have their being taught online, not able to socialise in the way they w

political pressure will be applied to gavin williamson. he was criticised over that saga.insburg. ifjudge amy coney barrett is confirmed by the senate, conservative—leaning justices will hold a six to three majority on america's highest court for the foreseeable future. nomia iqbal reports. inside a packed rose garden, president trump confirmed who wants to see replacejustice ginsburg. a controversial nomination, but amy coney barrett attempted to reassure americans. the president has nominated me to serve on the us supreme court, and that institution belongs to all of us. if confirmed, i would not assume that role for the sake of those in my own circle, and certainly not for my own sake. i would assume this role to serve you. her nomination was no surprise. she had been linked to the seat made vacant in 2016 when conservative justice scalia died. she said she models herself on him, which worries liberals. the mother of seven is described as a devout catholic who, according to an article in 2013, said that life begins at conception. this makes her a favourite among religio

the education secretary, gavin williamson, says he's determined that exams and assessments will go ahead during a statement to mps, he again apologised to students who'd borne the brunt of the problems with gradings. mr williamson also said the reopening of schools from today was a huge moment and that he's "confident" the necessary preparations are in place for students to study safely. welcoming pupils back will be a massive milestone for schools across the country. on the 2nd ofjuly we publish detailed plans for nurseries, schools, special schools and colleges. that set out what was required to deliver this full return as safely as possible for all of our children. the guidance has been developed with medical and scientific experts and public health england and follows regular engagement with the education sector. the recent letter from all four uk chief medical officer is which emphasise the low risk of long—term harm from covid—i9 due solely to attending school in comparison to the high risk of long—term harm from not attending school. particularly for small vulnerable children and

after two weeks of controversy over the fairness of the algorithm, the education secretary gavin williamson the fundamental mistake was to believe that this would ever be acceptable to the public. perhaps i might illustrate that point, give a sense of what i mean by that. we were looking at this in terms of particular ideas of fairness, fairness across the whole population, the probability that somebody would get a grade, but acknowledging from the outset that it would not be anything like as accurate as exams. i think what we now realise is that... if you have 1000 students that have an 80% chance of getting a a grade, they would regard themselves, quite regularly go reasonably as a grade students. we were acknowledging that some of the students would get a b grade. mr taylor was also said that 0fqual wanted students to sit exams, but it was secretary of state gavin williamson, who decided that they would be cancelled and replaced with a system of calculated grades. 0ur our initial advice to the secretary of state was not the best ways to handle this was to try to hold exams ina handle thi

already those claims are coming unstuck one teaching union is warning that education secretary gavin williamson may face legal action because they say schools were opened without proper safeguards being put in place teachers a 1000 in the alarm but a chronic lack of testing facilities means that i just couldn't england make going to a halt the staff and pupils are forced to stay home school managements have been doing everything they chant but the government has failed to do their side of things testing is impossible to get our go social distancing isn't possible in full class sizes i mean infection rates are going up so we have an absolutely chaotic situation where understandably and correctly pupils and staff are being sent home and they have potential sitting timbs but nobody knows if it's just a cold or coated and it's a complete loss story and of course the danger is that they will be some situations where in fact we did have an infectious child in this go but nobody knows because we can't get a test to check one way or the other facing the lack of testing more than 200 school and college

gavin williamson, the education secretary

gavin williamson has not gone further in that letter?weekend. blue skies and sunshine but also seems a bit like this. this is the suffolk coast. strong northerly winds driving in a big waves. and the wet weather as well. rain and wind for many eastern parts of england but away from eastern england but away from eastern england more sunshine. we will all notice it's fairly chilly out there this weekend and a brisk northerly wind as well. slow moving area of low pressure out towards the east which has been a bit of a troublemaker over recent days and it is still bringing strong winds and showers for eastern england, particularly lincolnshire, east anglia and later into the afternoon drifting further south toward london and kent. away from these eastern counties most other places having a pretty decent diary. the odd shower for scotland and northern ireland this morning but that is fading. sunny spells for wales, south—west england, and temperatures generally around 12—16 but feeling cooler weather is that brisk northerly wind, especially o

ready those claims are coming unstuck one teaching union is warning that education secretary gavin williamson may face legal action because they say schools were opened without proper safeguards being put in place teachers of sounding the alarm but a chronic lack of testing facilities means that you can't get in england make way to a halt the staff and pupils are forced to stay home school managements have been doing everything they chant but the government has failed to do their side of things testing is impossible to go social distancing isn't possible in full class sizes i mean infection rates are going up so we have an absolutely chaotic situation where understandably and correctly pupils and staff are being sent home and they have potential sitting timbs but nobody knows if it's just a cold or coverage and it's a complete loss story and of course the danger is that they will be some situations where in fact we did have an infectious child in this go but nobody knows because we can't get a test to check one way or the other facing the lack of testing more than 200 school and college leade

the education secretary gavin williamson insisted students were returning to a safe environment and saidhe re—opening of schools was a massive milestone. our education editor bra nwen jeffreys reports. kirsty‘s getting ready for the new term, to welcome her class back to lessons and sending her own son back to his school. as a teacher, as a parent, i'm really happy for my son to return. he's really excited to see his friends and just getting stuck back in with the learning. ok, so i think we can leave this one here, this is still completely relevant and quite helpful. from morning drop—off onwards, it's all changing. signs warning parents they can't come beyond the gates. for the head, an extra cost to making the school safe. things like sanitiser, soap, paper towels, tissues, we have to have an awful lot of that if you think that we're going to have 400 plus children washing their hands at least six times a day. ava is getting ready to start secondary school, her mum a bit worried but trying to stay positive. she's not actually worried about starting school, she's worried about the covi

gavin williamson, the education secretary for england, has told mps that children should only be givenif they display the known symptoms. the government has announced that from today there will be a dedicated advice line for schools, nurseries and colleges if the event of a new case of the virus. our education correspondent elaine dunkley reports. these children are feeling fit and well and ready for school, but hertford manor primary has had a confirmed case of coronavirus. 43 children and 4 members of staff are at home, self—isolating. we've got a whole year of this, i'm convinced of that, and we need to have better testing, access to testing, so parents aren't pushed all over the country. results need to come back quicker. at the moment, we're seeing tests take as long as four days. i'm feeling absolutely fine. i'm showing no symptoms. mrs lawrence teaches children in year two and also does supply work. she's found getting a test difficult and is currently at home. it felt like fastest fingers won the test. we tried on saturday night, we couldn't get anything. we tried on sunday mor

ready those claims are coming unstuck one teaching union is warning that education secretary gavin williamson may face legal action because they say schools were opened without proper safeguards being put in place teachers a founding the alarm but a chronic lack of testing facilities means that i do cation in england make way to a halt the staff and pupils are forced to stay home school managements have been doing everything they can but the government has failed to do their side of things testing is impossible to get i will go social distancing isn't possible in full class sizes i mean infection rates are going up so we have an absolutely chaotic situation where understandably and correctly pupils in staff are being sent home and they have potential sitting timbs but nobody knows if it's just a cold or coverage and it's a completely lost story and of course the danger is that there will be some situations where in fact we did have an infectious child in the sco but nobody knows because we can't get a test to check one way or the other facing the lack of testing more than 200 school and colle