Transcripts For BBCNEWS BBC News Special 20200527

Good afternoon and welcome to viewers on bbc one for this news special. The Prime Minister borisjohnson is about to face a grilling from senior mps about his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and his continuing support for Dominic Cummings, his most senior advisor. Well bring that to you live. Were also expecting to hear details later of a local lockdown scheme in england to help tackle future outbreaks of coronavirus. It could lead to schools or businesses being closed in areas which experience a spike in cases. The government says the measures will be part of the test and trace system, which will be ready in the coming days. In15 minutes time, Boris Johnson will appear before the Commons Liaison Committee for the First Time Since taking office. Hes likely to be asked about Dominic Cummings controversial trip to County Durham during lockdown. Around a0 tory mps have called for mr cummings to resign or be fired. More on that later, but first our Health Correspondent Sophie Hutchinson has this report. By the middle of next month, many high street shops will reopen, transforming our deserted town and city centres. But the government is warning that some areas may be forced back into lockdowns if there are outbreaks of the virus. They will be identified by test and Contact Tracing systems, and englands begins on monday. The trade off here is that for a relatively small number of people abiding by the rules, being inconvenienced in some cases, staying at home and self isolating, the rest of society gets to enjoy far more freedom than we all do today. 25,000 people have been recruited to help trace the contacts of people who have the virus. They will use phone calls, text and e mail to alert anyone who has recently met up with an infected person and give them advice about self isolating. Scientists from the Royal Society estimate an effective tracking system could reduce the number of new infections by 5 15 , but it relies on getting the public on board and there is concern about how that can be achieved. What we must have, if there was a local lockdown, is adherence of the local population, and they would have to have the respect and the trust of the people who are actually giving that information because, lets be honest, a lot of people would think, well, this is unfair. The rest of the country is coming out. We have actually been told to go back to the square before. It is only people who have tested positive for covid 19 whose contacts will be traced. A system is already under way in Northern Ireland, and scotlands begins tomorrow. It says it will have 2,000 contact traces by the end of the month. We are trying to interrupt the viral transmission, so you get to the contact. If they dont get symptoms, you have interrupted the virus. If they get symptoms, you test them and so it goes on. So the whole point is to try and break down the outbreak, so you can shut it down and then you can release society a little bit more as time passes. The Welsh Government is aiming to roll out its Contact Tracing system next week, but some Council Leaders there say it may have to be delayed because it is struggling to test enough people. Like the rest of the uk, it is aiming to double its Testing Capacity by the end of the month and there are just four days to go. Sophie hutchinson, bbc news. Were just a few minutes away from seeing the Prime Minister answer questions from mps at the house of Commons Liaison Committee. 0ur political correspondent, alex forsyth is at westminster. Talk us through the sort of format we can expect. An Important Role of what parliament does is meant to be scrutinising the work of the government. So there is a series of committees called select committee set up across parliament, and they look at areas like health and social ca re look at areas like health and social care or the work of the treasury or Foreign Affairs or defence. They are made up of mixed mps from different parties. This Liaison Committee is one of the most senior of those because it takes the chairman of all of those different select committees and puts them on one Big Committee whose role is to scrutinise the Prime Minister specifically. The Prime Minister specifically. The Prime Minister specifically. The Prime Minister of the day appears before the Liaison Committee, used to be two times a year. Now it is customary to be three times a year. And those chairman of the select committees, those senior mps, can ask the Prime Ministers questions. This is the first time borisjohnson will appear before the Liaison Committee today. And because it is in the middle of this Coronavirus Crisis, it is attracting a lot of attention. As i understand the format for this committee, as you mentioned, it is inevitable that the Prime Minister will face further questions over the actions of his chief aide, Dominic Cummings, and the decision he took and his justification for what he did during the lockdown period because he said he was concerned about getting appropriate care for his child. We know number ten have already said they think Dominic Cummings behaved reasonably and within the rules, but that hasnt appeased a lot of conservative mps as well as mps from opposition parties who are quite angry at what Dominic Cummings has done and say they have been inundated by messages from their constituents, who are also angry and dont believe this was within the spirit or indeed to the letter of the lockdown regulations. That will inevitably come up today. But as i understand it, the mps on the Liaison Committee want to keep that fairly limited to one chunk of this 90 minute session because there are other questions about the governments wider handling of this pandemic. So i expect we will hear questions about the governments Testing Capacity, the way it has implemented the testing regime, perhaps questions to do with ppe and about what comes now as we move into the next phase, whether it is the loosening of the lockdown and the possibility of local lockdown measures being introduced and a more targeted approach from government. I expect that to come up, and perhaps discussion about the impact of all this on the economy. So it may be a mixed session for the next 90 minutes when the Prime Minister appears, but it is inevitable that there will be serious questions about the Prime Ministers handling of the actions of his aide, Dominic Cummings. Thank you, we will come back to you shortly before this Committee Session starts. Sir craig oliver is former director of politics and communications for former Prime Minister David Cameron and joins me now. So this is the first time that Boris Johnson has subjected himself to the Liaison Committee, and thats what a time stop what of preparation will he have made . Well, the best of times you put an enormous amount of effort in. A lot of time would be blocked off in the Prime Ministers diary to make sure he was fully prepped for it. In normal circumstances, you could be asked about any number of subjects because it crosses all the select committees. You could be asked anything. In this case, it is narrowed down a bit because they know there will be 20 minutes on covid i9. Some of that will be on Dominic Cummings. So i think a lot of time will be spent in number ten making sure they have got the a nswe is making sure they have got the a nswers to making sure they have got the answers to back them. Their number one objective in number ten will be to make sure they dont have any they dont add any more fuel to the fire. They dont want to create a big headline coming out of this. They think this is dying down. There has been huge pressure and coverage in the papers, but nothing new in the last 12 hours. They are hoping they can get through this without adding a big new line to the story. I suppose ministers in the last few days, whenever asked about Dominic Cummings and the detail, they have said he answered the questions himself. He subjected himself to angling and they want to move on. That has been the stock answer. That will be hard for the Prime Minister to do, wont it . I think it will be quite hard. They have to watch that he doesnt look like he isjust com pletely he doesnt look like he isjust completely blocking and filibustering. That doesnt look great, and he wants to look like there is a proper, strong answer. The other thing to watch out for is that they may want to try and throw something and that is completely new, perhaps about using the lockdown or Something Like that. So a story that might be at least equivalent value or even outdo the Dominic Cummings story might move things on a bit. Dominic cummings has been the top news story, but they will be thinking about that. How much will the Prime Minister be helped by the format, which has been decided by the chair, bernard jenkin, about whom himself there has been a certain amount of comment . He was suggested by the government rather than being elected by other chairs. How much is that likely to help him . In previous circumstances, help him . In previous circumstances, he would be in a situation where the chair is elected by other chairs of the committee. The government have said there is no reason why that is to be the case, so they suggested bernard jenkin. The danger is that that looks like he is there to protect the Prime Minister throughout. The format that he has structured, 20 minutes on covid, burma probably just a structured, 20 minutes on covid, burma probablyjust a few minutes of that on Dominic Cummings, helps the minister. He will probably be able to talk it down. But the danger is that he doesnt look like he is not taking it seriously. A lot of criticism of what happened at the weekend was that he was very british, very short and to the point. I have decided this, i have spoken to him and that is the end of the matter, and he got criticised for that. I think they will want him to show that he is empathetic and does understand why people are concerned about this. But he feels unbalanced that Dominic Cummings has not really broken the law. It has been said of the secretary of state before that he is not really a details man. Is that likely to trip him up . It has been said of the Prime Minister that he is not a details man. In the last general election, he was saying get brexit done. There is no one better at carrying a single message and driving it home and being effective in that. He has been less effective over detail and i think a lot of people in number ten will be spending time with him saying, you really need to do your homework. You need to be a master of detail. There isa need to be a master of detail. There is a danger that if you look like you dont know the answer, people will question your leadership at a time when we are facing the most difficult, complex problem certainly in peace time that we have ever faced. So i think there will be a lot of effort to make sure he is focused on the detail. And i suspect the Opposition Mps and those who are against him will be spending time trying to think of what is the fiendishly difficult question that is short, punchy and to the point, that demands him answering on the detail . Sir craig oliver, thanks for joining us. You are welcome. Our Health Correspondent Sophie Hutchinson is here with me now. Away from the issue of Dominic Cummings, we are expecting to hear something more about test, track and trace and localised lockdowns. Yes, we are expecting to hear more detail about englands scheme for testing and chasing peoples contacts in order to ease the lockdown. The idea is that if you are able to chase the virus and shut it down because we know that person has been in contact with five other people and they should stay at home just in case they have been affected, it means local areas can be locked back down temporarily, maybe a local street or just a few contacts or even a whole local area, we dont know at the moment. And the rest of us can have the lockdown eased. Different schemes are going on in different parts of the uk. Northern irelands scheme has been up and running already. Scotland begins tomorrow with its scheme and it has 2000 people who will be chasing infected peoples contacts. Englands scheme has 25,000 chasers, to give you an idea of the difference in scale. The wales scheme is meant to be starting next week, but there have been concerns from wales about whether there are enough tests in place. And this question of whether enough people are being tested is vital to whether a track and trace system works so that you know who is infected. While you were speaking, we have just received the new daily figures for uk deaths. We hear that there are 412 new deaths in the uk in all settings as of 5pm yesterday. Of those testing positive for coronavirus across all settings, 37,460 have now died. So that is up by 412. You were talking about how test, track and trace and localised lockdowns might work. What sort of force would lockdown have . Do we have any notion of that yet . Do you mean how it would be enforced . As it stands, there doesnt seem to be any new legislation that people are required to stay at home and that they would be breaking the law otherwise. That is clearly something a government could bring in. But at the moment, it feels as though this isa the moment, it feels as though this is a request from government for people to participate a track and trace scheme. And the government is relying on goodwill and people wanting to protect neighbours and friends, protect the nhs and the rest of the country and getting the public onside feels absolutely key in terms of managing a system that will work properly. In terms of having a fast testing system, that is key as well. And the Royal Society has set as long as the testing system is really effective, it can lower infection rates by up to 15 . So. we are going straight to 15 . So. we are going straight to the Liaison Committee. I would like to thank the working group of members of the Committee Established by the whole committee that helped set this up quickly. The working group agreed to topics to be discussed and in consequence the chairare discussed and in consequence the chair are representing the committee today. The last time we had a Prime Minister before this committee was 12 months ago and the committee agreed the session would focus on the Coronavirus Crisis but they remain other policy areas such as brexit, international issues, trade agreements, domestic issues that require cross departmental scrutiny so require cross departmental scrutiny sojust on a housekeeping point can you commit to attending regularly this year and preferably before the house rises again for summer recess . First of all let me say thank you to you and your committee for your invitation and im delighted we are able to have this session. You are very kind to want to see me again more frequently. Even before we have committed this one can i possibly get back to you on that, obviously there is a lot on at the moment. We have a big National Campaign to defeat the coronavirus, get our country back on its feet and there isa country back on its feet and there is a huge amount of work we are involved in so im sure that your committee will appreciate that my time is scarce. We will do everything we can to oblige. |j time is scarce. We will do everything we can to oblige. I note that that is not a commitment but i must insist that was a strong message that the committee wanted me to convey. I understand, im delighted to be here today. Colleagues have assured me that questions will be short and to the point andl questions will be short and to the point and i would be grateful if you could give a short and direct answers. I will do my utmost. We thank you for the advance copy of the announcement you are going to make in committee but without time to scrutinise it in any depth the committee is concerned it does not wish to be diverted from the questions that weve got. If your announcement is lengthy am afraid it will lengthen the proceedings slightly. Just to warn you of that. If you can keep your questions short, you are and so short, that will help. I will go straight in, the committee is obviously extremely concerned about the issue of your Senior Adviser. Polls suggest a large majority of the public believe that your adviser broke lockdown rules, how much do you think that this has undermined the moral authority of the government with the public at a time when Public Confidence in the government is so important . Thank you very much and i was not going to make a long announcement today about the test and trace scheme but i thought your committee would like to interrogate me about that if they have a chance to read what we are doing. On that particular matter all i would say is this really has been going on for several days now in the media at least. Of course im deeply sorry for all of the hurt and pain and anxiety people have been going through throughout this period. This country has been going through frankly and most difficult time. We are asking people to do quite exceptionally tough things, separating them from their families. But i must say that i feel from my adviser, we have had quite a lot of autobiography recently, i have commented on it and i think people know my views. I really do not propose to add to that and i think what the public want is to focus on ifi what the public want is to focus on if i may, i think they want us to focus on a sizeable posse can as politicians, on uniting our message. As faras politicians, on uniting our message. As far as we possibly can. And explaining what needs to be done next to get the country through this epidemic. On the 24th of may you said Dominic Cummings had acted responsibly, legally and with integrity and that reflects that special advisers are bound by the section in the Civil Service code on integrity. Why have you not invited the cabinet secretary to conduct an enquiry to give you independent advice . I think that is a reasonable question to ask and i say we had a huge amount of discussion of what happened between the 27th of march and the 14th of april in light of my adviser and quite frankly i am not certain right now that an enquiry into the matter is a very good use of official time. We are working flat out on coronavirus. What advice have you sought from the cabinet secretary about compliance with the code and that matter of integrity in the code . Ive no reason to believe there is any dissent from what i said a few days ago. Has he had an opportunity to ask his questions of your Senior Adviser . Im not going to go into the discussions that have taken place to go into the discussions that have ta ken place but to go into the discussions that have taken place but i have no reason to depart from what i have already said. Of course it is unprecedented for a special adviser to have their owii for a special adviser to have their own press conference in the rose garden at downing street, how did you consult with cabinet before agreeing to this . Well, i thought it would be a very good thing if people could understand what i had understood myself previously i think on the previous day about what took place. And there you go, we had a long dull at it and look, it has been very frustrating episode and understand why people have been so concerned because this country is going through a horrendously difficult time. But i really think in so faras difficult time. But i really think in so far as what we need to do is to focus on getting the message right which would be probably Common Ground with your committee and i think what we need to do is to move on and to get on to how we are going to sort out coronavirus. That is the overwhelming priority of the people of this country. We have a plan, weve been going through it, it is working and we are now coming tomorrow the 28th of may, a very important next stage. Pete wishart. Good afternoon Prime Minister and good to see you before committee. I think you have been quite brave in the Remit Committee have been prepared to sacrifice the credibility and popularity of your own governmentjust to stand by your man. You have done something ive never seen done in the 20 years ive beenin never seen done in the 20 years ive been in this house, uniting a nation in combination and indignation of your handling of mr cummings. And 80 of the British Public now think that Dominic Cummings broke the rules, 63 said you should sack him but the most worrying thing is 65 say that his conduct makes it less likely that the public will now follow lockd own likely that the public will now follow lockdown rules. Surely, Prime Minister, surely no man is more important than keeping this nation safe. Pete, if i may important than keeping this nation safe. Pete, ifi may respectfully say in addition to what ive already said about that particular matter, a lot of what was written and said over saturday and sunday was false in respect of my adviser. It was not correct and i think he has had an opportunity to clear the matter up and notwithstanding the various Party Political points you may seek to make i think, and your point about the message, i respectfully disagree and i think actually the best way to clarify the message, the best way to clarify the message, the best way to clarify the message, the best way for people to understand what we need to do next is for us all to move on and focus on what we are doing tomorrow and what we are doing. Have you had a look at your inbox, Prime Minister. My inbox like mps across this week is full of communications from constituents who have not been able to see their families for months, people not able to visit dying relatives. Do you know what this looks like two then, one rule for those of the heart of government and another for everyone else. He will not say sorry, will you say sorry on his behalf . Of course, pete, im sorry for the pain and anguish and heartbreak of so many people in this country. And by the way there are people across government at every level who have been going through exactly the same privations and difficulties and of course we all understand that and i share that. Im saying to you that i think what we need to do now as politicians, as leaders, if we possibly can is to set aside this row because im afraid many of these allegations turned out to be totally false. And to move on. Ive said what i had to say about that matter andi what i had to say about that matter and i think that in as it is correct to say that it is a distraction than by that very argument now is the time to leave it aside and move on. This is just growing and growing, Prime Minister, the anger reaching fever pitch. Writing this outjust looks like petulant defiance. You know that eventually you will have to let him go so why notjust get on with it . Thank you so much for your point. I consider that to be a valuable piece of, you know, youre making political points and piece of political advice, i consider what this government needs do is focus on the needs of the nation, on setting up the needs of the nation, on setting up this problem and getting our message across and that is what we are going to do. Good afternoon, Prime Minister. You talk about the enormous National Effort and talk about the nation but how frustrating for you is it that you as the uk Prime Minister during this enormous piece in crisis, the fact that weve not been able to act as one United Kingdom with one single set of clear rules, one joined up strategy. All you think the variable geography of the four nations approach reflects the four nations approach reflects the strength of the union at this time . Stephen, a really good question and actually one of the interesting things which you would not possibly guess from my Exchange Just now with pete, there has been fantastic cooperation and collaboration between all four nations of the uk. If you look at the differences between our approach as they are marginal and to get your point, it is very important that when there is a slight difference in the infection rate between one part of the uk or another or when one of us of the uk or another or when one of us has had slightly different problem with care homes or as we are seeing in scotland or wales, it is entirely sensible that they should be slightly different approaches and that indeed is what weve seen. And weve seen that in many european countries. On that point about collaboration, how influential where the consensus of the scottish and welsh foreign minister about the easing of lockdown rules i have your statement on may the 10th, did they effectively temper your own instincts to go further and ends that the reason why give a more cautious statement on that day . Stephen, will Work Together and i listen very carefully to what mark says, to what eileen and michelle says, to what eileen and michelle says, what nicola says and of course we think about it together. What we said on may the 10th was a pretty cautious message. We decided as eve ryo ne cautious message. We decided as everyone knows to have a relaxation that encourages people who must go to work to go to work, it is still the case if you can work from home then you should work from home. But what we are also bringing in, we brought in some relaxation on exercise and peoples ability to travel to take exercise. Only in england. And actually i was struck by the congruence rather than the disparity, i think it always suits those who are rather separatist i wa nt to those who are rather separatist i want to break up the uk to play at the differences but in fact the unity has been much more conspicuous than you might believe. We are already four minutes behind, Prime Minister. Simon hoare. Thank you, Prime Minister, do we not think given the huge amount of cross border traffic between the republic and Northern Ireland, that we need to ensure that we are in as close lockstep as possible but the republic in order ensure we take our baby republic in order ensure we take our ba by ste ps republic in order ensure we take our baby steps to release lockdown that the people, all the people of the island of ireland are set as possible . Absolutely and i know you follow this closely assignment from your Vantage Point on Northern Ireland Affairs Committee and we thank you for your work there. Just to say that i have a very good relationship, working relationship with leo varadkar as you may know and we talk about what we are trying to deal together as much as possible. One interesting thing is clearly ireland, the republic of ireland will not be affected by any changes that we bringing on quarantine, we will keep the common travel area. And as you know cooperation is going on with the app so we are working together as closely as we can. If the r rate sta rts closely as we can. If the r rate starts to creep up and lockdown needs to be either replaced as it is or may be more full and robust, my inbox tells me that as a result of the last few days, the response of the last few days, the response of the british people is going to be far less energetic than it was first time round, and that is as a direct result of the activities of your Senior Adviser. You are right to say that we know what your views are. Frankly, Prime Minister, i dont think anybody understands why you hold those views. So what do we say to our constituents who are likely to our constituents who are likely to say, you can keep your lockdown if it has to come back. If other people dont abide by it, why should we . Well, i dont think that is true about how the british people will respond to the next phases to how to work the test and trace system. That is not how they have responded throughout the crisis. They have responded with fantastic responsibility and collectively, we got the r dam and the incidence of the disease down. But suppose for a second that you were right, which i dont accept, all the more reason now for us to be consistent and clear in our message and driving those key messages, particularly about washing your hands, maintaining social distance, isolating if you have symptoms. All those things will continue to be vital as we move into the next phases. We are coming down the covid alert system from level four to level three. We hope to take a decision tomorrow. But all that depends, as you know what we are doing with schools and nonessential retail from doing with schools and nonessential retailfrom during the doing with schools and nonessential retail from during the first, with car showrooms and outdoor shops, but all that depends on our ability to continue to get the r down. That means we have to be ruthless with our message. Thank you. Prime minister, you said a number of the allegations made about Dominic Cummings were false. You were with him for six hours. Did you see the evidence to prove that . Meg, i dont want. Yes or no, Prime Minister, its a simple question. Want. Yes or no, Prime Minister, its a simple questionlj want. Yes or no, Prime Minister, its a simple question. I dont want to go into much more than i have said. Its a simple question, do you see the evidence . Yes, i did. Use of the evidence. Would it be a good idea for the cabinet secretary to see that and point to be published, and then this problem might be your table . Well, i think actually, it would not be doing myjob if i were now to shuffle this problem into the hands of officials who, believe me, are working flat out to deal with coronavirus. I know there is a great political interest in this. I understand that and i totally understand that and i totally understand public indignation. But i do think that i have said what i have said about the whole business. I think it would be much better if we could now move on and focus on the next steps. We must try and avoid repeating ourselves. The next steps. We must try and avoid repeating ourselveslj the next steps. We must try and avoid repeating ourselves. I was at the same question, what is could i do . It is surprising that you wont provide that evidence to the cabinet secretary for independent verification. But let me ask you about your instructions now to parents, who either have covid or have the symptoms of covid, who wont know how seriously they are going to get it and have no local child care available. Is the message to those parents now they want to stay at home unless there is a risk to life and if you do get ill, contact the community helps, or is it the message from the transport secretary and the communities secretary and the communities secretary to be able to travel to wherever you have a support network . In the words of Robert Jenrick this morning, if you dont have ready access to childcare, then you can do as Dominic Cummings did. Which is it . If that, i am not certain that there is as much of a discrepancy between those two bits of advice as you suggest. What jenny between those two bits of advice as you suggest. Whatjenny was trying to say was that if you have exceptional difficulties with childcare, you should take account of them. But we are not talking about exceptional difficulties with childcare, we are talking about very normal difficulties with childcare. A survey from mumsnet today found that a quarter of parents said they didnt have access to local childcare and they had covid and we re childcare and they had covid and were in the same circumstances as Dominic Cummings. A third of them said they would be more likely to break the rules now. So if you are trying to tackle local outbreaks and prevent them spreading, you need to be given clear advice to parents. What is it . It is not clear to me from listening to jenny what is it . It is not clear to me from listening toJenny Harries what is it . It is not clear to me from listening to Jenny Harries and robertjenrick what from listening to Jenny Harries and Robert Jenrick what that advice to parents who are in Dominic Cummings situation is. The clear advice is to stay at home unless you absolutely have to go to work to do yourjob. If you have exceptional problems with childcare, that may cause you to vary your arrangements. We are also saying from tomorrow, and this is an important development, that there is a new test and trace operation which will change peoples lives and which will require a great deal of thought and compliance, but which i think will be worth it for the whole nation. The fundamental advice remains unchanged, which is, wash your hands, observe social distancing. That was not the question i asked. I am asking specifically about your advice to parents who have covid. The reason you are not giving advice, the reason you are ducking it. |j you are not giving advice, the reason you are ducking it. I am not ducking it. I havejust said. Are you allowed to travel across the country even though it may mean having to go into hospital somewhere else where they may seek further infections . Do you want them to do that, or do you want them to stay put when they dont have local childcare, like around a quarter of parents . You would have to look at each individual case and the particular circumstances that my adviser explained. WhatJenny Harries was trying to say that where there are exceptional difficulties, people need to take account of them. I dont know what else i can add. Here is the problem. The reason you are ducking this, the reason you are not giving people a straight answer is because you are trying to protect Dominic Cummings. You are saying and clear things because you are trying not to incriminate Dominic Cummings and you dont want to apologise for him. The problem is that that means you are putting your political concerns you are putting your political concerns ahead of clear Public Health messages to parents who have coronavirus. And the consequence to thatis coronavirus. And the consequence to that is putting your political concerns above the National Interest. Let me put this to you as a precise question. On the way into this crisis, you were criticised for getting a whole series of decisions wrong on shaking hands, business as usual. Can we have the question . 40,000 people are dead. We need you to get this right now. So can you tell us . You have a choice between protecting Dominic Cummings and putting the National Interest first. Which will it be, Prime Minister . My choice is the choice that the british people want us all to make, yvette. And that is as far as we possibly can to lay aside Party Political point scoring and to put the National Interest first and to be clear with the British Public about what we want to do and how to ta ke about what we want to do and how to take this country forward. We come now to an importantjuncture. We are moving to step two of our road map, andi moving to step two of our road map, and i think that this conversation has, to my mind, illuminated why it is important for us to move on and be clear with the British Public about how we want them to make progress. Frankly, when they hear nothing but politicians squabbling and bickering, its no wonder that they feel confused. It is more important that we stress the vital messages. Stay at home if you can. Go to work if you must, although that will change for some sectors as during the first approaches and then during the first approaches and then during the first approaches and then during the 15th, when more nonessential retail comes on during the 15th. Social distancing is vital. Those messages need to be pumped out the whole time by you just as much as me. Prime minister, we would love to have clearer messaging. You have had a long time, yvette. We must move on. I am obliged to ask the committee, are there any further questions about there any further questions about the Prime Ministers adviser . And be very brief, please. I agree entirely with the seriousness of the situation, but i dont think anybody can understand why mr cummings is so pivotal to moving this country forward when dealing with coronavirus. This is now a distraction. People are very annoyed, Prime Minister. Is that on your radar . Simon, you have made that point several times now. My respectful point to you is yes, i do understand peoples feelings. I understand peoples feelings. I understand why people feel indignation about the pain of the whole business of the lockdown. But i think that what they want now is for us to focus on them and their needs, rather than on a political ding dong about what one adviser may or may not have done. To repeat an important point which i dont think you have acknowledged, a lot of the allegations that were made about the adviser were not correct. I dont think that point has been sufficiently acknowledged. think that point has been sufficiently acknowledged. I am moving on to science and health, and that anybody wants to carry on with that anybody wants to carry on with that subject. Greg clark. We are now quite far behind, im afraid. You are muted, greg. Is that better . Prime minister, good afternoon. You have had a lot of scientific advice. Do you see it yourself . Good to see you, greg. Idont do you see it yourself . Good to see you, greg. I dont actually read scientific papers, except in exceptional circumstances. But i do get the direct digest from sage, which as you know is co chaired by chris whitty. They give me the cream of that advice. So you get a summary. From reading the advice, can you explain why we have in this country a policy of two metres social distancing when the World Health Organization recommends one metre, and countries that have a very good track record in controlling covid, such as hong kong, singapore, australia and germany, specify either one metre or 1. 5 metres. You are making an important point and one that i have made myself many times. The advice from sage remains at the moment that there is a considerable reduction in risk at two metres. My own hope is that as we make progress in getting the virus down and reducing the incidence, that we will be able to reduce that distance, which i think will be particularly valuable on transport and in the hospitality sector. The virus does not recognise International Boundaries but sciences international. Have you asked your advisers why our specification should be the highest in the world . I have and their a nswer in the world . I have and their answer is that is what they feel is the right interval. I asked why there is a difference. We rely and we have done throughout on the guidance that we get from our advisers. That is what they think is appropriate at the moment but you know that may evolve as you know. Sage has changed it as Vice President s on face coverings. Advice needs to be directed and discussed Prime Minister but perhaps you could ask tempted to review the two major distancing in good time for shops and other places to consider the practice on during the 15th and publish what they say because this has a massive impact on whether many workplaces can open. When you make that commitment . I cannot only make that commitment . I cannot only make that commitment . I cannot only make that commitment but i can tell you i have already done just that. I hope we will make progress. When Contact Tracing is under way if you are phoned up and told to stay at home because you had contact with an infected person is staying at home compulsory or can people use their judgment . No, we want people to understand that this is something thatis understand that this is something that is not just understand that this is something that is notjust good for them because they will prevent the spread of the disease to those they may never know. Is it compulsory or advisory . We intend to make absolutely clear to people that they must stay at home but let me be clear, that will be. Is it law or is it advice . We will be asking people to stay at home. If they do not follow the advice what we will be saying is we will consider what sanctions may be necessary. Financial sanctions or whatever. From the police or civil authorities . Whatever is appropriate. It starts on monday, Prime Minister. To begin with, we are asking people to do it as a matter of course if they are contacted matter of course if they are co nta cted by matter of course if they are contacted by an nhs tracker tracer thanif contacted by an nhs tracker tracer than if youre contacted by an nhs tracer and you are told you have been for more than 15 minutes, less than two metres away from someone who has tested positive for coronavirus then you should self isolate. That is what we are saying. You should first muck advice. You should. If people do not do that as i say we will consider bringing financial sanctions. Let me just ask if i may, do you have to talk to the contact tracer, is there an obligation to do that . And would it not be a good thing to be able to offer anyone that is contacted an immediate test with relevant results as conforms to International Best practice such as in south korea rather than advising them as it seems to lock themselves away for 14 days not knowing whether they tested positive. Thank you, greg. An important point clearly, if you are asked to self isolate and you develop coronavirus symptoms you will of course have a test. And if you do not have symptoms . The difficulty with testing people who are asymptomatic is that they may very well have the disease but not test positive for it for a long time. That can run right the way through im afraid for quite a long period so that is the difficulty that we have there. Just too many false negatives. A lot of people will listen to this. It is scientific advice and not capacity driving that . That is completely right and driving that . That is completely rightand a driving that . That is completely right and a lot of people listening to this will say and this is a big change some people need to listen to this and understand. They will say hang on your telling me if somebody from nhs test and trace contacts me and says i have been, i am a contact of someone who has coronavirus i must self isolate for 14 days and im afraid the answer to that is yes. Clearly if they have a test and they have symptoms and they test positive then self isolation ends after seven days. But im afraid if you are asymptomatic and do not have symptoms than youve got to do it. People will say this is a grave imposition and again to get back to the conversation with been having throughout this session it is a huge imposition. But it will be on a very small minority of the population, a very small minority and i would just say to everyone that it is worth it because that is the way that other countries have used this tool to unlock the prison and make sure that we can go forward. So that captivity for a tiny minority for a short time will allow us gradually to release 66 Million People from the current situation. So i do think it is the right way forward. Thank you, i think my time is up. Jeremy hunt. Thank you, Prime Minister and good afternoon. The announcement today on track and trace could be a game changer but is only possible because weve massively ramped up testing. I would like to start by asking why it took until april to introduce the 100,000 test targets even though i first confirmed case was injanuary. Jeremy, as you know the difficulties we faced when this virus, with several difficulties and festival this was a new virus and had some properties that people were slow to recognise across the world. It is possible to transmit coronavirus when you do not have symptoms and i do not think people understood that. Our testing operation as you know began much earlier. We did have test, track and trace but u nfortu nately we test, track and trace but unfortunately we did not have the capacity in Public Health england to be blunt, we did not have the enzymes by the test kits. We do not have the volume and neither did we have the volume and neither did we have enough experience to mount the kind of operation that they did in some other eastern Asian Countries for instance. I think the brutal reality is that this country did not learn the lessons of size and we did not have a test operation ready to go on the scale that we needed. We now have that and as you will appreciate during the peak of the epidemic were numbers of cases where running very high indeed, test track and trace would not have been appropriate. It is now the appropriate. It is now the appropriate solution. My question was why we waited from january until april to expand the capacity but one of the consequences of that is we could not test everyone who has been discharged from hospital. Did you get any advice that doing that meant that we could risk spreading the virus into care homes . No and as you know a huge effort was made to try to protect ca re know a huge effort was made to try to protect care homes and do not forget as has been said by nhs providers, every discharge from the nhs into care homes were made by clinicians and in no case was this done when people were suspected of being coronavirus victims and actually the number of discharges from the nhs into care homes went down by 40 from january to march. It is just not true that there was some concerted efforts to move people out of nhs beds into care homes, that is just not right. People out of nhs beds into care homes, that isjust not right. But obviously there is risk if you cannot obviously there is risk if you ca n not test obviously there is risk if you cannot test people leaving hospital and countries like germany insisted that care homes quarantined people arriving from hospital and we did not for the one thing announcement today which is so important, you said you wanted a whelping system as people think that south korea and taiwan are the places to have done this best but in those countries the test results are returned within 24 hours. With us it is 48 hours, twice as long and that means the people contacted because they have been near someone with coronavirus have longer to spread the virus to others. So why do we not get our test results back in 24 hours . Others. So why do we not get our test results back in 24 hours7m others. So why do we not get our test results back in 24 hours . It is a very good question and actually we are reducing the time, the delay in getting test results back and i pay tribute to the team, the uk is now testing more people than any other country in europe. And she now has a staff of 40,000 people, 7500 clinicians, 25,000 trackers in all. And they are rapidly trying to accelerate the turnaround time. I will send you the latest figures after this meeting. But we are reducing late the whole time. I understand that. A chunk of these are already within 24 hours and that is growing. I understand but i have three care homes in my constituency that had to wait more than a week to get the results back. The truth is that turnaround times is just an important as the volume of tests. So why do not just important as the volume of tests. So why do notjust say important as the volume of tests. So why do not just say as important as the volume of tests. So why do notjust say as Prime Minister that this is a Public Health emergency and i want all test results back in 24 hours because that would galvanise the system and make the test and trace system work much more effectively. We have done that and that is exactly. Literature a 24 hour target . Absolutely. That is the goal and if you speak to chris whitty and the chief medical officer at they would strongly agree with you that the quicker the turnaround time the faster you can check that someone actually has coronavirus and the more effective your test, track and trace operation will be. When have you told them they will have to meet the 24 hour target by question mark ive been forbidden from announcing any more targets. Will it be the next week, weeks or months . As soon as possible. Weeks or months . I could just say one thing to understand where we are with test and trace, tomorrow we must be clear about this, im not going to pretend to you jeremy or to the committee that, what we will have tomorrow will be valuable, useful, it will be a very important tool in our fight against coronavirus but it will be getting steadily better to become a truly well beating test and trace operation in the course of the next days as we go through operation in the course of the next days as we go throuthune. This has gone from a complete standing start toa gone from a complete standing start to a huge operation and sojeremy i do not want to give you an exact deadline as to when we will get down to 24 hours but plainly that is the ambition and you will be a soon as we can. A final brief question, canada, israel and singapore like us have many Agency Workers working in ca re have many Agency Workers working in care homes and they have banned them from working in more than one care home because they do not want Agency Workers to spread the virus from ca re workers to spread the virus from care home to care home, when you look at doing the same thing here . Not only that but we have already said if you look at our care home action plan, what we said was we we re action plan, what we said was we were going to stop the migration of workers from one care home to the next because clearly that is what was happening. We had seen an outbreak after a break with staff moving from one to the next. So that has been put a stop to and that is why the number of outbreaks in care homes has gone down from the hundreds a few weeks ago to seven or eight per day to day. That is why the number of deaths in care homes has now come down so dramatically. Im not going to pretend that this has been anything other than a tragedy, an absolute tragedy what has happened in care homes. But the ca re has happened in care homes. But the care home action plan including the measure you just described has already had a very powerful impact. Cani already had a very powerful impact. Can ijust already had a very powerful impact. Can i just interject, already had a very powerful impact. Can ijust interject, what is causing the delays to tests . How are you resolving the problem is and who is in charge of implementing that resolution . Ok, the delays to testing are caused very largely by difficulties in the laboratories with actually producing the results ina with actually producing the results in a speedy and effective way and weve had problems with some labs, not to mention them by name, but things have fallen over in their operations and they have not been able to get results back fast enough. So we are working on all sorts of Solutions Including batch testing and other faster methods of testing and other faster methods of testing that im sure the committee are already familiar with. Pregnancy style tests and so on in order to speed it up. So there have been a host of technical problems but notwithstanding those problems the uk is now, is Testing Capacity is now at about 100,000. Prime minister, good afternoon. You mentioned this whole system of testing, tracking and tracing was from a standing start. But already in this country at the beginning, we have a lot of highly qualified professionals who are experts in the field of contacting people, tracking and tracing. Why were so many of them last week saying that their involvement in designing the system had been minimal . Well, clive, that is one of the issues that i have raised repeatedly and has been raised repeatedly and has been raised with me, a strong desire to have much more local expertise and use all the local knowledge more effectively. One of the reasons we decided at the heart of dido . Operation is the chief executive of leeds council. We are not trained to reinvent the wheel here. We are using local experts, people who understand their communities as well as recruiting more trackers from around the country. It seems to many people that the involvement locally was almost an afterthought, so we are now going to have this grand national system. Public Health England are involved. We have got a phone banks and an app eventually. How will the local arrangements that you have described fit into that, and who in the end will be accountable for the whole system . Well, i would accountable for the whole system . Well, iwould be accountable for the whole system . Well, i would be accountable for everything. So we can blame you if it goes wrong . In my experience, it is hard to avoid blame, and quite right too. But dido is leading it and she is doing a very good job, and she is doing a very good job, andi and she is doing a very good job, and i thank her and her team. They have got 40,000 people. and i thank her and her team. They have got 40,000 people. I think the government have now announced that every government have now announced that eve ry area government have now announced that every area will have an outbreak control plan and a committee who will be responsible for that plan. Who are these committees and if there are to be local lockdown measures, will it be the local committees that decide on those . No, we will work with the local outbreak committees, who will be responsible for dealing with what happens. They will go through the local resilience forms which are leading on this. There will be strong efforts at control from the joint by a Security Centre that we are now setting up. Many of you will be familiar with this change. We are going to have much more observation and detailed knowledge. So there is local committees are responsible to the biodiversity committee. That is it. And thejoint biodiversity committee. That is it. And the joint bio Security Centre will be looking, for instance, the other day there was now breaking weston super mare. And we moved quickly to close things down there was an outbreak in weston super mare. And we moved quickly to post things down. Those are the kind of whack a mole tactics we are going to use as we keep driving the virus down and keep reducing the incidence. It is important that we have a sensitive test, track and trace operation in order to cope with local outbreaks. Let me refer to a question that greg clark asked earlier. I understand that there probably are long standing sanctions for people who dont isolate with a disease which is notifiable under the Public Health rules. But what is missing is that if someone is infected and is then asked for information about other people they have been in contact with, i understand that there are no sanctions if they refuse to provide that information. Isnt that a major hole in the system . Thanks. Yes, you are right that this is something where we are relying on peoples public spiritedness and their willingness to cooperate and defeat the disease. In other areas, sensitive areas where people do need to give details of their contacts such as hiv transmission, it does work. So i am confident that it will work in this case. But if it doesnt, will you look at sanctions then . It may be something we need to do. Well, obviously, we are relying on the common sense of the public to recognise the extreme of this. This is our way out. This is our way of defeating the virus, getting the country back on its feet, and i think people will want to Work Together. I think most people will, it is those who werent that we have to deal with. You are correct, and thatis to deal with. You are correct, and that is why i said what i said earlier to greg, of course we keep sanctions on the table and as we develop the system, we will review co nsta ntly develop the system, we will review constantly what kind of compliance we are getting. A point well made, clive, thank you. Prime minister, can you just explain who dido is and what is her role . Dido harding is a Senior Executive in the nhs who has crossed over to work full time on bringing together across departments and all the institutions involved might be that Public Health england or care homes or whoever it happens to be, the test and trace operation. She is responsible for nhs test and trace, and that is what is being launched this evening by matt. And that is what goes live tomorrow. Very good. We will now move on to the reopening of schools. Robert halfon. Thank you, Prime Minister. Can you assure all those parents, children, teachers and support staff who are watching today that the phased School Opening on the 1st ofjune is absolutely safe, is of minimal risk and that all the required tracking and that all the required tracking and tracing will be given to teachers, staff and pupils and there will be the required ppe where it is needed . And is it still the government plan to have all Primary School years going back a month before the Summer Holidays . Those are important questions. Just to remind everybody, because not everybody will have clocked this yet, what we want from june the first is for Primary Schools to begin gradually to go back, so early yea rs, begin gradually to go back, so early years, reception year one and year six. We know we can do it in a safe and socially distanced way. We accept that not everybody will necessarily go back on day one, but we do expect people to return to school in those class groups. We do believe it is safe, provided everybody remembers the guidelines we have set out and everybody understands the crucial thing you have got to do, particularly maintaining social distance and washing your hands. And of course self isolating if you have symptoms. Those are the crucial things. They cant be stressed often enough. On your point about the rest of Primary School, we want to keep that under review. We would like to do it if we can. It depends on our National Success in keeping the disease under control and driving that incidence down. So we will continue to review it in accordance with the scientific advice. Thank you. We know that roughly 86 of vulnerable pupils are not at school, and a survey of 900 heads in england suggested that around 700,000 state School Pupils are not doing any school work. There isa are not doing any school work. There is a potential decade of educational poverty in the offing and possibly a safeguarding crisis. Will you support a catch up premium alongside opening of summer schools to help left behind children to get much pastoral and well being support . Left behind children to get much pastoral and wellbeing support . The short answer is that i want to support any measures we can to level up. You know what we want to do in this government, and there is no doubt there is a huge social injustice taking place at the moment because some kids are going to have better access to tutoring, to schooling at home, and other kids will not get nearly as much. And thatis will not get nearly as much. And that is not fair. That is one of the reasons why we need to get schools back. That is something that people in this country do understand. They understand the basic social injustice. You have got lots of good ideas there. The catch up fund and making a particular effort to tackle the needs of disadvantaged kids, dont forget that we are already making sure that children from disadvantaged backgrounds get la pto ps disadvantaged backgrounds get laptops and tablets and routers where necessary. But i agree that there is more that needs to be done. On apprenticeships, the starts have falle n on apprenticeships, the starts have fallen by 7 on last year. We know a significant amount of apprentices are being furloughed or made redundant. We are in danger of building an apprenticeship nation. Where consider introducing a guarantee offering every young person from the age of 16 to 25 are guaranteed apprenticeship, providing they can get the qualifications from level two up to degree level . Well, i agree that apprenticeships will play a huge part in getting people back onto thejobs play a huge part in getting people back onto the jobs market and getting them into work. We will look at anything to help people. Its going to be a difficult time, but there are also great opportunities to give people skills now that they perhaps need and have not been getting over the last few years. So we will focus on that. But why not give them an apprenticeship guarantee, because there will be a lot of young people needing skills and jobs lot of young people needing skills andjobs in lot of young people needing skills and jobs in the aftermath of the coronavirus . We will be doing everything we can to get people into jobs. I will look at the idea of an apprenticeship guarantee. It is something we would have to work with employers to deliver and we would have to think about the funding of that. But this is a government that has done some astonishing and Creative Things with helping business in the last few months, and thatis business in the last few months, and that is the kind of thing we could consider. We are going to need to ta ke consider. We are going to need to take exceptional steps to help our young people into work, and we will. Finally, i have my question which i have been guaranteed by you, mr chair. Cable university is the First University to announce it is moving all its lectures online Cambridge University is an as it is moving all its lectures online until summer 2021. Yet Nottingham Trent university, an Award Winning university, an Award Winning university, will have blend of campus and online learning. Should other universities follow the example of cambridge or Nottingham Trent, should every student who is working on the nhs during the coronavirus have their tuition fees reimbursed this Academic Year at the very least . Rob, you are piling on some questions here. On yourfinal one, i will come back to you on nhs students. We will give you an answer as soon as we can. On your point about cambridge and Nottingham Trent university, obviously i think it is a matter for universities. But clearly, the implication of your question is that face to face tuition is preferable, right . I hope all universities understand that and see that that is also important for their students and for social justice. Cani can i pick up that socialjustice point and ask a question about a couple in my constituency, they both work, they have two children. The husbands employer didnt put him on the Job Retention scheme. So he has zero income. His wife is still working, but her income is less than their rent. They have leave to stay in the uk, be they cant get any help at all. Isnt it wrong that a hard working, law abiding family like that is being forced by the current arrangements into destitution . Hang on steven. Why dont they, why arent they eligible for universal credit for employment support allowance or any of the other things. It is a good question, because they have no recourse to public funds, that is the condition attached to their leave to remain. They have been here for years, their children have been born in the uk, but because for a ten year period, they had this no recourse to public funds they can get no help at all. Are are they actually from. Theyre from pakistan. But it applies to anyone from outside the uk. They cant get furloughed obviously not. Well, look, im going to have to come back to you on that, stephen, because clearly there. People who have worked hard for this country and live and work here should have support of one kind of another. But you have raised an important point. If the condition of their leave to remain is they should have no recourse to public funds, i will find out how many there are in that position and we will see what we can do. The Childrens Society said there are at least 100,000 families in that position, they have leave to remain, theyre law abiding and hard working a and many can get no help at all. We look forward to a letter on this matter. You will get it. Can i raise a separate point, picking up Roberts Point about a proposed apprenticeship guarantee. I want to point to the success of the future jobs fund after the last crash in supporting young people back to work. I wonder whether you would agree we are going to need some radical measures to tackle unemployment after the crisis, particularly to support young people who. Particularly to support young people who. Everybodys i particularly to support young people who. Everybodys i think is suggesting are going to find it particularly ha rd to suggesting are going to find it particularly hard to get into work . Yes, that is why i think the idea of robs idea of apprenticeship guarantee is so attractive, what. What we have done it put our arms round every worker and help them keep theirjob, but businesses, you know, they may need support in the coming months, as they get back on their feet coming months, as they get back on theirfeet in coming months, as they get back on their feet in taking people on and we will need to think about how we will help it and lets face it this country does have skills deficit, we have a productivity gap still. This might be the moment when we start to try to tackle that and address some of the, use this crisis to address some of the issues. I can av assure that you the chancellor and are looking at this will want to come forward in june, are looking at this will want to come forward injune, earlyjuly, with much more about how we get employment going again, how we get the economy restarted. But, for now, i679 is it is important we focus on defeating the virus. After 2010, we had a large scale support programme, for last few years, unemployment has been low and support has been more modest. I wonder if you would recognise we are going to need again and perhaps this what is you have been suggesting, we will need a much bigger Employment Support Programme after the crisis we have had. think it is very likely and you know we have done some things that i think have been right and have been. I think lifting local Housing Allowance up to 30 again of rent. Of market, of the local market, i think that was the right thing to do. Forgive me. That helps a lot of people. What we have done with the universal credits also been important, but this is going to be. The challenge now is going to be. The challenge now is going to be about getting the economy moving again and creating jobs, high class jobs, good jobs for the whole country and. Forgive me. My mantra remains that the way to do thatis mantra remains that the way to do that is with fantastic infrastructure, better education, better skills and technology. We are going to stick ruthlessly to that and just so everybody, i said this before to conservative colleagues, i will say it to everyone, we will double down on that programme. We wa nt to double down on that programme. We want to intensify that. Forgive me. It will require as well, support for people to get into employment as well as making sure there are jobs there. The point made forcefully to our committee has been it takes a good year to get unEmployment Support Programme into its stride. I wonder whether you would agree it is urgent to get a programme planned and under way . Yes, though dont forget what the, what hmci has already done and the government has donein already done and the government has done in getting the furlough programme going. Nobody thought we could do that so fast and they did and they did it very effectively. So i think one of the ways in which this country is getting easier as it we re this country is getting easier as it were to help, where people are getting, we have so much more data and we understand where people are and we understand where people are and what the problems are in tackling this epidemic. I hope we will be able to be very fast in dealing with the Economic Issues on the spot, as we are trying to deal with the health and the medical issues right now. Can we move on now . Caroline noa kes. Issues right now. Can we move on now . Caroline noakes. Youre self muted at the moment. Now . Caroline noakes. Youre selfmuted at the moment. We have heard about the school eopening, thatis heard about the school eopening, that is happening at the same time as the retail sector, where 60 of employees are women. Whose advice have you ta ken employees are women. Whose advice have you taken on how that phasing and the availability of child care may affect womens ability to get back to work . As i say, im pleased that. I think your question caroline is directed at whether or not we have a sufficiently female representation at the top of government, helping us to inform these decisions and i think we have. The head of policy in no 10 is the election manifesto on which we both fought successfully was written by two women. The most important appointments we have made in the last couple of weeks, whether it is dido harding or. Can i interrupt you, the ehrc say they have been ignored by downing street, which expert also you listening to on the impact this virus has had particularly on female employment . Well, we are. There is a general study being conducted across whitehall about the inequalities aspects of covid and that will be reporting to me. There is a study on the medical inequalities that professor fenton is producing that, should report by the end of this month. The institute for fiscal studies said women are more likely to be furloughed or in sectors that have been shut down and theyre worried about the availability of child care and employers making decision based on which employees would have those problems. That doesnt give legal protection. Do you think optimism is enough no, i think it is important that people are given the protections they need and we will, i think the, it is true that more women have been furloughed. But it is also true that the scheme is more generous than virtually any other scheme around the world and i cant think of any other country where people have been given 80 of their wages and up to £2,500 a month in the way that the uk has done. And we will continue to look after people. To put our arms around our workforce to help them back into work and your point about the particular vulnerability of female workers is very good, because female workers is very good, because female workers, women workers, they. I think they have been harder hit. Because very often they will havejobs, particularly harder hit. Because very often they will have jobs, particularly lower paid jobs, that make it more difficult for them to work from home and that is we need to. Get this thing moving, if we possibly can, keep fighting the virus, keep defeating it and help people get back into work. We went into this crisis with record fee mail employment. Female employment. In order to come out with it with women going back into work we need a child ca re going back into work we need a child care sector that is functioning. What thought have you given about additional assistance to the child ca re additional assistance to the child care sector . We have already invested considerably in supporting child care, as you know. It was in our. And we will do whatever it ta kes to our. And we will do whatever it takes to help women get back into work and, look, i agree, takes to help women get back into work and, look, iagree, child takes to help women get back into work and, look, i agree, child care is critical for the success of our economy. How has the contributess Ecology Office contributed to decision about which parts of economy should open first . We take every decision with full consideration for the equalities impact, as you would expect, that any government department, any government does these days. Thank you for that. Certainly bernard. After you, sorry. Iwanted you for that. Certainly bernard. After you, sorry. I wanted to know the Prime Minister commented he felt there had been enough female voices in the Decision Making processes. Why have they not been more visible . Well, look, i mean, when i said, i dont think i said enough, by the way, ijust said that dont think i said enough, by the way, i just said that there dont think i said enough, by the way, ijust said that there had been a lot. So, you know, ithink way, ijust said that there had been a lot. So, you know, i think that it is certainly true that i would have liked to have had more female representation in the press conferences, we have had jenny houses had been mentioned, produced a few. We will do our best. And you know. What can i say . You made the distinction. Dido will be appearing this afternoon. Can ijust ask distinction. Dido will be appearing this afternoon. Can i just ask you, how much do you think, having women in the room, when decisions are being made, actually change it is nature of those decisions . being made, actually change it is nature of those decisions . I think it can make a huge difference to be honest, that may sound like a vaguely sexist thing to say, but it is important. You made a distension between there being a lot of women and enough women. How many is enough 0h and enough women. How many is enough oh boy, a that is a questi im not confident to profounds. Pronounce. It is not a joking matter. No it is important to ask, as conservatives, we have more, 50 would be great. We have. Large numbers of female mps of great talent, including yourself in the house, far more than i believe. The point Prime Minister. And never forget it is the only the conservative party that produced two female Prime Ministers. Maybe you will be the third. Thank you caroline. Were moving to the final group of questions and in in many respect it is economy is the most important issue, because that will make the difference People Living in misery or prosperity as we come out of this, so i hope you will afford usa of this, so i hope you will afford us a few extra minutes to get these questions in. Mel stride. Thank you, chairand questions in. Mel stride. Thank you, chair and good afternoon, Prime Minister. Prime minister, in your response to stephen timms, in terms of addressing the importance of getting unemployment down. You referred to doubling down on spending on training and apprenticeships and infrastructure etc, all of which i think are important. You have said in the past that austerity is not something that we are going to get involved with. And yet what we do know that that the structural deficit will have increased very significantly and while we may be able to borrow at low rates for some time, that will be predicated on a clear and credible plan that the markets believe in. Given your stance on spending, that means increases in the tax burden in this country, does it not . I understand where you are going with your question but i think youre going to have to wait, if you can, until rishi sunak, the chancellor, brings forward his various proposals. You make an important point about the potential this country has to borrow at good rates and to invest in infrastructure, amongst other things. We didnt have to wait when it came to basically sing there will be no return to austerity, in other words, spending at precrisis levels will be broadly maintained. So what is your statement now on taxation . Is it we will have to wait and see what the numbers look like . 0r is it we will have to wait and see what the numbers look like . Or you can give a similar assurance that broadly speaking taxes will remain at the same kind of level as they were . I think i would share your instincts to try to keep taxes as low as we conceivably can, consistent with our desire to invest in our fantastic public services. I dont want to anticipate now what we are going to do on our economic package. That is for a bit late on. Ifi package. That is for a bit late on. If i may say so, bernard said just now the most important thing was the economy. Yes, of course. But we wont have a Strong Economy unless we can get coronavirus under control, unless we can continue with our road map, and defeat it, and thatis our road map, and defeat it, and that is what we should focus in right now. Can we zero in on one particular group deeply damaged by the economy, and theyve been referred to before by rob, and that is young people, bearing the brunt ofjob losses, the effect on their life style ofjob losses, the effect on their lifestyle and living standards, and so on, and we need to do a lot, as you recognise, to support them as we go through this crisis. At the same time, if we go back to spending, one of the big spending commitments you have in the manifesto is the triple lock around pensions and, in fact, you represent an elderly constituency, and its very important so can you give us a categorical assurance that that particular manifesto commitment will be met . We will meet all our ma nifesto be met . We will meet all our manifesto commitments, unless i specifically tell you otherwise, the ma nifesto specifically tell you otherwise, the manifesto you and i fought on. It is an important point because we will not be blown off course, we will not be blown off course, we will deliver 14 new hospitals, we are well on track to delivering 20,000 more police officers. We will recruit 50,000 more nurses and heaven knows the need for those nurses has never been more apparent to our country. We will get on with our programme. Weve got a fantastic agenda for this country of uniting, levelling up. What that means is. Very quickly, Prime Minister, just so we are clear, no rises in income tax or vat . When you are doing your job, as you did it so well in the treasury, i dont think you would have made any kind of commitments, fiscal commitments, in this kind of committee but do you know where my instincts lie, and they are very much the same as yours. instincts lie, and they are very much the same as yours. I was picking up on whether we will meet our manifesto commitments, which means no increase in the rates of the taxes, they are broad based and heavy lifting, and that is quite a commitment to stick to if you are not prepared to bear down on spending to some degree. Can i ask a final question which is, firstly, broadly the chancellor has done a very good job, actually, in terms of stepping in and supporting the economy through this very difficult period with the furlough scheme, etc but inevitably by moving at such a scale and pace, there have been gaps, and one of those relates to the self employed who have worked through their own company and take self employment income by way of a dividend. And that currently isnt being allowed to contribute to the assessment for the amount of furlough they should qualify for. Hmrc says its too complicated to do that. I suspect it is one of those areas that someone could slice through the knot, someone like you, are you prepared to look at this and potentially help hundreds of thousands of hard working, self employed people with their furlough . Thanks. I understand the needs of the self employed at this time. It is tough, youre making a very good point about those who get income by way of a dividend. We will look at that, whether that can be set against the furloughs which is what you are proposing. Again, when you look at in the round of what the uk is doing, looking after our employees, and self employed, it is a pretty awesome package. And we mean it. But this particular. This particular extra cash, i will have to discuss with my friend next door. Lam to discuss with my friend next door. I am grateful, thank you, Prime Minister. Moving on. Darren jones. Thank you, chair. How much of the british economy do you expect will end up in state ownership . british economy do you expect will end up in state ownership . I cant give you a figure on that but suffice it to say, getting back to what. We are suffice it to say, getting back to what. We are going through quite extraordinary economic times,. What. We are going through quite extraordinary economic times,. understand, panellist and i dont wa nt understand, panellist and i dont want to have you repeat the answers but let me extend the question. Could you give us an idea about how the government will prioritise support across different sectors . Will airbus or mclaren get different support to the hospitality and Tourism Sector . 0r support to the hospitality and Tourism Sector . Or will they all get the same support they need . We will do whatever it is appropriate to each sector. Prime minister, what is appropriate, is my question. cant give you a hierarchy stopped in my second question. At what level of unemployment do you think it is right for the government intervene to provide pay or secure work for people after furlough payments have come to an end . We will do everything we can to get everybody backin everything we can to get everybody back in to work. Thank you for that answer. To build on the question, the self employment scheme comes to an end whilst furlough for employed workers continues until october. Why is that . We will, as i said, as i think the chancellor said, when. We announce the scheme for self employed people. We will keep it under review and we will. Prime minister, it is this weekend that gets cut off, people will have a lack of income from next week. Dont forget that self employed people already have the access to bounce back loans, and i think the last figures we saw were 15 billion has been put on the bounce back loans income tax payments can be deferred until next year. And people, of course, are eligible for all sorts of government support, including the more generous universal credit, and other things ive already mentioned. I minister, universal credit isnt generous and it is unfortunate you dont have an answer for those in self employment whose income will be ending this weekend. These questions we re ending this weekend. These questions were trying to get the idea of the scope of the governments ambition in supporting businesses and im afraid your answers havent been particularly instilling of confidence. Businesses, workers, unions and consumers will need to see that from you in order for them to return to work, school or the high street so will you bring forward a full economic recovery package to this committee and parliament before the summer recess . You can take it, darren, and i respectfully disagree with you about the governments package, no other country has anything like the furloughs scheme, even your collea g u es furloughs scheme, even your colleagues would accept it is generous and it is right. And, yes, the short answer to your question is, yes, we will bring a full coronavirus economic, post corona recovery package to you and to everybody else in parliament. We look forward to that, Prime Minister. I wasnt criticising the economic package, highlighting the lack of confidence in the public on the government for lifting restrictions. Last question. Earlier you said my colleagues the allegations against mr cummings were untrue so can you set out specifically which allegations specifically which allegations specifically were untrue . Ive gone into that before. I have nothing to add. You didnt answer the question about which allegations were untrue. Would you like to take this opportunity to do so . would you like to take this opportunity to do so . I daily why i dont want to go back into that ive said repeatedly to other distinguished members of this committee, it is my strong belief that although. I understand peoples frustration, pupils indignation with the whole business. Believe me, i do. Believe me, what i think the country wa nts believe me, what i think the country wants is for us to be focusing on how to go forward on the test and trace scheme we are announcing today, on how we will protect their jobs, their livelihoods, and defeat this virus, and that is where the energies of all politicians of all parties should now be directed. Thank you, Prime Minister. Im grateful to your commitment to bring that post covid package. grateful to your commitment to bring that post covid package. I dont think youll get exclusively, darren that is what you said, Prime Minister, it is on the record and we look forward to seeing it. As members of the house of commons, you will get it. Im not promising a world scoop to the Liaison Committee. Well done, darren, thank you for your question is. No, no, darren. Hugh merriman. Good afternoon, Prime Minister. Those coming into the uk from the 8th of june, cani coming into the uk from the 8th of june, can i ask you why now when we are easing the lockdown and other countries are ending quarantine, why not when we entered into lockdown did we not quarantine people coming into this country . Second point first, the reason we didnt do it then was because the scientific advice was very clear it would make no difference to the arrival. Vanishingly little difference to the arrival of the epidemic, delaying it by bit but it would still come. The reason for doing it now is because across the world, we are seeing. Infection rates come down, they are coming down in this country and what we dont want to see is reinfection from abroad. And we think a sensible quarantine scheme can help to prevent that and thats what we will do from june the 8th. Prime minister, many have commented a sensible regime would look at the countries and the r rate, and they should be no need for quarantine if it is below r. Was that not be able for the 8th of june, it is below r. Was that not be able for the 8th ofjune, will it be possible for the next three week period, 29th of june, possible for the next three week period, 29th ofjune, for those buying cheaper flights for their Summer Holidays, which have gone on sale today, to be removed from the threat of quarantine . Yes, absolutely, we want to make sure that we use the three week review to be sensible, we want to drive the r down as fast as we can in this country and to have as sensible a scheme as we can. What will have to change between now and the 29th of june for these air bridges to be accepted . We will have two agree with the other countries concerned but we will also have to make progress on tackling the disease and well have to have evidence the other countries are in at least a good a position as we are. That looks positive. What looks negative are those workers in the aviation sector, and i know british airways, many of whom will be in your constituency, who are under threat of not only losing theirjob, but having their terms and conditions slashed if they retain it. Can i ask you, why is the furloughs scheme called the Job Retention scheme when Companies Like ba can put their employees on furlough and put them under threat of redundancy at the same time . Can this be changed . Look, to be perfectly frank, i am concerned and i wont go into individual companies but i am concerned by the way some companies are treating their workforce, and you are raising a very important point. This country is nothing without its workforce, its labour. Weve got to look after people properly. And i am well aware of some of the issues that are starting to arise. People shouldnt be using furlough to cynically. To keep people on their books and then get rid of them. We want people back in jobs, we want this country back on its feet, thats the whole point of the furloughs scheme. Youll be aware that mr walsh, the a16 ceo, has tried to slash his terms and conditions. He has the power now. Is there something to government to do to step in and stop this . We are actively looking at what we can do, andi actively looking at what we can do, and i am aware of this issue. actively looking at what we can do, and i am aware of this issue. I am very grateful, thank you. Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee has a supplementary question. Thank you chair. Prime minister, you have been clear thought that you wa nt have been clear thought that you want there to be focussing on the agenda you said, and i quote you wa nt to agenda you said, and i quote you want to be clear, you want to stress the vital message stay at home if you can. This is vitalfor the economy to get back up and running, you concerned that the message during lockdown was so unclear, that your owned a vicar did the right thing but the rest of us didnt understand what we could do. Your owned a vicar. The message during lockdown was very clear, and, people who had