Hello and welcome. And its been a week dominated by coronavirus. Englands chief medical officer says the nhs could face huge pressures in the worst case scenario. But he does have some reassurance. Its easy to get this perception that if youre older and you get this virus, then youre a goner. Absolutely not. The great majority of people will recover from this virus. The Prime Minister announces new measures on sick pay to encourage people to self isolate if they suspect they have coronavirus. If they stay at home, the house will understand that they are helping to protect all of us by slowing the spread of the virus. Also more allegations emerge of bullying by the home secretary. We ask a former permanent secretary for his thoughts. One mp has her own take on the issue. With this government, it seems that allegations of bullying orjust being incompetent get you promoted, whereas standing up to it, you lose yourjob but first the chief medical officer for england has told mps that its highly likely coronavirus is now being passed from person to person. He said the aim was to try to delay the spread of covid 19, so that the peak was more likely after other winter pressures on the Health Service had diminished. Professor whitty predicted the number of cases would increase. There are now several, not large numbers, but several cases where we cannot see where this has come from in terms of the clear transmission. Either because someone has come directly from overseas or because they have had a close contact with someone who has returned from overseas. And that, i think, makes it highly likely that there is some level of Community Transmission to this virus in the uk now. I think we should work on the assumption that it is here at very low levels at this point in time, but that, i think, should be the working assumption on which we go forward from this point onwards. So, how exactly is it transmitted . This is primarily a respiratory droplet infection. Someone who coughs or sneezes, usually within a few metres of someone and through prolonged contact, that is the usual way with these and probably a secondary route will be through our hands. The way our hands do this is by getting, touching mouth, nose and eyes. This is the reason why it is so critical people wash their hands because thats the way in which germs which are on surfaces go from the surfaces to the individual. That is the route of transmission. So just to translate that advice, if i may ask you to someone who is perhaps living in the same house as someone who has the virus. In that situation, providing you wash your hands regularly, youre not going to catch it through breathing the same air as someone else. So, washing your hands will prevent the route, if youve touched the surface they coughed over, and it goes into the mouth. That would deal with that. It wont if there are respiratory droplets in the environment, i think it is widely known for example that one of the first ways of transmission in the uk was lots of People Living close together in a ski chalet and that will be a prolonged exposure to a relatively sealed environment. Can fit and Healthy People die from this virus . Yes, fit and Healthy People can die from virtually anything. But it is incredibly rare to happen. Any of you and i can die from flu, but its very unlikely to happen. In your modelling, what is mortality rate for the over 805 . The mortality rate seemed to be somewhere between eight and nine percent. Put the other way around, that means around 90 of over eighty year olds survive it even in the stretched Health Service in china during this epidemic. So i think it is clear that the risk is very heavily weighted towards older people, but i think you would translate that into if im old and they get it, i am likely to pass away. Actually, the great majority of people will survive this. Even if they are in their 80s. Professor chris whitty. The Prime Minister has announced that workers will get statutory sick pay from their first day off work, rather than from the fourth, to help contain coronavirus. People have been urged to self isolate if they suspect they may have the virus, to protect others. Borisjohnson delivered the news at Prime Ministers questions. When the Prime Minister brings forward the emergency legislation, will he guarantee that workers rights to sick pay from day one as he has indicated, will apply on sick pay and all claimants and all those who are not currently eligible for statutory sick pay, therefore will have to make a terrible choice between health and hardship. The right honourable gentleman is raising a very important point and we are very much aware of the issues faced by the self employed and those on zero hours contracts. Pay a great many. I should stress that some of them will be entitled to statutory sick pay a great many. Others will be entitled to help through the existing system such as universal credit, and we are urgently looking at the application process to reflect on the advice on self isolation. Yesterday, the governor of the bank of england suggested a financial bridge be made available to assist markets through any volatility. If there is a financial bridge for markets, can the Prime Minister tell us, will there be a financial bridge for all workers and indeed those that rely on benefits that should not risk the threat of sanction, if they cannot make the appointments. We will take every step that we can to ensure that businesses are protected, that the economy remains strong and that no one, whether employed or self employed, whatever the status of their employment, is penalised for doing the right thing. Now, you may have noticed that sitting next to borisjohnson was the home secretary, priti patel, whos at the centre of a storm over allegations of bullying. Sir Philip Rutnam, the most senior official at the home office, resigned, alleging ms patels conduct towards staff included swearing, belittling people, and making unreasonable and repeated demands. There have been reports of similar behaviour when she was at the department for work and pensions. And on wednesday fresh allegations emerged about her time at international development. Priti patel denies all the allegations. The government is carrying out an internal Cabinet Office inquiry but that didnt satisfy the labour leader. Will he now commit to an independent investigation into the home secretarys conduct led by an external lawyer and commit to a date when its findings will be made public . Mr speaker, of course it is right that there should be an investigation into any allegations of bullying, and that is what the Cabinet Office is doing it that is with sir alex allen would be doing. But since he mentions the home secretary, that she is keeping this country safe by putting record numbers of police officers, she believes in stopping the Early Release of offenders and she is bringing in a system to tackle our migration crisis with an australian style points based system. A government cannot be judge and jury over its own conduct, there has to be an independent element to that investigation. Overnight, mr speaker, further allegations have emerged that the home secretary repeatedly harassed and humiliated her private secretary while she ran the department for international development. If this is true, this suggests a shocking and unacceptable pattern of behaviour across three government departments. On each occasion, tens of thousands of pounds of hard earned taxpayers money has been spaffed up the wall to buy their silence. Was the Prime Minister aware of these allegations . And if he was, why did he appoint her . Mr speaker, i repeat the point ijust made. The home secretary is doing an outstanding job and i have every confidence in her. If there are allegations, of course it is right that they should be properly investigated by the Cabinet Office and that is what is happening. For the purpose of clarity, if the inquiry into allegations that the home secretary breached the ministerial code establishes that her conduct fell below the standard expected, in any way and on any occasion, can the Prime Minister confirm that she would be expected to resign or be removed from office . Mr speaker, i repeat the point ijust made. The home secretary is doing an outstanding job delivering change, putting police out on the street, cutting crime and delivering a new immigration system and i am sticking by her. Resignation of an experienced Civil Servant. Sacking of a government aide. With this government, it seems as if allegations of bullying or just being incompetent, gets you promoted. Whereas standing up to it, you lose yourjob. What does this say about this Prime Minister . Mr speaker, i loathe bullying. But i will not take any lessons from a party that has presided over systematic bullying and discrimination against those who stick up for the Jewish Community and for israel in this country. And we have still yet to hear a proper apology from the labour party and leadership for what theyve done. Well, the resignation of a top Civil Servant is highly unusual. Whats also highly unusual is that sir Philip Rutnam is now suing the government for constructive dismissal. I invited into the studio kaajal nathwani, whos an employment lawyer at the legal firm curwens, and sir leigh louis, a former permanent secretary at work and pensions. With the government investigating whether the home secretary breached the ministerial code, i began by asking sir leigh what exactly the ministerial code said about bullying. In relation to the issues we are talking about, it is admirably clear. And just to quote a couple of lines from the very beginning of the code. Ministers should be professional and treat all those with whom they come into contact with consideration and respect. Harassing, bullying, or other inappropriate or discriminating behaviour, wherever it takes place, is not consistent with the ministerial code and will not be tolerated. But theres a fine line between someone being quite firm with people who work for them, wanting them to do something, and actually that going into bullying. Is it not quite hard to see the difference there, whether they have crossed the line . It is, of course, and there is no straight line. But i think that if youve been in a leadership role in an organisation, you tend to know whether a particular set of behaviours is one side of the line or the other. And who can a Civil Servant go to if there is a problem . Probably in the first instance, he or she would go to their own line manager. But if it was a problem in relation to how they thought they had been treated by a minister, it would probably pretty quickly reach the permanent secretary. So who decides if the ministerial code has been breached . Well, that is a very good question. It is up to the Prime Minister first of all to decide whether they want to ask the Cabinet Office to investigate the facts in this instance, thats what the Prime Minister has done. But it is then finally up to the Prime Minister to decide whether the code has been breached in any individual case. It is a difficult decision for him, isnt it . Inevitably because it is a question of weighing the facts. But it is also, as is only too evident, there are other considerations in play. What sort of other considerations . A Prime Minister is always considering the politics of a situation, always considering the personalities involved. That is why some people have suggested that actually, it ought to be more down to some kind of independent personal body to decide whether breaches of the code have taken place. Now kaajal, youre an employment lawyer. What does constructive dismissal mean . Constructive dismissal is essentially where an employee resigns in response to a fundamental breach of their Employment Contract. And that fundamental breach can either be a breach of an implied term, which is the implied term of mutual trust and confidence and that is an automatic term that exists in the employment relationship. And more often than not, where there are allegations of bullying and harassment, it is the implied term of mutual trust and confidence that is relied upon. They resign in response to that breach, and those alleged breaches have to be more than minor or trivial. They have to essentially go to the root of the Employment Contract in order for a constructive unfair dismissal claim to be successful. But presumably it is hard to prove . It is. A whole raft of employment tribunal claims centre around constructive unfair dismissal, and quite often there are other heads of claims which are attached as well for discrimination, whistle blowing, etc. But for stand alone constructive unfair dismissal claims, they are difficult to succeed in because the burden of proof is on the employee to show the factual circumstances which aligned to the allegations, that the implied term is completely broken. Thank you both very much. The government has rejected claims that it sat on its hands as the Airline Flybe collapsed. The downfall of the exeter based carrier has put 2,000 jobs at risk. Its failure comes two months after the government announced a rescue deal for the airline. Flybe said its problems had been compounded by the coronavirus outbreak. The directors therefore decided it was not viable to keep flybe operating. Unfortunately, in a competitive market, companies do fail. And it is not the role of government to prop them up. The collapse of flybe is disastrous news for passengers and employees alike, and will cause real anxiety in many regions throughout this country. The loss of 2,000 jobs many in areas heavily reliant on aviation it will be an extremely heavy blow. A series of conservative mps whose constituencies include Regional Airports highlighted the consequences of the collapse. This is devastating news for devon and regional connectivity for the south west. Now is the time to invest in the south west, and my colleagues and i will be watching the budget with great interest. 84 years ago, the first spitfire flew from southampton airport in my constituency on 5 march, 1936. The news last night will be devastating to the 1,500 people that rely on southampton airport in my constituency. The minister will know that 95 of flights are provided by flybe at southampton airport, and that short runway means it is unlikely the other carriers will be able to take the brunt of the replacement services. Will she work with me and Cornwall Council, and the industry to find another carrier to pick up this vital route as urgently as possible . I thank my honourable friend. I can confirm that we are determined to make sure that route continues. And i will, of course, work with my honourable friend and Cornwall Council in order to deliver that. Kelly tolhurst. Senior conservatives lined up to tear into the governments decision to give the Chinese Technology firm huawei a role in providing the 5g mobile phone network in the uk. The attack was led by a former conservative leader. Imagine in 1939, had we been developing our radar systems, we decided actually to have one of the nazi companie in germany become involved directly in doing it. 0h but we reduced the level of involvement to 35 so only 35 was controlled by them. I was surprised on a Radio Programme i heard a couple weeks ago that a director of huawei in this country who happens to be a former permanent secretary described huawei as being rather like john lewis. Laughter in that was owned by its employees, and that wed all got this wrong. Does he agree with me that that is an absurd characterisation of huawei . Well, it is either completely absurd, or i will review my purchases from john lewis. My socks may yet even be bugged. An snp mp was struck by the line up of speakers. You can tell this is important because of the variety of personalities set here behind me. Of personalities sat here behind me. We have several former cabinet ministers, former deputy Prime Minister, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs select committee, the former chairman of the Dcms Committee was here earlier. If the tory party had a politburo, this would be it, mr chairman. Laughter. Chi onwurah started her career as an electrical engineer working for major telecoms firms. If someone had said to me that a couple of decades later, we would be incapable of building a european Telecoms Network without a chinese supplier, i would have been absolutely dumbfounded. The minister tried to reassure mps. Over time, our intention is to reduce our reliance on high risk vendors, as market diversification takes place. And we want to get to position where we do not have to use a high risk vendor in our network at all. Matt warman. Now, parliaments petitions website is back up and running. Any submission that gets 10,000 signatures will receive a response from the government. Those that get 100,000 will be considered for a parliamentary debate. The Committee Chair told faye kidd that petitions can lead to further investigation. And we did that into brain tumour research, which resulted in getting more funding from the government. We also looked at workplace dress codes and whether women should be forced to wear make up and high heels at work. And that resulted in the government issuing a new guidance on the issue. So there are a number of areas where we have genuinely made an impact and made a difference not us in parliament, but the petitioners themselves who have called for this change. So since it has reopened, how many petitions have you got . So the petitions website onlyjust reopened a couple days ago, but already in the last 2a hours, weve had 7a petitions tabled, and 6,000 signatures added to them, which are probably going up as we speak. So get on there and have a look, and if there is something that you want to support, get your name added. Or if there is something that youd like to raise, get a petition done, get five people to support it, and off you go. Now lets have a look at some other news from westminster. Peers have called on the government to take firm action against china over the harvesting of detainees organs for transplant. Over 7,000 doctors in china are involved in the systematic killing of prisoners through the horrific enforced body harvesting trade in that country. Mps have been told that hs2 didnt make public problems with the project in its annual report because it didnt want to scare the horses. In 2015, hs2 was predicted to cost £56 billion, but it could reach double that. There was lots of work going on with the supply chain. We were confident we could find a way to get back to an affordable position. We felt it would be inappropriate to say otherwise, because that would scare the horses. You knew, the department knew, word was beginning to leak out. But you, in your words, did not want to scare the horses. Illjust remind you that some of the horses in this race are the taxpayer. The governments decision not to appeal against a court of appeal judgement over a proposed third runway at heathrow has caused concern among some mps. The court ruled that current plans were unlawful because they didnt take climate commitments into account. In the event that heathrow are successful at the Supreme Court, will the minister confirm that the government will not intervene to stop expansion occurring . Any outcome of a Supreme Court ruling will be respected. Long awaited trade talks between the uk and the eu got under way in brussels on monday. The uks chief negotiator, and his entourage of 100 advisers and Civil Servants, will focus on everything from fishing to financial services. In the commons, the government answered concerns about a trade deal with america. We will not be diminishing or lowering our standards as part of a us trade deal. And we will also not be paying more for drugs prices in the nhs. That is clearly laid out in our objectives for everyone to read. And if which i dont believe to be the case but if the us were to demand that, we would simply walk away. Each year, the commons holds a debate to Mark International womens day. Its become a grim tradition for one labour mp to read out a role call of women whove been killed by men in the past year. It took her four minutes. Zoe orton. Beatrice yankston. Levi ogden. Tessa gouiri. Gabriel miriam. There was woman who lived on the street that i live on, and i saw the sirens and heard the roar, and knew i would have to read out her name. Jess phillips. Now, how do you fancy another Summer Bank Holiday . One conservative mp has introduced a bill calling for one to fall on the friday closest to 23june. But why then . We can celebrate the monarch, who has an official birthday injune. We can celebrate Un Public Services appreciation day, which is 27june. We could also, of course, celebrate the fact that we had the greatest democratic debate and participation on 23 june 2016 in the eu referendum. Now, if theres anyone that doesnt support the monarchy or doesnt support the public services, or doesnt support the union or doesnt support the referendum, they can always go to work on 23june. Well, its very likely we will all be going to work on 23 june, because theres almost no chance his will make it into law. Lets take a look at the wider world of politics. Faye kidd has our countdown. At five popularity polls. 60 of people asked by yougov said they didnt know who you were. And awkward pauses, relations remained tense in the welsh assembly. At four 5 march can only mean st pirans day, a celebration of cornwalls patron saint. Cornwall forever well, thats what we think the Prime Minister said. I wish him a happy st pirans day, and. Speaks in cornish. Mr speaker. Cheering. At three the union flag, or is it the unionjack . Oh no, its definitely the union flag. Oh, i give up ill letjacob rees mogg clear this one up. There is this pedantic but erroneous view that it should be called the union flag. And it is used by people who are more pedantic than they are wise. At two mps celebrated International Womens day, but Anne Mclaughlin got a bit confused about who was sitting in the speakers chair. Mister i mean, madam deputy speaker. Im the second woman to call you mr speaker. And at one how would you prepare for a tough negotiation . Britains chief brexit negotiator david frost enjoys a patriotic fry up. Bacon, eggs, beans, and mmm, brexit faye kidd. Finally, lets return to the subject of coronavirus and one very eminent doctor in the lords was troubled by social interaction. It seems to me that simply not shaking hands is only part of the problem. Social kissing seems to be something we should not be doing. Its very easy to do that. Somebodys tried to kiss me twice today, and i dont mean. Laughter. And i dont mean in the way that my wife, who might be listening to this debate, is concerned. The minister lord bethell had this to say on the matter. The noble lord is absolutely right about kissing. Kissing is. Wonderful, but potentially dangerous. But the analysis. Laughter. Thats always been the case and he went on to say that the most important thing was not to touch your nose. Apparently, we touch our noses between 70 100 times a day, and thats why you need to wash your hands, so that when you touch your nose, theres no risk. And that Public Health message brings us to the end of the programme. Dont forget we look back at the day in parliament every weekday at 11pm on bbc parliament. But for now, from me, mandy baker, goodbye. Hello. While the weather does not look as bad as it has been on recent weekend, it is still going to be windy out there and it will still be wet at times is this area wet at times is this windy out there and it will still be wet at times is this area of low pressure feeds in these weather fronts, particularly during saturday into saturday night, moving south, and behind it, a blustery sunday but with some sunshine by then, but also afairfew with some sunshine by then, but also a fairfew showers with some sunshine by then, but also a fair few showers around. So some strong winds at times this weekend and we will all see a spell of rain all over some of us a lot of it may come through on saturday night. After an early frost going into friday night, by saturday morning some of these temperatures are on the way out, particularly the north and west underneath his cloud cover with some rain. And while across the eastern side of uk may be a bit apache rain moving across for a time, with the afternoon for Central Eastern england and perhaps not the scotla nd Eastern England and perhaps not the scotland looks dry whereas for whales and Western Areas of england will see some occasional rain for northern ireland, southern and western scotland and it turns heavy and persistent in the afternoon and it will become increasingly windy, these are wind gusts with the irish sea, some girls on costs around 50 miles an hourand sea, some girls on costs around 50 miles an hour and a lot of missed and moved for the coast and hills in the west as well. Technically a mild day but then again, it is windier. And wetter. The rain moved south saturday evening and nights are finally reaching down towards the east and south east of england well after dark stop before the wrinkly southern and western scotland and some of the hills up to 70 millimetres and could see which brings the risk of flooding rising river levels and they could be some disruption from that going into sunday. An older start to sunday, of course we have had a lot of rain overnight and sunday, the last of it will clear away from south east england in the morning and behind it, brightest guys yes but look at all of the showers dotted about. Moving through quickly on strong problem gusty wind and not a washout of the day but if you do find yourself in a shallow, it could well bea yourself in a shallow, it could well be a heavy downpour and maybe a rumble of thunder and some hail around for a time but some snow to the high hills of scotland and it will feel colder on sunday. And then looking into the start of next week, for monday it looks like another area of low pressure is headed our way. Detail not yet set in stone but it will bring another spell of wind and rainfor it will bring another spell of wind and rain for some of us. It doesnt because if Blood Pressure is in charge of our weather next week with a few locations here saying that it is wet at the start of the week and then things will turn more showery, again, as the week goes on, and you will also notice it will turn a bit colder with that too. Welcome to bbc news, im james reynolds. Our top stories stranded at sea, the Cruise Ship Passengers infected with coronavirus. The Us Government reveals its plan of action. All passengers and crew will be tested for the coronavirus. Those that need to be quarantined will be quarantined. Those that require additional medical attention will receive it. Italy announces almost 50 more deaths from covid 19, the countrys biggest daily increase. And in other news the premature babies struggling for life in the syrian province of idlib. And why a publisher in new york is abandoning a memoir by filmmaker woody allen
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