Transcripts For BBCNEWS Wednesday In Parliament 20200507

Now on bbc news, wednesday in parliament. Hello again, and welcome to wednesday in parliament. As the uks coronavirus death toll tops 30,000, questions for the Prime Minister. That is not success or apparent success. Can the Prime Minister tell us how on earth did it come to this . A returning Boris Johnson acknowledges the scale of the crisis. There is an epidemic going on in care homes which is something that i bitterly regret. And history is made in wales. Translation this is the first meeting of senate and the Welsh Parliament. All that to come and more. But first. As the uk became the first european country to record 30,000 coronavirus deaths, the Prime Minister told mps he bitterly regrets the coronavirus epidemic in care homes. In his first appearance in the commons since march, borisjohnson also said he found shortages of personal protective equipment enraging. And with the government having failed to meet its testing target on several days this week, he set a new target of two hundred thousand tests a day by the end of may. Since he last faced mps, borisjohnson has been seriously ill with coronavirus and become a father again. He got a warm welcome on his return to the chamber. I would like to welcome the Prime Minister back to his rightful place in the chamber. The whole house and the whole country is delighted at his recovery and a welcome back to this elected house. I now call the Prime Minister to answer his engagement question. Thank you for your kind words and it is good to be back, even though i have been away for longer than i had intended. It was the first head to head pmqs for Boris Johnson and the new labour leader. The initial pleasa ntries didnt last long. When the Prime Minister returned to work a week ago on monday, he said that many people were looking at the apparent success of the governments approach. But yesterday, we learned, tragically, that at least 29,427 people in the uk have now lost their lives to this dreadful virus. That is the highest number in europe. It is the second highest in the world. That is not success. 0r apparent success. So, can the Prime Minister tell us how on earth did it come to this . Mr speaker, every death is a tragedy and he is right to draw attention to the appalling statistics notjust in this country but around the world and i would echo what we have heard from the professor that at this at this stage, International Comparisons the date is not there to draw the conclusions that we want. The International Comparisons cannot be made when people have been using slides like this for weeks to do international comparison, this criticism does not hold water. I am afraid that people will conclude that the answer was the uk was slow to lock down, slow on the testing, slow on the tracing and ppe. What is happening in hospitals, looks like the numbers are falling, but in care homes, they continue to go up. At the press conference last night, the deputy chief scientific adviser says there is a real issue that we need to get to grips with in terms of what is happening with care homes. I could not agree more. For 12 weeks we need to make it clear that we are a health crisis. Why has the government not come to grips with this already . He is quite right to look at the crisis in care homes and he is absolutely right to say that theres an epidemic going on in care homes which is something that i bitterly regret and we have been working very hard for weeks to get it down. The Prime Minister said that in the last few days there had been an improvement in care homes. Sir keir starmer turned to testing. 0n the 30th of april, the government claim success in meeting its 100,000 tests a day target. Since then, as the Prime Minister knows, the number has fallen back. I might take that which is 40,000 tests and that meant 24,000 available tests were not used. What does the Prime Minister believe is special about the 30th of april that meant testing that day was so high . Yes, he was right that capacity exceeds demand. We are working on that. Were working at 100,000 a day but the ambition is to get up to 200,000 a day by the end of this month and to go even higher. Keir starmer welcomed the new target but said it was no replacement for a strategy. He turned to shortages of personal protective equipment or ppe. We are clearly going to need a very Robust National plan for protective equipment. Can the Prime Minister reassure the public that they will not be asked to return to work until that plan is in place . Yes, mr speaker. I certainly can and i share his frustration about ppe and the frustration that people have felt across the house in the country. It has been enraging to see the lack of supplying and ppe to those who need it. The Prime Minister is due to make a statement setting out the governments plan for the easing of some lockdown measures on sunday. The snps westminster leader wanted to ensure scotlands voice was heard. We anticipate the pm will be making the address on the easing of lockdown. This cannot be undertaken without the full cooperation of all our devolved governments. We must in this period of mixed messaging from the uk government. With the Prime Minister commit today that the subject of his address will be fully agreed to with the devolved nations so that all of our governments continue with this vitally important work of saving lives . I share the right honourable gentlemens aims. We will do our level best to make sure that the outlines of this attract the widest possible consensus. They can and ought to. The Prime Minister. With attention turning towards how to ease lockdown restrictions, the government has been talking to businesses and unions about how to protect employees health when they return to work. In berlin and other parts of germany, restrictions are starting to be lifted giving people a sense of what the new normal may be like with passengers on public transport social distancing and wearing face masks. Here in the uk, the trades Union Congress said there were huge gaps in Draft Guidelines on workplace safety, sent out over the weekend. Labour said workers needed to know that the government was looking out for them. No worker should have their lives to the lives of the loved is risk simply by going to work. This is a legal right and crucially must not be test site now. Cast aside now. The documents present measures to maintain safe workplaces, such as handwashing and social distancing, as being at the discretion of employers when they are requirements of the law. He said the government should require firms to conduct covid i9 risk assessments. Workers need to have confidence and trust that the government has got their back, so will the minister confirmed that employees will not be prejudiced in any ways for drawing attention to safety values in the workplace . Mr speaker, this time we are all in this together. I hope that my comments received in the constructive spirit in which they are offered. The minister said the guidelines were an early draft. This is not a finished process, we need to go into the Technical Details to make sure everyone has confidence. In the same way that employees need to have confidence. They should be able to discuss their employers, the steps they might take in order to make their workplace safer themselves and especially when we do to lift restrictions. If workers still feel unsafe, they can contact the local authority on that Health Safety identifies employers, they can take action to apply to the Public Health legislation and guidance. Enabling people to go back to work safely is key to getting through this crisis. Safe working will inevitably differ depending on setting, with the minister do all he can to make sure the government guidance focuses on general principles of social distancing and hygiene and avoids being overly prescriptive so that as many businesses as possible can open safely. Many were afraid of speaking out against their employers, does raise concerns unless the government shifts position that bad bosses will continue to expose their workers without fear of consequences, will you work with the to put these concern in law so workers can have their rights respected and their safety is assured . Supplies of ppe are still tightly constrained. When employers start to buy face masks and other equipment to keep employees safe, what is government doing to make sure the price of ppe and the supply of ppe is not going to be extremely distorted. The minister replied that the government was working with supply chains in the uk and across the world. I know with the work that the secretary of health is doing and my colleague in the department and we will build to ensure that the supply chains remain readily available and we can also work with a fair pricing. Youre watching wednesday in parliament with me, david cornock. Dont forget that if youre looking for some lockdown tv viewing, you can find our daily round up of parliamentary life on the bbc iplayer. Just search for parliament and enjoy now the National Assembly for wales is no more. After 21 years of devolution, the assembly has rebranded itself as senedd cymru the Welsh Parliament to reflect the growth in its powers. But in these times of coronavirus, the first meeting was a virtual one. We are meeting for the first time as members of the senate senedd. And the Welsh Parliament and a name now reflecting our role as the nations parliament. While the name change today, our priority remains the same as it has done over the past weeks, responding to the coronavirus crisis. Now more than ever, they expect a Strong National Parliament Working in the interests of the people of wales. And members of the senedd, mses as they are now known got on with questioning the first minister about the coronavirus outbreak and his governments decision not to test staff and residents in every care home. Mark dra keford highlighted the latest figures from the office for National Statistics. It is clear that the virus is having the greatest impact on those with the fewest resources. It will deepen the inequalities already entrenched by a decade of austerity. And this impact may be more intense and wales due to the age profile of our population and the higher level deprivation in some of our communities. As we made clear in the framework for recovery document published on the 24th of april, it would be a key factor and our plans of coming out of lockdown. As in parliaments elsewhere in the uk, the focus was on testing for the virus. First minister, i am pleased to see the Welsh Government has changed its policy on testing in care homes and moving forward all staff and residents in care homes where covid i9 detected will now be tested. Last week you told us there was no clinical value in extending the tests further and clearly now that clinical value has now been found. You know i raise this issue with the chief medical officer but the people of wales deserve to know what Clinical Evidence the Welsh Government actually received. He wanted all care residents and staff to be tested, even those without symptoms. I can tell him that we drew on studies from singapore and spain and Public Health england pilots and care homes and on a report for the centre for disease prevention and control in new york, the nursing home sector covid 19 experience there. You said in terms of care homes, where there has not been confirmed or suspected outbreak back clinical advice was not in favour of testing residents in that case but you are doing that now, arent you . For care homes that have 15 residents or above . Isnt that the reason why you are not applying that policy to small care homes is because you do not have the availability of testing so you do not have the ability to test every home . There was evidence numbers we are finding among the citations earlier, that in larger care and Nursing Homes there is a clinical point to testing even non symptomatic settings. And thats because larger homes are more susceptible, to the spread of coronavirus for a number of different reasons. Mark drakeford in the parliament formerly known as the welsh assembly. To edinburgh now, where Nicola Sturgeon has been answering questions from msps. The first minister told them this weeks figures, with a reduction of the overall number of deaths, offered some hope. But she warned that the lockdown wouldnt be lifted imminently in any significant way. Tomorrow the Scottish Government must formally consider to continue the restrictions for the next few weeks while it is too fragile to immediately ease restrictions and any significant way. But we are now planning for ways in which we can gradually do so as soon as possible and more detail as set out in the paper published yesterday. Anyone concern at the moment, please stay home except for essential purposes and stay more than two metres from people when you are out and do not meet up with people from other households if you are out. And isolate completely if you or someone else in your house has symptoms. If we all stick with it for a bit longer i am sure we will see more and bring forward the moment when some of these restrictions can start to be eased. The conservative leader questioned plans to reduce the rate of infection. Yesterdays Scottish Government paper was clear that getting the r number down as a priority. And that relies as we go forward on testing and tracing. However, testing numbers are falling short of lastings target. We understandably are at least a little bit sceptical about the promise to recruit 2,000 contact tracers in the next few weeks. More than half the latest scottish coronavirus deaths were in care homes. For weeks, families across scotland have been unable to visit their loved ones and care homes in the hope that this will keep them safe. And we know that for many that has sadly not been enough. And just last week, the covid 19 outbreak at the home farm care home on the isle of skye has tragically demonstrated how rapidly and widely this virus can spread in care homes. It also brought home the importance of testing all care home residents and all care home staff, not just those who are symptomatic. 0n testing, two weeks ago the first minister told me that she wanted to use to the full now the capacity we are building. But she has just told us that from a capacity of over 10,000 yesterday, just over 4,000 tests were completed. The first minister knows i support a universal basic income as well as the daily pay supplement of £29 for health and social care workers. I would appreciate an update from the first minister if that is possible on the progress that has been made on these issues . 0n ubi, universal basic income, i am on record as saying my support for that and my position on that has gone from a keen interest in exploring it to active support given the experience right now. We cant do that unilaterally for reasons everyone understands but i am look forward to have any supporters as we try to progress that idea with the uk government. Nicola sturgeon. Back at westminster, the department for work and pensions has won praise from campaigners for moving fast to announce a series of increases to benefits like universal credit, as the pandemic crisis hit as well as a ban on evictions. The charity turn2us was among those giving evidence to the work and pensions committee. We have been really impressed by how quickly dwp has shifted a lot of the culture and process to say right now our only priority is getting money to people, we are, our purpose is to prevent poverty. We would really like them to maintain more of this attitude in terms of supporting people as well as moving into potentially some really difficult economic situations over the next few months. But with two million new applications for universal credit, the witnesses warned that pre existing problems with benefits would cause serious hardship. The food bank charity, the trussell trust, had produced figures that suggested the five week waiting time for universal credit claims had resulted in a 50 increase in Food Bank Use in some areas. The first thing for me that is really clear as we came into this crisis, the speed at which people fell so far into this crisis and it suggests that the strands that made up the net were already frayed and very quickly were able to be broken. We are aware that there are advance loans and that we can take them but we see a lower uptake of those advanced loans as we go into the coronavirus. And i think what we know from our Previous Research is the reason for that is that people are anxious about re payments and going into debt. And not to be sure what that would mean. The hard chat now and whether it will announce having any kind of income or hardship later where taking the advanced now but i know that is leading to have and sufficient money. People are having to access their clean cancer hubs that have been established in response to covid 19. Similarly, because of their vulnerability they are not able to use public transport and we have been supporting people who were having to incur costs with taxis. We had a caller who called our support line recently who had waited three hours to make a claim on behalf of her terminally ill husband and then she was redirected to verify her id to another department where she had to wait another two hours and was subsequently cut off. And one major issue that emerged was people who had been ruled nrpf, no recourse to public funds, a category which included hundreds and thousands of immigrants and asylum seekers. Life is hard forfamilies with no recourse to public funds even beyond this crisis. Families as we know from our frontline workers have lived hand to mouth for years and are in the cycles of destitution and found accommodation and trying to pay for immigration fees and this is made worse right now because these families do not have a safety net for which to fall back on and cannot afford not to work. They are putting themselves and families at risk and that shocking thing we found from the Frontline Services is that a significant majority of families are workers that we are clapping every day on thursdays at 8pm and they are nhs catering staff, cleaners, Lab Technicians and social care workers. All the witnesses argued that the crisis should lead to a through overhaul of the benefits system to cope with what could be a long period when many people depended on it. Peers have questioned the effectiveness of the nhs app which is to be used for Contract Tracing to limit the spread of coronavirus. The internet entrepreneur lady lane fox, whos the uk digital champion, said the app would not be available to the people who needed it most. The office for National Statistics tells us that the highest number of deaths are amongst the poorest communities. 55 in 100,000 versus 25 and 100,000 in other communities, and yet these are the most digitally excluded people. It is a tragedy that the iniquities would mean that the Contact Tracing app will not help those who need it. What is the governments plan to address this enormous challenge . The noble baroness is entirely right, to point to the importance of ensuring the vulnerable are included. Of course, the app is not the only thing we are depending on. Manual track and trace in the conventional terms of using a phone and speaking to those who test positive will be a core part of our track and trace arrangements, and efforts will be made to reach those who are vulnerable or digitally isolated to ensure that they have details of the provisions of these track and trace arrangements. The most vulnerable and poorest communities will not have the technology or there will be problems with language. And i would like some more detail from the noble lord on that and how the government intends to roll this out. Given it to roll out the nhs volunteers system, i fear we might find ourselves with our most vulnerable and poorest communities at a disadvantage. The noble baroness is entirely right to be concerned. About the vulnerable and our approach. I completely share those concerns. It is a massive challenge but that does not stop us from embracing the advantages of technology where millions of transactions can be done in a day which could never be done by more manual processes. Could the minister explain why data from covid tests and nhs111, for example, would not be sufficient to keep transmission rates down and a post lockdown test track and trace strategy . My noble friend that baroness is entirely right. The testing and surveillance done by testing does give us powerful insight into the demographic reach of the virus and into information on a very broad basis of regional reach. But we are looking for a much more granular level of detail from the very powerful and multi million level details that the app can provide, and it is the value of that surveillance detail that has led us to design it in the way that we have. Lord bethell, bringing us to the end of wednesday in parliament. Thank you for watching. I do hope you canjoin me at the same time tomorrow for the week in parliament, our review of the week in westminster and beyond. Until then, bye for now. Hello there. Over the next few days, it looks like the temperatures are going to creep upwards. We could be looking at the mid 20s celsius across some southern parts of the uk, but well also have building humidity as well, and that could increase the chance of some showers, some of which will be heavy and thundery. Now, the pressure chart for thursday shows High Pressure largely dominating the scene, particularly towards the eastern half of the uk. Further west, well have these weather fronts, but it will introduce more cloud and outbreaks of rain. So it could be fairly wet in one or two places during thursday morning, the patchy rain spreading northwards into scotland. And then further south, we should see some sunshine developing but a few heavy showers on into the afternoon. Central eastern parts of the country seeing the best of the drier and the sunnier weather. We could see highs reaching 23 degrees in the south, but up to 19 or 20 in the north too. Now, there could be some evening showers or thunderstorms across england and wales into the midlands, certainly. These will tend to die off through the night. Most places will be dry, but it will stay rather cloudy and damp across the north and the west of scotland. And a milder night to come as well, temperatures in double figures across central and southern areas. So, for friday, it starts off milder. So its going to be a warmer day. Bit more cloud around generally. Certainly across the north and the west, well have further outbreaks of rain. Certainly for northern scotland. Elsewhere, some thundershowers will develop into the afternoon once again, particularly northern ireland, england and wales. Look at those temperatures up to 25 degrees across the south. Now into the weekend, as we start to see some changes. For saturday, a cold front begins to push southwards across scotland. Much colder air behind it, as the name suggests. Some rain on it too. Further south, itll be another warm day with sunny spells but increasing chance of showers and thunderstorms. Those temperatures, again, reaching the low to mid 20s in the south. Much colder in the north, as that cold front begins to slip southwards. And then during saturday night, itll advance its way southwards, right across the country, so by sunday, its going to feel very different. Unusually cold air for the time of year will make it feel very chilly indeed and well see some wintry showers across northern and eastern parts of the country, maybe even some settling snow across the north in scotland, even down to lower levels. That said, apart from a few showers, there will be some sunshine around. But look at these temperatures compared to what they expect for the next few days ranging from 6 to 12 degrees. This is bbc news, im mike embley with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. The United Kingdom becomes the first country in europe to record more than 30,000 deaths linked to coronavirus. President trump says the coronavirus pandemic is the worst attack ever on the united states, and points the finger at china. Germany announces the way out of lockdown, more shops will reopen and children will begin returning to school. Brazils president comes under pressure as the outbreak threatens to spread through neighborhoods plagued by poverty and violence. A public sign of appreciation for hospital staff from the worlds most private artist