Last modified on Wed 4 Aug 2021 01.40 EDT
Top story: No backup plan for 2021 exams
Good morning â Warren Murray meeting you in the middle of the week.
The governmentâs refusal to draw up schooling contingency plans before a second lockdown â insisting schools in England would remain open this year and exams would go ahead â was an âunforgivableâ error that left teachers and parents in England to deal with chaos, the Institute for Government has said. Its report claims senior figures from the prime minister down opposed creating backup plans for assessing A-levels, GCSEs and other qualifications. A Department for Education spokesperson said: âContrary to the claims in this report, contingency plans for restrictions on schools opening in the 2021-22 academic year were first published in August 2020, and contingency plans for qualifications in 2021 were first discussed with Ofqual in October 2020.â
Last modified on Thu 29 Jul 2021 01.39 EDT
Top story: Potential for more Delta disruption
Hello, Iâm Warren Murray, and I got in early to have this waiting for you.
Britainâs recovery from the pandemic slowed in June as shortages of goods supplied to factories, building sites and shops began to take their toll and the âpingdemicâ forced workers to isolate, according to the Guardianâs monthly economic snapshot of economic developments. The slowdown could drag on if the Delta variant continues to hamper business activity. Construction companies reported a second month of declining activity, worsened by EU staff leaving because of Brexit. Retail sales increased by 0.5% in June, but only after a surge in purchases of food and drink to accompany the European football championships.
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