now it's time for a look back at the week in parliament. hello there, welcome to the week in parliament — our look at the highlights from all four of the uk's parliaments and assemblies. coming up: borisjohnson tells mps schools in england won't return before the 8th of march. and i know how frustrating that will be — will be for pupils and teachers who want nothing more than to get back to the classroom. the labour leader calls for teachers to be vaccinated in the next few weeks. he should bring forward the vaccination of key workers and use the window of the february half term to vaccinate all teachers and all school staff. also on this programme: leaders in wales and scotland face questions about the coronavirus vaccine roll—out. the home secretary announces tougher border controls. and there's to be a new investigation into mother and baby homes in northern ireland which housed women pregnant outside marriage, including victims of rape and incest. wasn't their fault- that they were raped or the victims of incest. yet they were the ones that suffered. - and it appears to me _ that the people who perpetrated the crimes went scot—free. but first: prime minister's questions saw mps in reflective mood, following the news that the uk's coronavirus death toll had passed 100,000. more people have now died with coronavirus in the second wave than the first. the number of cases reached record levels in early january, partly driven by a new variant of the virus thought to be much more easily transmissible than other strains. the labour leader, sir keir starmer, who's self—isolating, said behind every death was a grieving family, friend, colleague, or neighbour. he wanted to hear the prime minister's explanation for the figures. the question on everyone's lips this morning is, "why?" the prime minister must�*ve thought about that question a lot. so can he tell us why he thinks that the united kingdom has ended up with a death toll of 100,000 — the highest number in europe? the prime minister said he mourned every death. mr speaker, when you have a new virus, and indeed, when you have a new variant of that virus, of the kind we have in this country, when you have dilemmas as hard and as heavy as this government has had to face over the last year, i must tell the right honourable gentlemen there are no easy answers. a perpetual lockdown is no answer, mr speaker. people have been asked to make huge sacrificesl by his government. at least they now deserve financial certainty. - tell people straight, - prime minister — will this uk government extend furlough, maintain the universal creditl uplift, and finally, i finally offer support for the three million excluded? i don't think anybody could seriously deny that this government has given absolutely unprecedented and unequal, by global standards, support throughout the pandemic. we will continue to put our arms around people across the whole of the uk throughout this crisis. borisjohnson. later, the prime minister updated mps on the reopening of schools. schools in england have been open only to vulnerable children and those of key workers since the start ofjanuary, with the majority of youngsters staying at home. it will not be possible to reopen schools immediately after the february half term. and i know how frustrating that will be — will be for pupils and teachers who want nothing more than to get back to the classroom. he insisted he understood the pressures on parents and the worries for youngsters�* mental health. the prime minister said if the government met its target of vaccinating the four most vulnerable groups by mid—february. .. we hope it will therefore be safe to begin the reopening of schools from monday, 8 march, with other economic and social restrictions being removed thereafter as and when the data permits. the labour leader had earlier called for teachers to be vaccinated during the february half term and hit out at the government's approach. even for this prime minister, it's quite something to open schools one day, close them the next, to call them "vectors of transmission", and then to challenge me to say that the schools he's closed are safe. only now to give a statement where he says that schools can't open until the 8th of march at the earliest because it's not safe to do so. that's his analysis, it's the sort of nonsense that's led us to the highest death toll in europe. in his statement, borisjohnson announced the extension of free school meal vouchers and parcels, a £300 million tutoring programme, and summer schools to help those who'd missed out. conservative mps welcomed that, but wanted children back in class as soon as possible. we are storing up a lifetime of problems of anxiety, mental health, obesity, by having all our young primary—age children at home. and please, may i urge the prime minister to have courage in these final months to bring children, particularly primary—aged children, back to school as quickly as possible. another mp worried about the wider easing of restrictions. the evidence shows that i the government's approach to easing the lockdown before christmas meant that crowdsl of people came to york despite my warnings, l spreading the infection i in the retail, hospitality, and transport sectors - because they could travel to a lower tier and were off guard in my community. i the result has been— devastating, it was completely unsafe and completely avoidable. _ will the prime minister commit not to return to a tiered - system where people can freely move the infection from one - place to another? borisjohnson told her the government took action as soon as it learnt of the increased transmissibility of the new variant, and the best thing to do now was to keep the virus under control and continue with the vaccination programme. the head of the nhs england said it would be worrying if the uk's vaccines supply was "stymied" by restrictions on exports of the pfizerjab by the european union. there's been increasing tension over vaccine distribution between the uk and the eu ever since british—based astrazeneca warned the eu it would have to reduce planned deliveries of its 0xford jab, because of production problems, with the european union demanding thatjabs produced in the uk are diverted to europe to fulfil contractual obligations. the alternative pfizer vaccine is manufactured in belgium, with millions of doses being sent to the uk. but the company has said supplies will be temporarily lower as it works to increase capacity. sir simon stevens was asked about the problems. we've heard overnight from the european union that there are moves afoot to put bureaucratic obstacles in place to the delivery of vaccines manufactured on the continent. are you worried by that? well, were that to happen, then, of course, that would be a worry. but, as i think government ministers out on the airwaves this morning have said, they think that's not something that is at the moment likely. the reality is that, as you say, we are off to a strong start with vaccinations. actually, we have a shared interest in every country doing well on vaccinations, given that the virus moves across borders with extreme ease. but equally, this country did well to secure our vaccine supply from multiple sources. would it affect the attainment of the 15 february target for the most vulnerable groups, if such obstacles were put in place? well, we are on track for 15 february. and i think as was said this morning, that remains our line of sight to 15 february. but clearly, we have a combination of sourcing from oxford astrazeneca, principally out of this country, and from pfizer—biontech from continental europe. i mean, one of the things that arises from this — and indeed, since i know you're more broadly thinking about the lessons of the pandemic — is that alongside international cooperation, actually having strong uk manufacturing capability, including in life sciences, is an important part of our future resilience. and, you know, very extended supply chains do not necessarily serve you well. borisjohnson was in scotland on thursday, emphasising the strength of the united kingdom working together to combat covid—i9. he started his day—long visit by going to the lighthouse laboratory, which processes covid tests at the queen elizabeth university hospital campus in glasgow. calls have been growing for another independence referendum, and the snp said the prime minister was panicking because he was losing the argument. meanwhile in holyrood, the conservative leader questioned the speed of the country's vaccine roll—out. ruth davidson quoted one family doctor. these jabs are sat there, but they're not getting to us. this argument that the focus is on care homes rather than the over—80s is a red herring. it isn't a choice between the two. these are different cohorts being vaccinated by different staff. first minister, are you telling these gps on the front line that they're wrong? we have now virtually completed the vaccination of care homes, around 95%, there will be efforts to get that percentage up. we are on track, though, to notjust meet, but i hope to exceed our targets for the other cohorts that we are now vaccinating. around half a million people have been vaccinated already in total, and in terms of the over—80 population, as i said, today that is now around 60%. 11 months into this pandemic, i this government has been slow to test, slow to trace, i slow to support people who are self—isolating. listening to jackie baillie, you wouldn't think that we actually had the lowest levels of covid and the whole of the uk in scotland. applause but they are too high, and therefore we will continue to do more. last week, i reported that the government had failed to use one million gold—standard pcr tests since christmas. this week, it's even worse — the number is now 1.2 million tests not used. the government is sometimes only using a quarter of the capacity. isn't it time to turn that around? we use the pcr testing capacity principally for symptomatic cases. and the reason that the symptomatic cases are not meeting the capacity we've got for that is that the levels of virus are thankfully lower than that. nicola sturgeon on the fight against coronavirus. a short time later, the finance secretary, kate forbes, delivered her spending plans in the budget. focussing on the response to the pandemic, she announced there'd be no changes to income tax rates and pledged extra funding forjobs and skills. local authorities will also be offered incentives to freeze council tax. ms forbes said the recovery could be long and hard, and she couldn't guarantee there wouldn't be more tough times ahead, but... throughout these dark times, we've never given up hope. hope for a betterfuture, a healthier, greener, fairer society. and now, with large—scale vaccination focused firstly on the most vulnerable, there is some light at the end of the tunnel. this budget seeks to build on that hope. and by focusing on how we continue to protect, to recover, to rebuild, to renew our country, it seeks to make that light at the end of the tunnel shine that little bit brighter. we need today a budget that focuses 100% on managing the pandemic and our economic recovery thereafter. we will measure all the announcements in the budget today against the essential test of whether they will assist efforts in that respect, and in particular, help protect jobs and safeguard our economy over the coming year. and we will reject any plans to waste precious resources — money or time — on campaigning for another divisive independence referendum. we need a budget that is about building up, not breaking up. kate forbes had announced a 3% pay increase for public sector workers earning up to £25,000. labour wanted more help for those working in social care. they're predominantly female, they are low—paid, they're earning £8—9 per hour, they have cared for our older people and vulnerable people at this most difficult of times. surely, they deserve more than the living wage. surely, they finally deserve to be properly valued and recognized by society, and surely, presiding officer, they deserve £15 per hour as called for by the gmb. the budget is largely silent on getting our education system back up the international rankings and the value of teachers. and business support schemes have too many holes, and it's taking too long to get the funds to business. so will the finance secretary look again at these priorities? kate forbes told him are are she was open to suggestions and ideas, and was happy to work with him. now, a pledge to vaccinate 70% of the over—80s by last weekend was missed by the welsh government. weather has been blamed for why the target wasn't reached. first minister mark drakeford told the welsh parliament many over—80s did not feel it was safe to attend appointments in the snow and ice. the data is still coming in, but the figures we have show 72% of people living and working in care homes have already been vaccinated — that's notjust offered vaccination, that's already been vaccinated. we will not reach the 70% for over—80s because of the interruption to the programme of vaccination that happened on sunday and on monday morning. i won't have people over 80 feeling pressurized to come out to be vaccinated when they themselves decide that it is not safe for them to do so. he was facing questions from the newly—installed welsh conservative leader, andrew rt davies, who returned to the job after paul davies resigned in a row about drinking alcohol four days into a ban on drinking in licensed premises. you missed your target, that's straightforward, yesterday, for example, i could tell the uk government had four out of five 80—year—olds vaccinated, 80%. they'd hit their target. what we are seeing constantly is targets being missed by your government, and we are seeing the opening of a postcode lottery here in wales. i'm really sorry, the member is going to have to do better than that. here he is again in his resumed responsibilities. there is no postcode lottery here in wales. instead, he said there was a tremendous effort to get people vaccinated. now, for some other news in brief. new measures have been announced aimed at reducing the number of people travelling to and from the uk. british residents arriving from a "red list" of banned countries will have to quarantine in a hotel, and people travelling out of the uk are being told they'll need a "valid reason" to go overseas. we will introduce a new requirement so that people wishing to travel must first make a declaration as to why they need to travel. this reason for travel will be checked by carriers prior to departure. limiting hotel quarantining to only a limited number of countries, from which travel from non—uk residents was all ready banned, means that the home secretary's proposals do not go anywhere near far enough. can she now tell me i why she failed to take the precautions that she knew were needed at the start - of the pandemic? what stopped her from closing the borders? . was it her cabinet colleagues, and if so, why did she not- resign and speak out? priti patel reeled off a list of steps taken last year, but had special condemnation for those holidaying overseas. borderforce have given me examples where even at saint pancras, people have been turning up with their skis. that is clearly not acceptable. we see plenty of influencers on social media showing off about which parts of the world they are in, mainly in sunny parts of the world. going on holiday is not an exemption, and it's important that people stay at home. people all over the world lit candles on wednesday night to mark holocaust memorial day. the event that remembers the six millionjews murdered under nazi persecution and the victims of subsequent genocides in cambodia, rwanda, bosnia, and darfur. for the first time, the speaker of the commons held a short, socially—distanced ceremony to mark the event. sir lindsay hoyle was joined by other senior politicians as he lit a candle and gave a reading in portcullis house, where many mps have their offices. the government has been accused of a staggering lack of urgency over human rights and the jailing of opposition leader, alexei navalny, in russia. mr navalny was arrested on his return to moscow, months after he was almost killed in a nerve agent attack which he blamed on president putin. thousands of opposition supporters defied police to take part in mass rallies across the country. mps questioned why the government hadn't implemented the recommendations of a report by the commons intelligence committee. no action on foreign agents, no action on golden visas, and the london laundromat is still very much open for business. the lack of urgency is truly staggering. we have issued sanctions against six individuals and one organization in relation to alexei navalny, and as i think i've made very, very clear, we would not speculate on who else we may or may not sanction. they were giants of the high street, but the collapse of debenhams and arcadia has put more than 20,000 the remaining debenhams stores are to be closed permanently, after the brand was bought by the online retailer boohoo. my lords, is not the risk of the demise of vast outlets like that of debenhams will have a domino effect in reducing footfall for other shops? this will disproportionately affect women who traditionally held many more roles in the retail sector, and many of these roles are now going towards distribution centres, where as we know, the gender balance is different. we are doing all we can to assist the sector - in these very times. there was bad news for grey squirrels in the week. 0riginally introduced from america, in the past century, numbers have rocketed — and now they're officially classed as a pest. they're blamed for the decline of their native cousin, the red squirrel. now a minister had news. we support work by the uk's squirrel accord to develop an oral contraceptive to reduce the grey squirrel population. now the government's confirmed it's delaying laws to protect nature, due to pressure on parliament from the coronavirus pandemic. mps spent the afternoon debating amendments to the environment bill, but further scrutiny has been postponed until the next parliamentary session. campaigners are angry at the latest delay to a bill that was first launched under the previous prime minister, theresa may, back injuly 2018. the necessary changes we've had to make to our procedures in order to keep members of the public and, of course, staff safe, have put extraordinary pressure on parliamentary timetable, and i want to reassure all members that the government remains committed to getting this environment bill onto the statute book. and across all areas of the environment, the bill will drive improvement, cleaner air, greater biodiversity, a greater emphasis on nature, less waste, healthier rivers, more recycling, restoration of our precious habitats, less deforestation, polluting plastic waste exports to developing countries banned, all underpinned by new legally binding targets and watched over by our tough new office for environmental protection. she said her work on those aims wouldn't stop and the bill would pass through parliament by the autumn. the green's mp was unimpressed. now, of course, we understand the pressures that covid have put on the parliamentary timetable, but the government has had more than four years since the referendum, two years since the draft bill and one year since the uk left the eu to get these plans in place. their failure to do so is utterly incompetent. this bill is a cobbled together set of desperate actions thatl are sinking under the weight of greenwash that's been i applied by ministers. this bill does not take l the urgent action that is so desperately needed. this legislation is notl perfect by any means, but this bill should already be law. - this bill is a cobbled together set of desperate actions thatl are sinking under the weight of greenwash that's been i applied by ministers. this bill does not take l the urgent action that is so desperately needed. this legislation is notl perfect by any means, but this bill should already be law. - luke pollard. the voices of survivors of mother and baby homes in northern ireland will be heard "loudly and clearly" with a new independent investigation, arlene foster has said. the first minister's comments follow the publication of a long—awaited report into mother and baby homes and magdalene laundries in northern ireland, which housed women and girls who became pregnant outside marriage. the stormont—commissioned research was carried out by queen's university and ulster university, looking at the period from 1922 to 1990. there was huge stigma attached to pregnancy outside of marriage. women and girls were admitted by families, doctors, and as i have already said, they were required to undertake tough domestic duties late into pregnancy. they had little preparation for childbirth and some had cold and castigating birth experiences. it is with huge regret that we acknowledge the pain of those experiences and the hurt caused to women and girls who did nothing more than be pregnant outside of marriage, some of them criminally, against their will. none of us should be proud of how our society shunned women in these circumstance and of their experience while resident in these institutions. for too long, they have carried a burden of shame and secrecy. too often, their treatment from those who were in positions of power and trust caused them real harm and a lifetime of trauma. today, the publication of the report shines a light into darkness, but there is more to do. this was indeed a shameful chapter from our past, a time that caused much pain, much hurt and has left much anger, a time that has not been addressed nor appropriately acknowledged. one cannot begin to comprehend or understand the trauma that these mothers were subjected to, nor the lifelong suffering that resulted for them and their babies too. i'm so glad that these institutions were closed down a long time ago, but the stench of their legacy hangs over us all until this matter is appropriately, sensitively and finally addressed. today, we should reach out to the women and girls - and support them and end i the silence and the shame. that's what we need to do. let us be clear, there are no illegitimate children. - every child born then. and now is legitimate. every child has a right to know who their parents were, - to know where they came from. will the joint first minister agree that any investigation must include questions around the whereabouts and the location of the bodies of those babies and children who died in these homes? absolutely. i can confirm that we will be looking into where the babies have been interred, where they've been buried, where their last resting place is. i know that there is some distressing accounts of mass graves, and we want to very much be alert to that and look into that, be as sensitive as we can be, given the horrific nature of some of the burials. so we will be looking into that in greater detail in terms of the infant mortality pace as we move forward. arlene foster, on that report into northern ireland's mother and baby homes. finally, we've all got used to new ways of working in the pandemic, and any mps are now contributing online. but the last business late on monday, which happened to be burns night, may well have been a first, as the deputy speaker, nigel evans, explained. i think, actually, we've all had to adapt during the covid pandemic, and it may well be a piece of history tonight that the entirety of a debate has been held in the chamber of the house of commons where none of the participants were present. quite incredible. so i would like to thank the half a dozen people who kept me company during the past half—hour, but quite amazing. happy burns night. i suspect there will be quite a few drams drunk virtually this evening, if not virtually drunk this evening, but nonetheless, happy burns night, everybody. nigel evans, reflecting on a parliamentary first. and that's it from me for this week. but dojoin david cornock on bbc parliament on monday night at 11pm for the highlights of the day in parliament, orfind us on the bbc iplayer. but for now from me, alicia mccarthy, goodbye. hello there. it can be a fine line between rain and snow here in the uk, and the battle lines are certainly drawn over the next few days. cold air to the north—east of us, milderairto the south and west. on that dividing line, which this weekend pushes its way southwards, this is where we could see that rain—snow mix, particularly on saturday. this swirl of winds, a developing weather system, developing area of low pressure, which pushes into that cold air. and on the weather fronts that reach the cold air, we could see some significant snow, parts of wales and parts of southern england especially. the exact details on that, though, will change. we'll keep you updated. today, though, is a fairly quiet one. there will be plenty of cloud around and some showers. a cold start, too, across parts of scotland. here, we're seeing snow throughout the night, temperatures low enough for some ice and made to feel colder by strong winds. stronger but milder winds across the south as well. here, we'll see some early showers across wales, south—west england, pushing across the southern half of england and wales. the odd rumble of thunder possible, brightening up later. some mist and fog around the midlands, northern england to begin with, brightening up but then clouding over as rain and eventually a little bit of hill sleet pushes in. brightening up, too, to parts of the northern half of scotland, compared with what we've seen. patchy rain and sleet into southern areas as we finish the day and that north—south contrast, as far as temperatures. the colder air on the move further southwards, then, as we go through friday night into saturday, and as this weather front approaches off the atlantic, initially, rain, and quite a bit of rain could cause some minorflooding towards the south—west and across some southern counties. temperatures here holding up, but a greater chance of some frost. —7 to start the weekend in northern scotland. but as that rain pushes into the cold air, the potential for not only some heavy snow, but with strong winds, blizzards over the welsh hills. at the moment, it looks like wales, into parts of the midlands, maybe south—east england could see some snow. how much, of course, that will depend on exactly where that weather front will lie. we'll keep you updated on that, and certainly worth watching the forecast. the further north you are, it does look like it should be a dry, bright, cold start to the weekend, but that frost will return with a vengeance as we go through saturday night into sunday. and as one weather system clears, another one will be approaching, so whilst it will be a frosty, bright and, in places, icy start to sunday, this next weather system, bringing rain initially to south—western areas, could turn to snow as it pushes across england, wales and northern ireland later in the day. keep checking your forecast here, though, on bbc news. bye for now. welcome to bbc news — i'm ben bland. our top stories: major trials of a new vaccine show it works on new variants of the virus. but the eu continues its scramble for doses, saying it could take them from uk factories. we can and will get doses of the vaccine from the series of plants which are mentioned in the contract and also including those in the united kingdom. the uk reveals details of the new visa that allows hong kong citizens to move to britain. 0utrage as amateur investors are blocked from buying shares in us firm gamestop, after they took on the big money of wall street. lost and found 10,000 years later — a danish woman finds a stone age necklace while strolling on the sea shore.