Now on Bbc News Tuesday In Parliament. Hello again, and welcome to Tuesday In Parliament, as the Health Secretary Scraps Self Isolation for children and the fully vaccinated in england. Freedom is in our sights once again thanks to the protective wall of this Countrys Vaccination Programme and the huge advances we have made in getting this virus under control. New Covid Rules for schools in england, too. But labour accuse ministers of wishing away the real challenges of the pandemic. Todays statement offers no clarity on how the government will stop infections spiralling. And can you name the Cabinet Minister who upset the Deputy Speaker . It is discourteous for a minister to behave in this fashion. Im quite sure that an apology will be forthcoming. But first, the Health Secretary has announced that fully vaccinated people in England Wont have to self isolate if a close contact tests positive for covid. The new rule will apply from the 16th of august, and the same policy will also apply to anyone under the age of 18. At the moment, people identified as close contacts of a confirmed Coronavirus Case are required to self isolate for up to ten days when contacted by Test And Trace. Sajid javid told mps the government was taking a risk based approach that recognised the huge benefits the vaccine was providing. So, Mr Speaker, from the 16th of august, when even more people will have the protection of both doses and when modelling suggests the risks from the virus will be even lower, anyone who is a close contact of a positive case will no longer have to self isolate if they have been fully vaccinated. As we make this change, we will be drawing on the huge capacity we have built for testing and sequencing, and advising close contacts who are fully vaccinated to take a Pcr Test as soon as possible. So they can get certainty about their condition. Of course, anyone that tests positive will have to self isolate whether they have had the job or not. This new approach means that we can manage the virus in a way thats proportionate to the pandemic while maintaining the freedoms that are so important to us all. Labour were concerned about possible consequences. We have heard him in the last week or so tell us that he wants to unlock because he rightly wants to focus on the monumental nhs backlog. But the rising Hospital Admissions that are baked into the plan, into the path that he has chosen will mean operations cancelled, treatments delayed, and waiting times increasing. Now, i understand the rationale for his announcement today, but ive got to tell him again that the biggest barrier to an effective Isolation Policy has not been the inconvenience, but the lack of financial incentive to stay home. And if we are going to live with this virus, the days of people soldiering on when unwell are over. Sick pay is vital to infection control, will he please now fix it . And he criticised the decision to make wearing masks volu nta ry. So lets have a U Turn on mask wearing. Yes, lets have freedom, but not a high risk free for all. Keep masks for now, fix Sick Pay and lets unlock in a safe and sustainable way. There is a role for masks, indeed, with a pandemic. In particularly when you have a pandemic with no wall of defence against that pandemic. When you have a vaccine, and when that vaccine works, and when you have got the best Vaccine Roll out programme in the world then you need to start moving away from these restrictions including on masks. My right honourable friend will know that last year 40,000 fewer people started cancer treatment, which will sadlyl lead to a number of preventable deaths. So, will he be looking at the workforce required to deal with the Cancer Backlog . My right honourable friend as absolutely right to raise the issues of cancer, and of course it is a huge priority for this government. I havejust mentioned, Mr Speaker, earlier that how, sadly, because of the rules that we have had in place for well over a year there are many people that would have come forward with cancer or suspected cancer, and they have not been seen. And that has really built up a terrible problem and its an absolute priority for me to tackle. Many will be concerned that the Uk Government is actively trying to snatch defeat from the jaws of a vaccine victory. What confidence can the public have that the latest round of measures abandoning all restrictions is not another reckless gamble in the face of an increasing transmission . Its clear from comments made by the chief medical officer, i the Prime Minister, and Secretary Of State over the last 24 hours that is their view that it is better to have a third wave of covid now than it is in winter when the nhs is struggling. So could the Secretary Of State please confirm explicitly whether that is the Policy Aim of the government, i and if so could he confirm how many excess deathsl and additional cases of long covid officials estimate thati third wave will result in . No one wants another wave of covid cases. And as the honourable lady would have heard, what is different this time, as we do see, sadly, cases arise is the vaccine. One of the local hospitals that affects my constituency tells me there something like 30 of doctors who were not available recently because they had been pinged, they had come into contact not surprisingly with somebody with covid. Not because they found there were infected but because they had to go and quarantine for that ten day period. The announcement that i have made today will clearly make a huge difference to everyone that is pinged in such a way, including all those fantastic people that work in our health service. As i have said it will come into force from august the 16th. I know he will share the view of many of my constituents i in West Berkshire that we must do all we can to avoid another national lockdown. In the event that the Vaccine Efficacy should falter as we head into the winter months, say because of. Ia new variant, could he set out| what extra steps his department is taking to ensure that this winter want to be a repeat of last . The honourable lady knows about the Booster Programme, i think the Booster Programme will continue into next year and every time we have a booster we will be doing everything we can to take into account changes in the virus itself. Sajid javid on changing isolation rules in england. The governments in wales, scotland and Northern Ireland are expected to set out their own plans in the next week or so. A record 6ai,000 children missed school in england last thursday because of covid restrictions. The Education Secretary told mps that whole bubbles, or classes, of children will no longer be sent home to isolate afterjust one person tests positive. We recognise that the system of bubbles and isolation is causing disruption to many Childrens Education. That is why we will be ending bubbles and transferring Contact Tracing to the nhs Test And Trace system for early years settings, schools and colleges. Where there are outbreaks, schools and colleges may be contacted by nhs Test And Trace, and they will also work with local Health Teams as they currently do now. We are also setting out new rules that mean that from the 16th of august, children will only need to isolate if they have tested positive for covid i9. Im also pleased to be able to say there will be no restrictions on in Person Teaching and learning in universities unless students are advised to isolate or impacted by local outbreaks. I want nothing more than for children to be in Class Learning and spending time with her friends and their teachers. And itS Right for their learning that we move away from the chaotic bubble system. But we cannot simply wish away the real challenges of the pandemic. Todays statement offers no clarity on how the government will stop infections spiralling, the inadequate testing regime, lack of action on ventilation and their reckless order have put our Childrens Education at risk. This must not continue. Thank you for putting children first. In the last year, the education of children has been trashed. I now, whilst every death of a child is tragic, we have to understand there are 12. 7 million children in this country, and sadly, every year, 6000 die. So can we have a sense of proportion . Will the secretary of. State reassure parents that the chances of any child falling seriously ill from covid 19 are Vanishingly Small and there is no risk to children by what. Hes announced today. My right honourable friend iS Right to point out how, you know, in professor Chris Whitty he has pointed out so many times that children have very little adverse effects of covid on them if they are unfortunate enough to get it. And this is why for the steps we have outlined today combined with the Vaccination Programme that we are rolling out across the country means that it iS Right to take this next cautious but important step forward. This is not about children dying of the infection, its about schools being a vector for infection. And what is Secretary Of State going to do when the winter months are coming. We have increasing numbers of infections to ensure that that does not happen by improving ventilation in assisted schools with the resources they need in order to deliver a safer environment . We know about the importance of ventilation because its an airborne virus. Therefore what more is he doing to support schools to put better ventilation in place, and i visited richmond upon tims school and mike assiduously yesterday. They have spent £15,000 alone on improving ventilation. Many schools simply cannot do that. They are struggling to balance the books already. The Education Secretary said there was Support And Advice for schools on hygiene and ventilation. What assessment has government made on the impact of children not at school in exam years and what remedial action will they take to ensure there is a Level Playing Field for children who have missed so much school they have a Level Playing Field for next years exams . It is our intention to move back to an exam system, but we do recognise and we need to ensure that there are mitigations put in place for pupils who will be taking that assessment in the next academic year. We will be looking at sharing more information as to what those mitigations are before the summer. Gavin williamson on changes to Coronavirus Rules for schools in england. To wales now, and First Ministers questions in the senedd answered this week by the leader of the house, lesley griffiths. Opposition parties seized on figures that showed more than 1,800 people who died from covid contracted the virus in hospital. In some health boards, one of three patients were contracting the cover 19 virus in a hospital setting. These were decisions that were taken here in wales by welsh government ministers. Surely those decisions need now to be tested and a welsh Public Inquiry and not lost in a uk wide Public Inquiry. We commit to using your energies within government to campaign for eight wales wide public inquiries of these very issues can be looked at and remediated here in wales . No, i wont. The First Minister said many times, and i know the First Minister in his answers to you in chamber has said that he has agreed to four nation inquiry, a uk, four nation inquiry. Hes had discussions with senior ministers, i think the Prime Minister himself in the Uk Government. And, you know, if we had our own inquiry, we would not be able to look at so many of the dependencies that there are across the four countries in relation to covid 19, so if you think about testing, if you think about vaccines, if you think about ppe, if you think about the drugs that have been used in relation to covid. So the First Minister has been absolutely clear that he wants to take part in that four nation inquiry. And for over a year now, | Plaid Cymru he has called for a wales only Public Inquiry. Your government, and you confirmed it now, | has opted to have a Welsh Chapter or chapters in a uk wide inquiry. I think in all honesty, that opens you up to the charge of ducking scrutiny. If you take responsibility, l you have to be ready to be judged on your actions, good and bad. I do think the inquiry needs to be sooner rather than later. I dont think its ducking scrutiny. Im sure the spotlight will be very firmly on all four nations. Lesley griffiths, standing in for mark drakeford, whos had a family bereavement. Youre watching Tuesday In Parliament with me, david cornock. The Foreign Secretary has again been forced to defend the decision to temporarily cut the funding the uk gives to other countries. Facing the foreign affairs committee, Dominic Raab said the impact of the pandemic on the uks finances has meant a reduction in overseas development aid, or oda, was necessary. The move has been widely criticised, with the former Prime Minister, theresa may, accusing the government of abandoning the uks moral leadership on the world stage. The Committee Chair opened the questioning. Im sure you have many negotiations with the chancellor over budget, over how to square the foreign aid question. Was this. In your opinion, was this the right way to square it . The decision that was originally made, a very difficult one, financially it reflected the fact that weve been in the biggest economic contraction for 300 years, the Budget Deficit peaked at double what we saw after the 2008 2009 crash. I talked it through the Prime Minister and the chancellor, and we, as painful as that decision has been, were clear it will be temporary, it will reflect the financial emergency and the impact that its had on the public finances. And also i think our constituents would be asking us some pretty serious questions if we were looking for savings across the piece, but had somehow exempted one aspect of international policy. So, a difficult decision, a temporary one, but a necessary one. But Dominic Raab said the uk was maintaining a number of funding programmes. In things like sexual and reproductive health and rights, hiv aids, malaria, tb, polio, neglected tropical diseases, youre probably right to say we may not be at the level we were before, but on the other hand, you mentioned tropical diseases, weve been the second largest Country Funder of programmes. Were not always going to be, as circumstances change, the very top of the donors in every area. I dont think thats realistic. Of course we have to refocus our efforts, and of course the foremost public health challenge, and i know youre not disputing this, has been covid and thats where we focused our fire and of course we look to getting out of that because well rebalance then our approach. Tom tugendhat reminded Mr Raab of the uks close connections with many nations which had far less developed Health Care systems. Have very large metropolises that can incubate disease and that can therefore see us effectively much more connected to the flow of health risk, Pandemic Risk than many other countries. So, i would just ask again, what do you think are the implications for those countries and therefore for our protection . Youre absolutely right to say if were reducing our oda spend, others may be increasing it, but from what baseline . Because theres very few of the other countries that people cite that have been 0. 7 as consistently as we have. And so, i get that. I understand entirely and accept. Sorry, japan doesnt have the same migrant connections we do. Germany doesnt have the same migrant connections we do. France does, ill grant you that, but there are many countries that are not quite as intimately linked to the global south or to populations around the world as we are, and therefore this is for us notjust simply an act of global generosity but of global Self Interest, is is not . And i think the moral and the Self Interest absolutely collide in the way you describe. All im saying is that we shouldnt get into The Business of giving credit to a government that increases its oda by a fraction from a low base when were still giving significantly more from a very high baseline. But, yes, weve had to take this difficult decision. Im just trying to make that point. Questioning then turned to the merger of the Foreign Office and the former department for international development. So, can he set the record straight . Was there consultation. With the Aid Sector before the abolition or not . You asked this question before, and i know you tried to do a Point Of Order in the house. We announced the proposition. We consulted, and then we delivered it. You wrote and suggested that the sector was consulted before the announcement. Your Permanent Secretary wrote and said that was not the Case L and the meeting referred to did not happen on the agenda. So, who is giving the straight answer . Weve been very clear. We consulted the sector. I think its fair to say it took place between announcement and whatever the date was where we formally legally did it. So, still not quite i the straight answer you suggested we might. Its absolutely crystal clear, neil, if you. Point of announcement, delivery, in between consultation. Couldnt be clearer. Dominic raab. Legislation to allow Prime Ministers once again to call elections at a time of their choosing has been given initial approval by the commons. The Dissolution And Calling of Parliament Bill will remove a law, introduced in 2011, which deprived a Prime Minister of that power by requiring an election every five years unless two thirds of mps agreed to an earlier date. Now the government wants to go back to how things were, but some Opposition Mps described it as a Power Grab. This bill contains within It Provisions to ensure that we supersede the fixed term Parliaments Act with appropriate democratic and timely reform in order to ensure. In order to ensure that we restore to this place and to the people an opportunity to ensure that the government that governs in their name can command the confidence of this house and the confidence of the public. Could he give us a definition of democratic in the light that its moving power from this chamber, democratically elected as to call general elections, to Royal Prerogative . Well, it gives Power To The People, and fundamentally All Of Us sit here at the pleasure of and at the disposal of our electorates. And fundamentally, as we saw from the paralysed parliament or whatever you want to call the parliament of 2017 2019, we actually saw parliamentarians frustrating the will of the people both in attempting to overturn brexit and also in attempting to sustain and empower a government which needed to seek confidence both from the electorate and for the maintenance of its programme. And so, for that reason, what were doing is restoring Power To The People which had been taken away by the ftpa. Labour doesnt support the ftpa, but agrees with fixed terms and giving powers to parliament. The legislation that we have before us is transferring all the power into the hands of one individual, the primej minister. Where power lies currently in terms of how equal an election lies with all 650 members of this house who are elected by the people. I would argue that the power. To the people is more keeping a fixed term Parliaments Act, of course which i disagree with the act and i support its repeal, but i disagreel with what the government has come forward with as the replacement for that. When members look at this in the wider picture and place it alongside the voter suppression bill, the governments plan to neuter the electoral commission, the draconian police, crime and sentencing courts bill, they will reach the same conclusion that many of us have that this bill is simply another part of a brazen attempt by this government to further centralise control, give more power to the executive, strip parliamentarians of their powers, deny thejudiciary the ability to scrutinise what theyre doing while at the same time eroding the public� S Right to protest against them. This is an unashamed Power Grab by the executive. The fixed term Parliaments Act was introduced under a Coalition Deal struck by the conservatives and Liberal Democrats in 2010. It was an Insurance Policy designed to prevent the then Prime Minister, David Cameron, from calling an election in a bid to shake off his lib dem partners. A veteran of those days had a message for conservative mps. It might seem like a good Idea Today while you. While they are in government, but thats not going to last forever. You know, i remember the first Election Campaign i actively campaigned was 1983, when we all said that the Labour Party was finished and there would never be another labour government. And then in 1997, we said exactly the opposite thing, and we said that the conservatives would never be in government. So, you know, yes, they have the whip hand today, but the day will come when theyre sitting over here, and they should consider how they would feel or will feel if the government of the day then treats them and their access to the Playing Field in this way. For one mp, it was a happy occasion. This is such a therapeutic exercise. Its ten years of hurt. Im like a dog with a bone. The problem with the fixed term Parliaments Act in 2011 was it transferred responsibility for keeping the coalitionl together away from the leaders of each of the Coalition Parties to parliament. It was never any of Parliaments Business to keep that coalition going. It was the responsibility of David Cameron and nick clegg, and i feel so much better for having got that off of my chest. Sir charles walker. The head of nhs england, sir simon stevens, has taken his place in the house of lords. Lord stevens of birmingham, as he now is, will step down from the role this summer after seven years, having led the service through an extraordinary and tumultuous time. He was introduced as a crossbench or independent peer in the traditional way. I simon, lord stevens birmingham do swear by Almighty God that i will be faithful and bear true allegiance to her majesty queen elizabeth, her heirs the head of nhs england, sir simon stevens, has taken his place in the house of lords. Lord stevens of birmingham, as he now is, will step down from the role this summer after seven years, having led the service through an extraordinary and tumultuous time. He was introduced as a crossbench or independent peer in the traditional way. I simon, lord stevens birmingham do swear by Almighty God that i will be faithful and bear true allegiance to her majesty queen elizabeth, her heirs and successors according to law, so help me god. Lord stevens. Finally, a Ticking Off for liz truss, the International Trade secretary, for failing to follow the commons conventions. On friday, the Secretary Of State for International Trade visited airbus at broughton in my seat. Her office gave me 1a minutes� notice before the meeting was due to take place. 1a minutes, madam Deputy Speaker. I just wonder what she can advise we can do to ensure that the rules that apply to the rest of us also apply to government ministers. Well, i thank the honourable gentleman for having given me notice that he intended to raise this Point Of Order, and i can say very simply and in a straightforward way that such behaviour by a minister, or indeed any member, is wrong. Just quite simply wrong. It says in this booklet, and Mr Speaker takes this very seriously, failing to inform colleagues of your intention to visit their constituency is regarded as very discourteous. And thats what i can say to the honourable gentleman now. It is discourteous for a minister to behave in this fashion. Im quite sure that an apology will be forthcoming. Dame eleanor laing. Thats it for Tuesday In Parliament. Thank you for watching. I do hope you canjoin me at the same time tomorrow for wednesday in parliament, including highlights from Prime Ministers questions. Until then, from me, david cornock, bye for now. Hello there. Weve seen yet more rain across many parts of the country in the past 2a hours. And the reason its been so wet, really, for so long is because of the position of the jet stream, thats the upper level winds. And as its diving to the south of the uk, with that sort of pattern, you end up with low pressure sitting close to the uk. And its around that low pressure that we see these areas of cloud rotating, keeping some wet weather going into the night and into wednesday, as well. If we look at the story over the next few days, we find some sunshine, yes, but theres still the threat of some showers which may be heavy, as well. And certainly on tuesday, there was lots of rain at wimbledon. It looks a lot drier though for Wednesday Cant rule out 1 2 showers, mind you, and temperatures will be 20 21 celsius. We start the day pretty cloudy, actually, there may well be some further rain around. As It Brightens Up, we get some sunshine which triggers more showers, particularly across england and wales, and some of those could be heavy and thundery. May see a few showers breaking out across parts of scotland and Northern Ireland. A warmer day, though, than it was on tuesday for Eastern Scotland and the northeast of england. And for many parts of the country, temperatures are a little bit higher on wednesday. A few showers in the london area, those will tend to fade away during the evening, and itll probably be dry at wembley for Kick Off with Ideal Temperatures for playing football. As we move into thursday, many places starting dry, some sunshine breaking through. Again, well see some showers developing too. These will be a little more hit and miss, but It Brightens Up in Eastern Scotland, we could get some heavy showers here. The rest of scotland and Northern Ireland looks more cloudy and not as warm, perhaps, but with the sunshine in england and wales, it should feel a bit warmer with Light Winds on thursday. Weve got slightly higher pressure to end the week the fly in the ointment is this little Weather Front here that keeps more cloud across Northern Ireland, eventually increasing the cloud across wales and the southwest, bringing some rain later on in the day. Ahead of it, some sunshine coming through, still the chance of some showers. These are most likely in Eastern Scotland and across the eastern side of england. But many places On Friday will have a dry day. And those temperatures sitting at 22 23 celsius. Now i dont think those numbers will change a great deal into the weekend. There will still be some sunshine around, but we still have this threat of some showers and the greater risk of showers is likely to be on sunday. Welcome to Bbc News. Im david eades. Our top stories The Gun Crime Crisis hitting New York state. New york� s State Governor declares a � disaster emergency� following a sharp rise in Gun Violence. It is so bad that when you look at the recent numbers, more people are dying of Gun Violence than of covid. Gunfire as nato withdraws, Afghan Security Forces insist their soldiers have not defected to the taliban as it captures districts across the country. By no means has anyone defected to the taliban. They may have abandoned their posts, because they were no longer able to fight, but they have come back