good morning. the education secretary nadhim zahawi has sought to reassure parents that the government's priority is to keep schools open. speaking this morning, he said a variety of mechanisms are being put in place for pupils — as well as masks — including on—site testing, more ventilation and the potential for merging classes. and mr zahawi said he doesn't want students to wear masks in the classroom for a day longer than necessary. his comments come just 2a hours after new guidance was issued for secondary school pupils to return to face coverings in england's schools again. jon donnison reports. this time a year ago, schools across the country were forced to close to most pupils. 12 months on, the government says it wants to do everything it can to avoid a return to empty classrooms and home learning. in england, all secondary schools have been asked to provide on—site covid tests for pupils before they return from the christmas break. the move has been cautiously welcomed by some head teachers. i think the requirements for schools to do the on—site testing is the very best we can do in the situation to ensure students can stay on site, and ensure that reassurance for families and staff returning from an extended break over the christmas period. so, again, i would say despite the upheaval that gives for schools, and school staff in particular, primarily the support staff, it is the one thing schools can continue to do to support face—to—face education. despite some shortages, the government says secondary schools have already been provided with the test kits for on—site testing. once the school term restarts, pupils will be asked to continue to take lateral flow tests at home twice a week. it follows the announcement over the weekend that secondary school pupils in england will be required to wear face masks in classes, as is already the case in scotland, wales and northern ireland. idid not i did not want masks in the classroom a day longer than necessary, it is really to do with a highly infectious aerial transmission of the variant, and we will see it will make a difference in terms of mitigating, if you are asymptomatic, wearing a mask, you are much less likely to transmit. in northern ireland, all post—primary pupils and staff are being asked to do a home test in the 2a hours before they return to school. in scotland, all secondary pupils are urged to take a test at home before classes resume and then to continue to test twice a week. in wales, pupils are being asked to test three times a week at home. the governments in all four nations have pledged to try to keep schools open. but if covid cases and the number of people needing to isolate continue to rise, staff shortages could make that difficult. hospitals remain under pressure as cases rise and staff go sick or into isolation. a critical incident has been declared at hospitals in lincolnshire because of covid—related staff shortages. in an internal memo shared on social media, the united lincolnshire hospitals trust said it was unable to maintain safe staffing levels, which was resulting in compromised care. in a statement, the trust's medical director said that staff were working exceptionally hard to maintain services, and anyone who needed to go to hospital for treatment should still do so. chris hopson is the chief executive of nhs providers and he's been speaking to hospital bosses, who are warning of severe staff shortages. pressure on the nhs is now spreading outside london. i think as we know, london has been the epicentre but it's been very striking talking to hospital chief executives over the last 2a hours about actually how that pressure is really, really mounting outside london. and there are three things going on at once. one is we are seeing rising numbers of covid patients coming into hospital, the second is the staff absences which in some trusts are causing a real, real problem and the third bit of course is this is against the backdrop of a very, very busy nhs and social care system where we have got a very busy urgent and emergency care pathway, all those cases, planned surgery cases we cannot delay any longer, that we're trying to at the same time extend the booster campaign and catch those people who haven't been boosted yet who ought to have been boosted, and we know at the same time our social care colleagues are under real, real pressure over the last couple of weeks because they've got big staff absences but they are also now seeing outbreaks of omicron in care homes which means those care homes are closed to new residents. so it's a concerning picture. our political correspondent chris masonjoins me now. what is the latest from the government this morning? good mornin: government this morning? good morning and _ government this morning? good morning and happy _ government this morning? good morning and happy new - government this morning? (emf. morning and happy new year. the latest from the government is a consistent message over the last couple of days and echoed this morning that they don't see ministers, any evidence in the data right now for a need for additional restrictions in england. this is beyond the conversation around what is happening in secondary schools in england in the coming days, to the broader plan b measures that have been put in place in england for the best part of a month. the restrictions as we know elsewhere in the uk are more significant but ministers at westminster say as things stand they do not see any need to crank things up further. there is a review point, that is happening on wednesday, sat down when the health secretary sajid javid set out those plan b measures a couple of weeks ago. that point comes on wednesday as parliament returns, head of the current measures due to expire towards the tail end of this month, unless of course they are renewed. crucially, the change in mask rules in english secondary schools can happen without a vote in the commons, any additional measures in england would require a vote in the comments and you will recall borisjohnson encountered quite a bit of headwind from his backbenchers as far as those plan b measures were concerned in england. let's get a sense of where the government is this morning, the latest iteration if you like of that sense of that does not need to be further restrictions, the education secretary nadhim zahawi was in this very chairjust a couple of hours ago on bbc breakfast. at the moment, there's nothing in the data that gives me any concern that we need to go beyond where we are at but we are not complacent because we are seeing, london was the epicentre of the omicron spike, effectively. now there's some really good data from london that it looks like the infection rates are plateauing, if not yet coming down. but we are seeing leakage into the over 505 in terms of infections and it's generally the over 505 who end up with severe infection and hospitalisation. the good news on that is 90% of them have been boosted now. i think we can expect to hear from the prime minister a little later today, no doubt he will be asked though similar range of questions about potentialfurther though similar range of questions about potential further measures. no word yet as to whether there will be a news conference we will get to hear from the government scientists in the next couple of days. parliament returning on wednesday with that review, as i say, happening then and all eyes as ever on the data. you heard nadhim zahawi referring to some evidence which some health leaders have pointed to as well of potentially a plateauing in hospitalisation rates in london which has been seen to be the epicentre of the omicron pandemic and wave. keeping an eye on that data will no doubt be absolutely central to whether or not england sees any additional restrictions in the coming weeks.— sees any additional restrictions in the coming weeks. chris mason, thank ou. the spread of 0micron is affecting staff levels across the economy. russell norman's restaurant in london was forced to close before christmas after staff numbers fell from 2a to 5. our business reporter katie prescott has been talking to him. the week before christmas was a sort of day—to—day adventure. we would test our staff every morning when they came in. if they were positive, we would send them home. if they were negative, they were able to come into work but we got to a situation with a staff of 2a, by the 22nd of december, we got to a situation five were left standing so out of 2a staff, five remained negative and we were just unable to open the restaurant so we had to cancel all the bookings for the 22nd, 23rd, 24th of december. the government is saying they want businesses to have contingency plans in place. for a business like yours that relies so heavily on its staff, what can you do when you get to that position? i mean, is it easy to find other people? it's definitely not easy, no. we have struggled since opening in september to find a regular full—time workforce. and when those waiters, chefs, bartenders, hosts, were falling like flies, we didn't have a sort of back—up team of staff who were able to come in to fill those spaces. we were fortunate that a lot of the staff were able to pick up extra shifts but there isn't a massive workforce waiting in the wings, ready to come in and pick up the baton when things start to go wrong. how will employers cope and what if anything can the government do to help? matthew fell is chief policy director at the cbi, hejoins me now. thank you forjoining us. we heard from one person really badly affected in terms of staff being hit by covid. what is your overview of how things are now? i by covid. what is your overview of how things are now?— by covid. what is your overview of how things are now? i think this is said to be one _ how things are now? i think this is said to be one of— how things are now? i think this is said to be one of the _ how things are now? i think this is said to be one of the defining - said to be one of the defining issues facing business as we head into the new year. we were hearing from the retail sector, for example, saying covid related absences were rising by 50% inside a week before the christmas break, in transport, delivery firms, manufacturing, widespread across the economy and this comes at a time when firms were already facing quite a cute skills and labour shortages so it's something of a double hit for them. i think all that said, firms with much more prefer a situation where the economy is kept open and they are having to grapple with these challenges rather than enforced closure so what is important now as we get to a situation where we learn to live with the paris and we adapt and put in place measures to help us do that. fin and put in place measures to help us do that. . , , ., , ., do that. on that, the buzz phrase at the moment — do that. on that, the buzz phrase at the moment seems _ do that. on that, the buzz phrase at the moment seems to _ do that. on that, the buzz phrase at the moment seems to be _ do that. on that, the buzz phrase at i the moment seems to be contingency planning but how much contingency planning but how much contingency planning as possible when businesses are completely dependent on a workforce that just are not there? are completely dependent on a workforce thatjust are not there? i workforce that just are not there? i think there are firstly a few things the government can do to help with this, top of the list would be testing, it absolutely must grip the supply issues facing testing, this is really critical for confidence and we get that behaviour ingrained so people test on a regular basis. second i would pick out the importance of focusing on economic enablers, things like transport, schools, and of course the nhs because without those functioning really well, the rest of the economy cannot prosper and thirdly, i would say, we need to get to a situation where the government provides much more nuanced support to business, previously we had a situation it stepped in with brilliant help when firms have been told to close by the government, and enforced closure. but we are now entering a period where demand is being hit by other measures, notjust because its government mandated closures and the support needs to move hand—in—hand with that so there are a number of things the government can do to help along with continuing with a really high—class of vaccines, posters and antivirals to help. you high-class of vaccines, posters and antivirals to help.— antivirals to help. you said in your view businesses _ antivirals to help. you said in your view businesses would _ antivirals to help. you said in your view businesses would rather - antivirals to help. you said in your view businesses would rather be l antivirals to help. you said in your i view businesses would rather be able to stay open and have to grapple with the challenges they are facing rather than see more restrictions. what would you say to the government on that, would you like to have a situation where there is no prospect of further lockdown? situation where there is no prospect of further lockdown ?_ of further lockdown? clearly, that is for the government _ of further lockdown? clearly, that is for the government and - of further lockdown? clearly, that | is for the government and medical experts to take a view on. i think the message from business is let's use all of the tools at our disposal, all of the learnings from the last 18 months, 22—macro years to try our very best to keep the economy open and threw everything at that end if that comes some of the measures that we learn to live with the virus and adapt to those, that is the preferred option from a business point of view.- is the preferred option from a business point of view. the latest headlines on bbc news.... regular testing and masks in secondary schools in england the education secretary outlines measures to keep schools open in the face of rising covid infections. a critical incident is declared at hospitals in lincolnshire because of covid—related staff shortages. scotrail makes changes to its timetable from tomorrow because hundreds of staff are self—isolating. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's chetan. good morning. premier league leaders manchester city were the main beneficiaries of a thrilling 2—2 draw between chelsea and liverpool at stamford bridge. all the goals came in the first half with liverpool going 2—0 up through sadio mane and mo salah. but thomas tuchel�*s side fought back and matteo kovacic pulled one back with one of the goals of the season, before christian pulisic made it 2—2. chelsea are ten points behind city, liverpool 11. romelu lukaku was left out of the chelsea squad for the game. it followed recent comments that were critical of manager thomas tuchel�*s tactics. tuchel is set to meet with lukaku later today. when we do decisions like this, first we need to evaluate the situation, and not listen to the media, not listen to the pressure, but understand what he said, why he said it and this is the meeting tomorrow and from there we will take the decision. if the decision is, he is good to go for wednesday, this is the decision. if it's not that, i cannot tell you right now, because we need to talk and understand the situation better and from there, on we go. and then once the situation is clear, it's no doubt that he will stay our player and we will also protect our player. the pressure's increased on everton manager rafa benitez after his side were beaten 3—2 at home by brighton. alexis macallister scored twice. brighton are up to eighth with everton just three places above the relegation zone. brentford boss thomas frank called his side "incredible" after they came from behind to beat aston villa 2—1 — mads roerslev with the late winner. and leeds united ended a three—game losing run with a 3—1win over burnley. danieljames scored the third. burnley remain third from bottom, two points from safety. leicester tigers' brilliant season continues. they thrashed newcastle falcons 31—0 in rugby union's premiership. harry potter with the bonus point winning fourth try. the tigers have won all 11 of their premiership games so far. third placed harlequins won 20—17 at gloucester. danny care marked his 35th birthday by scoring one of quins' two tries. elsewhere saracens, who are second, won at northampton. england all—rounder ben stokes has backed test skipperjoe root and told reporters in sydney that he has no ambition to take on the captaincy in the future. the fourth test starts tuesday evening uk time and there's been plenty of speculation over whether root will continue in the role after the current series. england are 3—0 down and have already lost the ashes. i will look at the future at the end of this tour. i don't think i can afford to throw any more energy into anything afford to throw any more energy into anythin- else than afford to throw any more energy into anything afford to throw any more energy into anythin- else than the afford to throw any more energy into anything else than the games themselves right now. we want to get people back home something to shout about, to show how much we care about, to show how much we care about this team and test match cricket. how desperate we are to do well. and as i say, to win out here would be, these last two games would be a really big step forward from, especially off the back of the first three games. peter wright is through to tonight's world darts championship final. he beat two—time winner gary anderson 6—4 in a thrilling semi—final. the match was closer than the score suggested, with both playing high—quality darts. this will be wright's third final appearance. and wright's opponent tonight at alexandra palace will be michael smith, who beat james wade by six sets to three in their semi—final. it's the second time smith has reached the final. your reaction to that on the bbc sport website. that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. that's bbc.co.uk/sport thank you. the queen will celebrate her platinum jubilee this year, when she becomes the first british monarch to reign for 70 years. national festivities will take place injune over a four—day bank holiday weekend. but the queen is actually set to pass the milestone on february 6th — the anniversary of the death of her father, king george vi, in 1952. 0ur royal correspondent daniela relph reports. first came the silver. the gold coach was on its way to st paul's and a service of thanksgiving. band plays. trumpeters play. 25 years later, it was the golden. cheering. more recently, the diamond. the queen is a veteran of a jubilee. brian, christine and dave, neighbours on park street in salisbury, which looked very different ten years ago. the team photo, the residents of park street held a diamond jubilee street party in 2012. it was much more than that. the months of planning brought neighbours together. new friendships were made, community spirit was strengthened. it's your sense of identity, and belonging to this nation, as it were. you know what i mean? i'm welsh, but it didn't matter. she is our queen. you know what i mean? so i'm not saying they actually thought that consciously, but it's that feeling, and getting together. a great big mishmash of everybody, one big family, as it were. one big memory is the colourful tables bending, groaning under the weight of the food. there was definitely no shortage of cakes and colourful foods. that's one memory, for sure, that will stick with me. brian, no one has lived longer on park street then you have. but it was transformed that day. what was it like here on the day? well, not seeing any parked cars was rather nice. and on this nice big open street where we had tables and chairs and bunting and people enjoying themselves. the milford street bridge mural was created in salisbury for the diamond jubilee, after people here were asked for their royal memories. each image represents someone's recollection. a permanent reminder of royal history. this year, salisbury and communities across the uk will turn their minds to the queen's platinum jubilee, where much of the focus will be on creating a lasting legacy to mark the longest reign in british history. and this year, that lasting legacy wants us all to get planting. you stick all these things in. back in october, the queen met local schoolchildren, and launched the tree planting season on her balmoral estate. i shall look at it in the car on my way down to edinburgh. thank you very much, that's very kind. it's part of a uk wide project to get trees planted to mark the platinum jubilee. alongside a four—day bank holiday weekend injune, for a national celebration. this is the first british monarch ever to reach a platinum jubilee. and the chances of that happening again in the future, it's almost impossible to see how that will ever happen again because it involves not only someone living for a very long time, but coming to the throne very young. and it's very difficult to see how that will ever happen in the future. so this does feel very much like it has the potential to be a really historical moment. jubilees are markers of history. they are also a chance to party, to remember and to connect. perhaps never more so than this year. daniela relph, bbc news, salisbury. with me now is dr ellie woodacre is a royal expert and reader in renaissance history at winchester university. welcome and thank you forjoining us. just picking up on what daniela said aboutjubilees being a marker of history, how important a moment is this for the nation? it’s of history, how important a moment is this for the nation?— is this for the nation? it's a really significant _ is this for the nation? it's a really significant moment, | is this for the nation? it's a - really significant moment, again, as we heard, the queen has had an unprecedented length of service, cheapening a platinum jubilee, 70 years of her reign is a major milestone that deserves a celebration. this is something very rare in history, generally, louis xiv of france at 72 years is the record that she is chasing and she is not far off that.— is not far off that. what did “ubilee is not far off that. what did jubilee celebrations - is not far off that. what did jubilee celebrations deliverj is not far off that. what did i jubilee celebrations deliver to is not far off that. what did - jubilee celebrations deliver to a country? we have been talking here about memories, some going back longer than others, i remember the jubilee celebrations in 1977. memories will linger but what do you think they deliver to a country? i think they deliver to a country? i think it is a real opportunity for public unity and obviously, a chance to mark the queen �*s service to the nation and commonwealth but it is also a chance for communities to come together and given what we have experienced in recent years with the pandemic and some of the challenges we have been dealing with as a nation, that opportunity to kinda come together and celebrate something we can alljoin in with and have community cohesion, is a really positive thing. it’s and have community cohesion, is a really positive thing.— really positive thing. it's a very different country _ really positive thing. it's a very different country now - really positive thing. it's a very different country now from - really positive thing. it's a very i different country now from going back to 1977 and otherjubilees, how would you expect it to look like now and what will the field be like now? i think we can see monarchy doing what it has done best recently, keeping up traditions, which obviously is wonderful for people's memories, building on the silver and goldenjubilee memories but also these new initiatives like we have seen with the queens canopy, a chance to reward those in public service with commemorative medals, again, reinforcing their service doing the pandemic so it's a really nice opportunity to bring out those traditional things like street parties that bring us all together, the queen is very much encouraging this with the idea of a big jubilee lunch. and again, keeping up those traditions and building on that with new additions as well. it is traditions and building on that with new additions as well.— new additions as well. it is a reminder — new additions as well. it is a reminder that _ new additions as well. it is a reminder that she _ new additions as well. it is a reminder that she is - new additions as well. it is a reminder that she is a - new additions as well. it is a reminder that she is a figure new additions as well. it is a - reminder that she is a figure who has been there for most of us, throughout our lives. she as described sometimes as the glue of the nation but how would you describe the queen? i the nation but how would you describe the queen?- describe the queen? i think absolutely _ describe the queen? i think absolutely that _ describe the queen? i think absolutely that stop - describe the queen? i think absolutely that stop she - describe the queen? i think absolutely that stop she is i describe the queen? i think - absolutely that stop she is someone around which everyone can rally and again, whatever people's personal feelings about the monarchy versus republicanism, etc, ithink feelings about the monarchy versus republicanism, etc, i think most people have a great deal of affection and respect for the queen. it is a way again to honour her service. you think about her age, most people have retired in three decades previously yet she has continued to serve the nation and she is a kind of nationalfigure around which everyone can rally. she ave her around which everyone can rally. she gave her speech as she always does on christmas day. she spoke when it was copied 26, she doesn't speak often but when she does speak, sometimes some of the things she says are obviously, they are memorable. —— cop26. would you say the weight that she speaks, the issues she addresses and she is obviously a political and have you seen an evolution in her over the years at all? i seen an evolution in her over the years at all?— seen an evolution in her over the years at all? i think the queen has a real gift. — years at all? i think the queen has a real gift. if— years at all? i think the queen has a real gift. if you _ years at all? i think the queen has a real gift, if you like _ years at all? i think the queen has a real gift, if you like it, _ years at all? i think the queen has a real gift, if you like it, for - a real gift, if you like it, for striking the right chord and again, really touching on contemporary issues in a way that is sensitive and approachable and i think yes, people were very much moved by her christmas speech and again, the way she manages to kinda strike the right chord with the heart of the nation, again, while still remaining outside the political fray. nation, again, while still remaining outside the politicalfray. i nation, again, while still remaining outside the political fray. i think people really respect her for that. thank you forjoining us. two dogs that became trapped in a fox den in italy, have been rescued. firefighters dug with their bare hands to free the animals, in a rescue operation lasting around five hours. fire crews say the dogs were uninjured and became stuck after chasing a fox into the underground tunnel. a community support club in california has come up with an unusual way to recycle christmas trees — with the help of some goats. the independence ah family club in santa rosa wanted to raise money by collecting old christmas trees, after their funds were dented by the pandemic. luckily, some goats on a farm owned by the club's leader were more than happy to help out by muching their way through donations. the group has collected almost 100 trees in their first weekend, and plans to start distributing extra trees to goat farms around the county. let's get the weather with carol. hgppy happy year. kind it, as the colder cuts in, a few showers coming in on the brisk winds come across england and wales. and we also have some rain on and off through the english channel and coastal counties adjacent. through this evening and overnight as the rain purchase sound, the cold air comes in behind it, we see some snow showers in the hills, the pennines and peak district, the lake district, north—west wales, some more substantial snow falling across scotland with gale force winds means it could lead to some blizzards when drifting on higher ground and that will be the case tomorrow. tomorrow, we lose the rain from the south—east, a lot of dry weather, the wind picking up from the west and for all of us tomorrow, feeling much colder than today. hello this is bbc news. the headlines — regular testing and masks in secondary schools in england — the education secretary outlines measures to keep schools open in the face of rising covid infections. i don't want masks in the classroom a day longer than necessary, it's really to deal with a highly infectious aerosol transmitted variant of the virus. a critical incident is declared at hospitals