Official figures show that last week 250,000 children in the uk were away from school because of covid. and the figure for england alone onjune the 17th was 172,000. the new health secretary sajid javid says action is needed, as the policy is having a huge knock on impact on children s education. the schools minister for england, nick gibb, says the government is looking at new measures, but that it is vital to keep covid at bay. what we have been conducting is a trial of daily contact testing as an alternative to self isolation for those who have come into contact with somebody with covid. that trial ends tomorrow and we will look at the data to see how effective that is as an approach. but it is important to note that we do have very effective control measures in our schools to keep children and staff safe the extra ventilation, the hygienic measures, the washing of hands, the staggered breaks and so on, keeping children in bubbles. ....