Markus Andrews

Schools have been warned to look out for serious mental health problems among their pupils as they open their doors for the first time since January.The chief inspector of Ofsted, Amanda Spielman, said remote learning had been a slog for many and that issues like self-harm and eating disorders were on the rise. Those fears appeared to be echoed by Boris Johnson as he tried to ease the concerns of parents worried about sending their children back to the classroom.The prime minister said that the risk lay “actually in not going back to school tomorrow, given all the suffering, all the loss of learning we have seen”. Mr Johnson shut schools in England at the start of the year as cases of Covid-19 soared.The decision to reopen them marks the first step in the government’s roadmap to return the country to normality. But experts have warned the move could lead to a new spike in cases.Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayMr Johnson said he believes pupils, parents and teachers are ready to return.But Ms Spielman warned schools and parents they had to be alert to the fact that serious mental health difficulties would persist even after face-to-face classes resume.She said pupils had endured “boredom, loneliness, misery and anxiety” over the last two months.“There is a minority – and let’s hope it is not too large a minority – whose problems have increased and it is really important that we are good at recognising where problems are arising,” she said.“Things like eating disorders, things like self-harm, and mental health services are very aware of the kinds of problems that have been increasing and whether they can expect more cases coming through, so everybody needs to be alert to these,” she told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme. Her warning comes as experts wrangle over how to help children “catch up” on lessons they have missed because of lockdown. Labour has called for “breakfast clubs” while the education secretary has suggested pupils could soon face a longer school day as experts wrangle with how to help children catch up after lockdown.Other options could include a five-term school year, an idea Gavin Williamson floated last week.The changes would be designed to help pupils to catch up on what they missed during the coronavirus pandemic.But the head of the government’s schools watchdog appeared to pour cold water on the government’s ideas, suggesting they had not worked in the past.Mr Williamson told Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “There is a whole range of different proposals that we are looking at, whether it is a five-term year, whether it is lengthening the school day.“But also measures such as enhancing the support we give to teachers, supporting them in their professional development, making sure they can be the very best of themselves.”Sir Kevan Collins, the government’s education recovery commissioner, would consider what measures to introduce over the next 18 months, he said.But Ms Spielman told the same programme the plans could backfire, suggesting that experiments along similar lines in the past had not persisted.“There’s no point adding time here or moving time there if you don’t get a groundswell of support,” she added.“If children simply don’t turn up for extra time or summer schools, for example, you could end up putting a lot of effort into something that doesn’t achieve the objective.“My concern is to make sure that we go with the grain of what parents will embrace to make sure that all children get the very most out of their education.”Labour has called for catch-up breakfast clubs, which the party says would allow pupils to recover the time with friends as well as teachers.On a visit to a school in Dagenham, east London, on Monday, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and shadow education secretary Kate Green will launch a new “Bright Future Taskforce” designed to deliver a long-term strategy for children’s recovery.Labour estimates children across England will have lost an average of 109 face-to-face school days because of the pandemic. The party says evidence shows breakfast clubs can boost children’s educational attainment and have a positive impact on reading and writing.Sir Keir accused ministers of treating children as an “afterthought” throughout the pandemic. More

Boris Johnson has defended his controversial pay offer to ‘heroic’ NHS staff, suggesting his government has given “as much as we can”.     Nursing leaders and unions expressed anger last week when it emerged that ministers had recommended a 1 per cent pay rise.Speaking on a visit to a vaccination centre in Brent in north London, the prime minister, who was himself hospitalised with Covid-19 last year, said he was “massively grateful” to NHS and social care staff. They had been “heroic” throughout the battle against the coronavirus pandemic, he said.But he suggested that his government could not afford to pay them more than 1 per cent, which critics say is a real-terms cut in salary.Mr Johnson said: “What we have done is try to give them as much as we can at the present time,“Don’t forget that there has been a public sector pay freeze, we’re in pretty tough times.”Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayHe added: “My gratitude is overwhelming and I’m so grateful particularly to the nurses.” Dame Donna Kinnair, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said: “Boris Johnson is still failing to understand the situation he has stumbled into – more of these warm words for nurses are not going to cut it. “When there are already tens of thousands of unfilled nurse jobs in the NHS, he’s pushing more to the door this weekend. “The prime minister must put his money where his mouth is. NHS staff are worth it and there is overwhelming public support. His government can show it is listening and drop this plan.”Labour has said nurses should receive at least a 2.1 per cent pay rise this year as a “bare minimum” denouncing the government’s offer of less than half that as “reprehensible”.NHS leaders have pointed out that ministers budgeted for the higher amount last year, as part of a long-term plan for the health service.Shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday that it was “reprehensible” that ministers were planning a real-terms pay cut that would not keep pace with inflation forecasts.“In the NHS long-term plan, the Government budgeted for a 2.1% pay rise – that is what nurses were promised and last year (ministers) legislated for that in order to give nurses a cast-iron guarantee that after years of seeing their real-terms pay fall, that the Government would finally reverse that decision and start to see their pay increase,” she said.“We think they ought to go into these negotiations at a bare minimum of honouring that promise of a 2.1% (increase) and then consider what more they can offer to our NHS staff who have done so much to put their families and themselves at risk every day going into work – some of them have died.”She also accused the government of having its “priorities wrong”.“If they can give a special adviser (Dominic Cummings) who broke the rules a 50 per cent pay rise but then offer our nurses a real-terms pay cut, that is a Government that just has not understood who it is that is getting us through this crisis,” she said.Education secretary Gavin Williamson defended the 1 per cent offer saying ministers had “put forward what we believe we can afford” during “difficult economic challenges”.Teachers and others in the public sector will face a pay freeze, he said, with NHS staff the only ones exempt because of their efforts during the coronavirus crisis.Demonstrations against the proposals are planned outside Downing Street and in Manchester city centre later. More

Labour has renewed its attack on the government’s proposed NHS pay offer, calling it “reprehensible” and demanding that ministers give nurses a larger salary increase.Speaking on Sunday, the shadow secretary of state, Lisa Nandy, criticised the government for not recommending pay for NHS workers rise by more than 1 per cent . The senior Labour politician told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge: “The government, to be clear, is not planning a pay rise … That is a real-terms pay cut because it doesn’t keep up with inflation and for nurses to be offered a pay cut is just reprehensible in our view.”Ms Nandy added that the government’s long-term plan for the NHS originally budgeted a 2.1 per cent pay rise. “That is what nurses were promised and last year they legislated for that in order to give nurses a cast-iron guarantee that after years of seeing their real-terms pay fall, that the government would finally reverse that decision and start to see their pay increase,” she said.“We think they ought to go into these negotiations at a bare minimum of honouring that promise of a 2.1 per cent [increase] and then consider what more they can offer to our NHS staff who have done so much to put their families and themselves at risk every day going into work – some of them have died.”Addressing the possibility of strike action, Ms Nandy said: “Nurses in my constituency who I met last week are not asking me for a strike, they weren’t promised a strike. They were promised a pay rise, and that is what I’m determined they’re going to get.”Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayElsewhere, Jon Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, said on Sunday: “It was absolutely disgusting that the Tory government unveiled the budget, which is putting tax up for hard-working families and cutting pay for nurses. And Rishi Sunak sneaked it out the day after because he was too cowardly to announce it on the day.”He said he would support nurses if they choose to strike. Speaking to the BBC’s Andrew Marr, he said: “I know nurses. They don’t want to go on strike. And I’ll always champion nurses and I’ll always stand by nurses, but they don’t want to go on strike.”I will always support our nurses, I will always stand by nurses and I will always support the rights of staff to take industrial action … but we don’t want to get to that place.”He urged the government “to drop this 1 per cent pay rise”, which he said was a pay cut once inflation was factored in.“You have a process. You look at retention issues, you look at recruitment issues, you look at their pay and then you give it to the independent pay review body who will negotiate with the different trade unions,” Mr Ashworth added. “And then we will honour what that pay review body recommends.” Both Ms Nandy and Mr Ashworth would not say exactly how much of a pay rise Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer would offer if he was in Downing Street.Meanwhile, the Royal College of Nursing are setting up an emergency strike fund of £35m over the “derisory” pay rise proposed by the government, laying the groundwork for possible industrial action.The decision as to how much of a salary raise NHS staff will receive is to be finalised in May after the NHS pay review body has assessed the Department of Health and Social Care’s submitted proposal.The current 1 per cent rise will apply to everyone in the NHS, from junior doctors to GPs and dentists. More

A leading government adviser has predicted Britons will all have a summer holiday this year but warned that the NHS must prepare for a possible “hard winter” ahead.Dr Susan Hopkins told Andrew Marr that the UK could see “surges in flu” and other viruses because public health measures against Covid-19 potentially means less “population immunity”. The Public Health England doctor went on to say that we will “all hopefully have our summer holidays”, but warned that the NHS must be ready for a “difficult autumn”. “We have to prepare for a hard winter, not only with coronavirus, but we’ve had a year of almost no respiratory viruses of any other type and that means potentially that the population immunity to that is less,” she told the BBC. “We could see surges in flu, we could see surges in other respiratory viruses and other respiratory pathogens.” While she hopes for a “normal winter”, being “prepared from the NHS point of view and [with] contact tracing” is “really important”, Dr Hopkins stressed. “My job is to advise the government and prepare for worst case scenarios,” she added. Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayBut summer holidays are possible, she believes. “I think we will hopefully all have summer holidays,” Dr Hopkins said, but we must have “options available for the country in case things are not as satisfactory as we’d all like them to be”. Boris Johnson’s “cautious but irreversible” roadmap out of lockdown extends to 21 June, the earliest date at which all legal limits on social contact can be removed. But financial support schemes have been extended further. Rishi Sunak announced during his Budget speech that the furlough scheme will be in place until the end of September. The £20 increase to weekly Universal Credit payments was extended by six months. While 21 June has already been hailed as “freedom day” by some, “six months is a long time” in current circumstances, Dr Hopkins said, adding it’s “really difficult to predict what’s going to happen in the future”. More

A longer school day could be introduced to help children ‘catch up’ after lockdown, education secretary Gavin Williamson has suggested.The proposal is one of a number being examined as schools prepare to open their doors tomorrow for the first time since January.Other options include a five-term school year, an idea the education secretary floated earlier this week.The changes would be designed to help pupils to catch up on what they missed during the coronavirus pandemic.But the head of the government’s schools watchdog appeared to pour cold water on the ideas, suggesting they had not worked in the past.Mr Williamson told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday: “There is a whole range of different proposals that we are looking at, whether it is a five-term year, whether it is lengthening the school day.“But also measures such as enhancing the support we give to teachers, supporting them in their professional development, making sure they can be the very best of themselves.”Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdaySir Kevan Collins, the Government’s education recovery commissioner, would consider what measures to introduce over the next 18 months, he said.But Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman told the same programme the plans could backfire.She suggested that experiments along similar lines in the past had not persisted.“There’s no point adding time here or moving time there if you don’t get a groundswell of support,” she added.“If children simply don’t turn up for extra time or summer schools, for example, you could end up putting a lot of effort into something that doesn’t achieve the objective.“My concern is to make sure that we go with the grain of what parents will embrace to make sure that all children get the very most out of their education.” More

The head of the official schools watchdog has said she hopes pupils will not need to use face masks in the classroom after Easter. Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman, said children are “adaptable and flexible” around measures including mask-wearing and testing in schools, and “can live with a little bit of inconvenience for a few weeks”.Speaking to Sophy Ridge on Sky News, she said: “I think the overwhelming thing we’re seeing is the vast majority of parents, the vast majority of children and the vast majority of teachers are really happy to be going back to school.”I really hope the whole paraphernalia of masks and testing is only necessary for a short time … I love the idea of children being able to come back in summer term able to see everybody fully.”Longer school days, shorter holidays and five-term years have all been discussed by the government to help children catch up, but Spielman warned these have a mixed success record. The Ofsted chief inspector said similar ideas have not been a “long-standing success in the past” and “I don’t think many of those have persisted”.She told Sophy Ridge: “There’s no point adding time here and ridding time there if you don’t get a groundswell of support.Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayThis comes after Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said he was looking at “a whole range of different proposals… Whether it’s a five-term year, whether it’s lengthening the school day.”Addressing concerns around the mental wellbeing of children after the last year, Spielman said for the “vast majority of children the restoration of normality” should be enough to “lift those symptoms” of loneliness and anxiety.Though she added: “There is a minority, let’s hope it’s not too large a minority, whose problems have increased. Things like eating disorders, things like self harming… everybody needs to be alert to these.”With regard to how exam results should be decided, Spielman said: “There’s no perfect solution this year.”We have a system that’s designed for normal years when all children have had more or less the same access to education. This year, for obvious reasons, it’s been very unequal across the country between schools.”She added: “We’ve got a sort of hybrid here, which I think is a good attempt at creating the best we can do in very, very unsatisfactory circumstances.”I think what we need to do is have everybody embrace it and do as much as we can to make it work.”She added that current Ofsted monitoring visits have shown “the extraordinary efforts that schools have been putting into remote education”.”It’s been a slog, it’s been a real slog. Children on the receiving end are bored, lonely, miserable, anxious and really, really want the normal experience again.”Schools are set to reopen across England on Monday with attendance mandatory as part of PM Boris Johnson’s “roadmap” out of lockdown. Year groups in secondary schools will return at different times over the week to allow for Covid-19 testing. The UK’s largest education union has accused the government of failing to put adequate safety measures in place ahead of Monday’s reopening. Groups have said children returning to schools should be phased like in Scotland and Wales. More

Savanta ConRes research, carried out for the Scotland on Sunday newspaper, found that 46 per cent of the 1,015 Scots polled were in favour of remaining part of the United Kingdom, while 43 per cent supported independence and 10 per cent were undecided. With undecided voters excluded, 52 per cent to 48 per cent of Scots indicated that they were in favour of the union. This marks a shift from a Savanta ConRes poll conducted in late February, in which a majority of Scots indicated they backed independence and 71 per cent said the country would “fare better” outside the UK. The row over the Scottish government’s unlawful investigation into Alex Salmond, the former first minister, appears to be damaging the SNP’s image. The poll, taken two days after Ms Sturgeon appeared in front of a Hollyrood inquiry into the matter, found that more than a third of Scots would be less likely to vote for independence because of it. Some 43 per cent said that their trust in Ms Sturgeon has fallen as a result of the inquiry, in which the SNP leader defended herself against accusations that she misled parliament about her knowledge of allegations against Mr Salmond. Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayMs Sturgeon added that the suggestion she plotted against her former ally was “absurd” and “not based in any fact”. But while trust in the first minister may have fallen, trust in Mr Salmond has plummeted, with 57 per cent of people polled saying they believed Mr Salmond, who also appeared at the inquiry, less than they did before. Mr Salmond accused Ms Sturgeon of conspiring to politically sideline him and of breaking the ministerial code by lying about when she learnt about assault allegations against him, which she strongly denies. Mr Salmond has previously been awarded £512,250 after it was ruled than an investigation into his conduct was carried out unlawfully. Responding to the survey, a spokeswoman for the SNP said: “With Scotland on Sunday and Savanta Comres themselves stating that this poll is not comparable to previous polls and has not been properly weighted, it should be treated with caution.” Savanta ComRes associate director Chris Hopkins said: “With only a fifth of 2014 ‘No’ voters less likely to support independence because of the saga, its impact on the first minister doesn’t look to be catastrophic – for now.”The SNP will face Scottish parliament elections in May. More

More than a third of the public fear Boris Johnson could be making a mistake by reopening schools in England on Monday, a new poll suggests, amid warnings not to “blow” the gains made in lockdown. Pupils across England will return to the classroom on Monday for the first time since January, in the initial stage of the government’s new “roadmap” back to normality.But an exclusive poll for The Independent shows 37 per cent of people believe the government is moving too swiftly when it comes to schools.Almost a third, 32 per cent, believe the timing is about right, while 25 per cent believe it should have come sooner and 7 per cent say they don’t know.Another two-thirds, 64 per cent, say young people’s education is less important than closing schools to stop children the spread of Covid-19.The results highlight the gamble ministers are taking as they try to persuade parents it is safe for their children to return to school.One leading teaching union said it was “not surprised” by the results and that ministers should have organised a more phased return of pupils.Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayOn Sunday, Boris Johnson hailed what he says has been a “truly national effort to beat” the virus that has allowed schools to reopen. Ministers say nearly 57 million lateral flow test kits have already delivered to schools and colleges, ahead of a new mas testing scheme for pupils.But a note of caution has been sounded by Dr Susan Hopkins, the chief medical adviser to NHS Test and Trace. She said the infections rates were now low enough that it was “better that students are now back in the classroom”.But she added: “Outside of schools, it remains crucial that current restrictions are followed.”Chris Hopkins, from Savanta ComRes, which carried out the poll, said: “Throughout the pandemic, public opinion has been on the cautious side, and while the government have adopted a similar approach through 2021, the public are still more cautious than the government when it comes to reopening schools, with marginally more saying that schools should open them later than planned, as opposed to those who say the government have got this one right.“If a rise in coronavirus cases follows the reopening of schools and pushes the roadmap back, the public may begin to question the government’s strategy.”Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said her organisation was “not surprised” that over a third of the public feel a full return to school for all pupils is too soon.“We strongly believe that the government should have planned for a phased return to the classroom for pupils, ensuring that the wider reopening of schools and colleges is as safe and sustainable as possible.”“Once again, the government has failed to listen to the profession at the cost of a smooth, safe and sustainable return to schools for our pupils and education staff.”The results of the poll come amid warnings the country should not “blow it” when schools reopen next week.The government’s scientific advisory group for emergencies (Sage) has warned that opening schools could increase the ‘R’ rate, the rate at which the infection spreads.Dr Mike Tildesley, a member of the SPI-M group, which advises the government, said the next few weeks would be “crucial” in the battle against the global pandemic. Parents should maintain social distancing and other rules while dropping their children off at school, he said.“Just because you’re not in the home with your young children don’t use it as an excuse to go out and mix with other people that you otherwise wouldn’t have done,” he told Times Radio.“It’s possible with schools open we can keep the R number below one but if we are going to achieve that we all need to keep following all the other rules.”Falling Covid-19 rates are most likely due to the current lockdown measures, and the impact of millions of vaccinations “hopefully is yet to come”, he added.He said: “I think most of the reason the numbers are going in the right direction now is still due to lockdown.“I think we haven’t quite seen the impact of vaccinations, probably start to come in round about now and having a little bit of an effect, but most of the effect thus far actually is probably the fact we have been under severe restrictions since the start of January.”Professor Sir Ian Diamond, head of the Office for National Statistics, warned that while lockdown had been a “success” the UK was “still not out of the woods”.“While we have seen major reductions, we are still relatively high,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.“I’m in very much the view that we should do everything we can not to blow it nationally.“We have done fantastically well in the last couple of months but we are not completely out of the woods yet.”He added that it was “very difficult” to separate the effect of the lockdown from the impact of the government’s mass vaccination programme, but it was clear both were playing a role.Savanta ComRes polled 2,321 adults on 1 March. 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