Education secretary Gavin Williamson approved a £190m contract with the company blamed for “unacceptable delays” in the school meals voucher scheme, it has emerged.

French company Edenred was criticised last year after its website failed to cope with demand during the first lockdown, leaving thousands of parents and teachers unable to access the system.

Peter Stubley has more on this:

Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman said for the “vast majority of children the restoration of normality” should be enough to “lift those symptoms” of mental health difficulties like loneliness and anxiety.

But 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.”

Gavin Williamson has confirmed a change to the summer holidays and longer school days are part of proposals being examined to help pupils catch up on lost learning during the pandemic.

The education secretary 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.”

He said Sir Kevan Collins, the government’s education recovery commissioner, would be looking at what measures to introduce over the next 18 months.

Tony Blackburn has said he will miss his weekly Sunday radio show following the death of his sister Jackie with Covid-19.

Louis Chilton has more details:

Amanda Spielman, Ofsted chief inspector, has said children are “adaptable and flexible” around things like mask-wearing and testing in schools, and “can live with a little bit of inconvenience for a few weeks”.

She told Sophy Ridge on Sky News: “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.”

She said current Ofsted monitoring visits have shown “the extraordinary efforts that schools have been putting into remote education”.

The Royal College of Nursing has warned large numbers of nurses could leave the profession in the wake of the escalating row over pay.

Ministers have been accused of snatching a 2.1 per cent pay rise, promised prior to the pandemic, from NHS workers following the government’s 1 per cent pay offer in the coming weeks.

Our Whitehall editor Kate Devlin explains:

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.

The exclusive poll for The Independent shows 37 per cent of people believe the government is moving too swiftly when it comes to schools.

Our Whitehall editor Kate Devlin explains:

People aged between 56 and 59 in England can now book a coronavirus vaccination.

Invitation letters were sent out by the NHS on Saturday for the latest stage of the rollout in a bid to meet the target of offering a first dose to all adults by 31 July.

Peter Stubley has more details:

Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of the coronavirus crisis. Stay tuned for rolling updates and statistics from across the globe.