Jackie Long , Social Affairs Editor and Presenter

We spoke to Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson and began by asking why boosting attendance is such a priority for the government.

There’s been official confirmation today that HMP Manchester has joined the growing list of England and Wales’ failing jails following our exclusive report this week.

The new prisons minister Lord Timpson has said the government had no choice but to implement the controversial early release scheme – to ease the pressure on overcrowded jails. 

Even at a point when the entire system is in crisis, Parc’s problems have been particularly acute. It’s had more inmate deaths than any other jail so far this year.

Wrongly accused of gun crime, drug dealing, human trafficking, money laundering and even terrorism – homes repeatedly raided, stopped and searched by firearms officers, bank accounts frozen, suspended from work.

We spoke to Dr Keri Nixon who’s a forensic psychologist and to Ben Lindsay who heads up Power the Fight – a charity which works with communities to help end youth violence.

A new novel by David Peace dramatises the Munich football tragedy of 1958 which killed 23 people – eight of them Manchester United players.

We’re joined by Nick Bridge, the UK’s last climate envoy before the role was axed by Rishi Sunak, and new Green MP Ellie Chowns.

We discuss this prison release further with Charlie Taylor, who’s the Chief Inspector of Prisons.

Hundreds of prisoners have walked free today, in the first phase of an early release scheme to tackle severe overcrowding. 

Sir Keir Starmer has promised action to tackle the sale of knives online, which he says are too easily available.

In the chaotic aftermath of the Grenfell fire, the response on the ground was disastrous and only served to reinforce the disconnect between authorities and institutions and the people they were in theory supposed to be serving.

We spoke to the Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner to ask her what commitment she can give to the families of Grenfell victims that her government will implement the recommendations put forward in the Grenfell inquiry’s final report.

Angela Rayner has vowed to put pressure on developers to speed up the removal of dangerous cladding from more than two thousand buildings. 

The Prime Minister has promised to respond to the report’s recommendations, pledging to force action to remove dangerous cladding where necessary. Only last month, the government revealed that 4,630 buildings still have unsafe cladding, leaving thousands of residents living in fear of another Grenfell.