Asked by: Baroness McGregor-Smith (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the level of compliance with the quarantine periods for international arrivals.
Answered by Lord Bethell
On arrival Border Force conduct spot checks on passenger forms which include contact details, passport number and address while in the United Kingdom.
Further compliance checks are carried out by Public Health England’s Isolation Assurance Service (IAS) who attempt to contact randomly sampled arriving passengers to ensure that they are self-isolating.
Data for the period 8 June to 7 September 2020 show that the IAS successfully made contact with 66,773 passengers and confirmed compliance with self-isolation for 64,800 passengers.
Asked by: Baroness McGregor-Smith (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are actively considering a 14-day quarantine period for travellers arriving in the UK; and whether such a quarantine is in line with the latest medical advice.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Regulations to require international arrivals to self-isolate for 14 days when they arrive in the United Kingdom have now been laid, they will come into force on 8 June. The quarantine system is designed to keep the transmission rate of COVID-19 low in the UK, stop new cases being brought in from abroad and help prevent a second wave of COVID-19. The scientific advice is clear - it tells us that COVID-19 cases entering the UK from abroad matter most when the UK has a low level of infection.
Asked by: Baroness McGregor-Smith (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to publish a summary of the advice and scientific evidence from Public Health England on the utility of health screening at airports during the current phase of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Transparency, including on the evidence informing the views of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), is vital in helping to maintain the public’s trust and grow our collective understanding of the disease, while also helping to explain how scientific advice to the Government is being formed. The Government is working to publish evidence documents and studies, including from Public Health England, which have formed the basis of SAGE’s discussions and advice to Ministers, regularly, and will publish more evidence in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Baroness McGregor-Smith (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions Ministers have had with their European counterparts and the European Commission on agreeing a common baseline for health measures in international travel by air, sea and train.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The United Kingdom is engaging with a number of key international organisations, including the European Civil Aviation Conference, and we are working with our international partners to drive forward a shared agenda on public health measures for international travel. The Department for Transport is working with industry to explore potential public health measures for the sector, including those proposed by our European partners.