Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) British nationals and (b) persons with Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK who remain stranded in (i) India and (ii) Pakistan as a result of the covid-19 outbreak; and what steps his Department is taking to secure adequate flights to the UK for those individuals.
Answered by Nigel Adams
Helping British nationals who need and want to return to the UK is one of the Government's highest priorities. We have worked with international allies to lobby authorities to keep commercial air routes open and work together to return British travellers globally. In addition, as of 14 May we have arranged 62 charter flights from India and 21 from Pakistan which have repatriated more than 18,500 British travellers.
From the outset, our priority for the charter flight programme has been getting British travellers home. But after we launched the charter flight programme, it became clear that there are people with indefinite leave to remain (ILR) who normally reside in the UK, and want to get back, particularly in countries such as India and Pakistan. So where possible, we are working to help vulnerable UK residents with ILR. This is beyond the scope of our standard consular assistance, which is usually just for UK nationals. But these are exceptional times. We are seeking to help vulnerable people with ILR wherever possible, provided that they have lived in the UK within the last year. It is difficult to offer precise numbers at this stage because there have been instances of multiple registrations by the same individual, people not reporting their return to the UK via other means, and long term residents registering for flights despite being ineligible.
Our consular teams are supporting those British travellers who have not been able to fly home. While there are currently no further flights?scheduled after 15 May,?we will keep this under review and continue to assess both demand for flights and the situation in India. Commercial options remain available from Pakistan.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his criteria are for scheduling additional special charter flights from India to the UK after 11 May 2020 as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nigel Adams
Our repatriation effort from India is a priority for the UK Government and is one of our largest COVID-19 repatriation operations, based on the number of British travellers there and the absence of commercial options. As of 10 May, more than 14,000 people have been repatriated from India on 60 flights. We are working around the clock to return more people on daily flights from across India. Between 12 and 15 May, an additional five flights are due to depart from Amritsar and Ahmedabad, servicing those locations with the highest numbers of British nationals remaining in the country. There are currently no further flights planned, but we will keep this under review, based on demand.
Our top priority is to help the most vulnerable British nationals return to the UK and we reserve as many seats as possible for these individuals on all flights. The addition of these upcoming flights is expected to return almost all of those who are eligible to fly from our waiting lists, and the small minority of those who are unable to travel are currently being looked after by our consular teams in India.
While the focus has been on British nationals, we have also flown vulnerable people with Indefinite Leave to Remain back to the UK on Government charter flights whenever there has been capacity on the aircraft. We will continue to do so on any remaining flights.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the special charter flights from India to the UK scheduled to end on 11 May 2020 will accommodate all UK residents wishing to return home.
Answered by Nigel Adams
Our repatriation effort from India is a priority for the UK Government and is one of our largest COVID-19 repatriation operations, based on the number of British travellers there and the absence of commercial options. As of 10 May, more than 14,000 people have been repatriated from India on 60 flights. We are working around the clock to return more people on daily flights from across India. Between 12 and 15 May, an additional five flights are due to depart from Amritsar and Ahmedabad, servicing those locations with the highest numbers of British nationals remaining in the country. There are currently no further flights planned, but we will keep this under review, based on demand.
Our top priority is to help the most vulnerable British nationals return to the UK and we reserve as many seats as possible for these individuals on all flights. The addition of these upcoming flights is expected to return almost all of those who are eligible to fly from our waiting lists, and the small minority of those who are unable to travel are currently being looked after by our consular teams in India.
While the focus has been on British nationals, we have also flown vulnerable people with Indefinite Leave to Remain back to the UK on Government charter flights whenever there has been capacity on the aircraft. We will continue to do so on any remaining flights.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions (a) he and (b) Ministers of his Department have had with representatives from the UK's Sikh community on the UK's military role in the 1984 raid on the Golden Temple in Amritsar; and if he will commission a public inquiry into UK involvement in that event.
Answered by Mark Field
I appreciate that tragic events of 1984 are still the source of great, and lasting pain to many in the Sikh community. FCO officials met representatives of the Sikh community in October 2016. The then Minister for Asia, my Rt Hon Friend the Member for Reading West (Mr Sharma) discussed the issue with the Rt Hon Member for Warley (Mr Spellar) and other honourable members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for British Sikhs on 11 January 2017.
The Cabinet Secretary's 2014 investigation into the UK military role in Operation Blue Star concluded that UK assistance was advisory, ended several months before the operation and had limited impact on the tragic events that followed. I am satisfied that the Cabinet Secretary's investigation dealt conclusively with this issue. I do not believe that there is any need to commission a public inquiry.