Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when his Department last made representations to the Indian Government on the case of Jagtar Singh Johal.
Answered by Nigel Adams
We regularly make representations on Mr Johal's case to the Government of India. On 29 April, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, the Minister of State for South Asia, raised Mr Johal's case with the Indian High Commissioner to the UK. On 30 April, the Minister also wrote to the Indian Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs regarding Mr Johal's case.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many people are registered with his Department for flights back to the UK from Pakistan.
Answered by Nigel Adams
Pakistan is a priority for the UK Government. We have been working closely with the Government of Pakistan and airlines to ensure British Nationals can return home from Pakistan. The UK Government has announced two rounds of special charter flights from Pakistan to bring home British travellers and their direct dependents, operated by Qatar Airways. The first round of flights were between 21 and 27 April, including seven from Islamabad and three from Lahore, to London Heathrow and Manchester. Following high demand for these flights, there will be a second round of nine direct charter flights from 30 April, including one from Karachi.
We cannot provide an accurate figure for those currently registered for HMG charter flights because many passengers have registered more than once, have already returned by commercial flights or no longer want to return to the UK.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many people are registered with his Department for flights to the UK from India; and how many of those people are in Punjab.
Answered by Nigel Adams
Before our repatriation programme, around 20,000 people in India told us they wished to return to the UK. To date we have returned over 10,000 people to the UK from India on FCO chartered flights. This includes, as of 29 April, over 2,750 passengers who have returned home from Punjab. An additional 13 flights are due to run between 2 May and 11 May, servicing those locations with the highest numbers of British nationals remaining in India. The UK Government has arranged a fifth round of special charter flights from 5 May to 11 May. We anticipate that all eligible British travellers on our waiting list in Punjab who can and wish to return to the UK will be repatriated by the end of our repatriation programme.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many people are registered with his Department for flights to the UK from Bangladesh.
Answered by Nigel Adams
Bangladesh is a priority for the UK Government. We have been working closely with the Government of Bangladesh and airlines to ensure British Nationals (BN) can return home from Bangladesh. The UK Government delivered an initial set of four special charter flights from Bangladesh to the UK to bring home British travellers and their direct dependents. These flights ran from Dhaka to London, with the first landing in the UK on 21 April and the last on Sunday 26 April. Domestic transfers were also arranged between Sylhet and Dhaka. Following high demand, the UK Government organised a second round of five direct charter flights from 29 April to 7 May, from Dhaka to London. Four of these flights will be accompanied by a domestic transfer flight from Sylhet to Dhaka. As of 4 May over 1,200 British Nationals have returned from Bangladesh. Our High Commission in Dhaka is providing consular assistance to those who need it, including the most vulnerable. We are advising BN who are unable to depart Bangladesh to follow the advice of local authorities, find accommodation that is suitable for their needs, and keep in regular contact with family and friends at home. For further updates, the British High Commissioner has been regularly providing information on social media (@UKinBangladesh and @RCDicksonUK) about what we are doing to help BN. They should also subscribe to the UK's travel advice updates for Bangladesh to receive the latest information on flights.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, for what reason his Department has not used RAF Voyager aircraft to repatriate British nationals during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nigel Adams
At the start of April, an RAF Voyager, returning from the Falklands as part of the South Atlantic Airbridge, repatriated a number of British nationals who had been stranded in Senegal. They were picked up whilst the aircraft was refuelled in West Africa.
The Royal Air Force remain on standby to support where necessary. The Ministry of Defence has already returned 131 British nationals on 11 flights from seven countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ukraine, Kenya and Afghanistan; the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is thankful for this support.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of using (a) RAF Voyager aircraft and (b) civil-registered aircraft from the non-core Voyager fleet to repatriate British nationals during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nigel Adams
At the start of April, an RAF Voyager, returning from the Falklands as part of the South Atlantic Airbridge, repatriated a number of British nationals who had been stranded in Senegal. They were picked up whilst the aircraft was refuelled in West Africa.
The Royal Air Force remain on standby to support where necessary. The Ministry of Defence has already returned 131 British nationals on 11 flights from seven countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ukraine, Kenya and Afghanistan; the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is thankful for this support.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department requested military assistance for the civil authorities to increase capacity for flights repatriating British nationals during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nigel Adams
At the start of April, an RAF Voyager, returning from the Falklands as part of the South Atlantic Airbridge, repatriated a number of British nationals who had been stranded in Senegal. They were picked up whilst the aircraft was refuelled in West Africa.
The Royal Air Force remain on standby to support where necessary. The Ministry of Defence has already returned 131 British nationals on 11 flights from seven countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ukraine, Kenya and Afghanistan; the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is thankful for this support.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many charter flights have been arranged by his Department to deal with repatriation to the UK to date; how many passengers have been carried; and which companies have provided the aircraft and crew for those flights.
Answered by Nigel Adams
As of 30 April, we have brought back more than 21,000 people on 102 flights organised by the Foreign Office from 21 different countries and territories. We have worked with the following airlines to provide these flights: British Airways, Biman, Cathay Pacific, EgyptAir, LATAM, PAL, Qatar Airways, Titan, TUI, Virgin Atlantic, Viva, Vueling.
We are aware that there are tens of thousands of British nationals remaining overseas and our effort is focused on supporting their return as quickly and safely as possible. We will continue to work to bring British nationals back to the UK where commercial options do not exist, focusing on the most vulnerable. We are still working through future plans, identifying where needs are greatest, and where charter flights will have the greatest impact on vulnerable British nationals overseas.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with the Taiwanese authorities on lessons learned from their handling of the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Nigel Adams
Through our office in Taipei, the British Government has been in regular contact with the Taiwanese health authorities around all aspects of the ongoing Covid-19 crisis. We will continue to learn from and share good practice with Taiwan, as we aim to do with all those who have been affected by this pandemic. In line with our longstanding policy, we believe Taiwan has a meaningful role to play in combatting global threats like COVID-19.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he will raise the deteriorating military and security situation on the India Pakistan border at the next meeting of the UN Security Council.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The longstanding position of the UK is that it is for India and Pakistan to find a lasting political resolution on Kashmir bilaterally, taking into account the wishes of the Kashmiri people. We encourage India and Pakistan to engage in dialogue and find lasting, diplomatic solutions to maintain regional stability, but it is not for the UK to prescribe a solution or act as a mediator.