Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will take steps to ensure that British citizens overseas are returned home by 21 April 2020 in response to the covid-19 pandemic.

As Parliament rose earlier than planned and the first day for answer of this PQ was after the Easter recess, due to the pace of developments during the COVID-19 crisis, I submitted a response by email on 8 April, with the following response. The Table Office have agreed this approach.

The Foreign Secretary announced on 30 March an important new partnership between the Government and airlines to fly home more stranded British travellers, where commercial routes do not exist. The Government will provide up to £75 million financial support to enable special charter flights to priority countries, operated by airlines including British Airways, Virgin, Easyjet, Jet 2 and Titan. This service has already begun, with flights from Peru, Senegal, UAE, Ecuador, Bolivia, Ghana, Algeria and Tunisia as of 6th April.

Our consular team is working around the clock to provide support, advice and information. The situation is fast moving, and our advice at this time is for British nationals to secure safe accommodation and to speak to their tour operator, airline and or insurance company to discuss the options available to them. We are working intensively with the governments of those countries that have closed their borders to people travelling to and from the UK, to enable airlines to bring British Nationals home.

British Nationals abroad should keep up to date with our travel advice for the country/territory they are in. We have published advice for British Nationals who do not have immediate departure options available to them: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/travel-advice-novel-coronavirus#if-youre-abroad-and-you-want-to-return-to-the-uk