Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions has he had with representatives from the Civil Aviation Authority on pilots maintaining their ratings during the covid-19 outbreak.

The Government and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) are doing everything possible to support the industry during this difficult period, including being flexible about regulatory requirements where possible without compromising safety. The CAA have issued four General Exemptions which extend the validity period of certain licences, ratings, and certificates which expire before the 31^st of October 2020 until the end date of the exemption (22^nd of November 2020). The references for these General Exemptions and the associated conditions are ORS4 No.1378, ORS4 No.1383, ORS4 No.1384, and ORS4 No.1385. These are all publicly available on the CAA website at the following link:

https://publicapps.caa.co.uk/modalapplication.aspx?catid=1&pagetype=65&appid=11&mode=list&type=sercat&id=17

The Government and the CAA will continue to monitor the situation in consultation with stakeholders and we expect to issue further exemptions in the near future to support the aviation sector further.