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.

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.