Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent estimate he has made of the number of British citizens in Grenada awaiting repatriation as as result of the covid-19 pandemic; what steps are being taken to repatriate those people; and if he will make a statement.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is working around the clock, through our Posts overseas and in London, to make sure all British travellers who need and want to return to the UK are receiving the support and information they need. The number of British travellers that may still require support to return home across the globe is now in the low tens of thousands. It is difficult to be more precise 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 even though they were not eligible. We have brought home over 32,000 people on 155 flights organised by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 29 countries and territories. We have also supported over 11,000 people to return home from the Caribbean via commercial means.

We are aware of pockets of British travellers across the Eastern Caribbean area, including in Grenada, and our effort is focused on supporting their return as quickly and safely as possible. We are sharing information with British travellers affected through our Travel Advice page and will update them as we have news.

We have lobbied airlines and the local authorities to keep routes out of Grenada open for as long as possible, allowing nearly all short- term visitors to leave. We also promoted details of departure options from Grenada on our social media platforms.

Our consular network in the region continues to provide support to British nationals who require assistance.