Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of UK (a) nationals and (b) residents residing in Scotland that are stranded in Pakistan as a result of the covid-19 pandemic.

Repatriating British travellers from Pakistan is a priority for the UK Government and we have been working closely with the Pakistani government and airlines to ensure British travellers can return home. Since the outbreak in Wuhan, we estimate that over 1.3 million people have returned to the UK via commercial routes - the majority supported by our work to keep vital routes open. Additionally we have brought home over ?35,800?people on?170?flights organised by the?Foreign Office?from?36?countries and territories of which over?4,400 British travellers and their direct dependents have been repatriated on?21?flights?from?Pakistan.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) does not have a central registration system for British travellers who wish to return to the UK so we are unable to estimate how many travellers either UK Nationals or residents of Scotland remain. 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. British travellers are only asked to register for flights with Corporate Travel Management when charter flights have been announced for a country. Anyone who registered on the booking portal for a UK charter flight has been offered an opportunity to pay for a seat. Those eligible people who paid were offered seats on flights back to the UK. Any British travellers who did not register or pay for a seat but now wish to return to the UK are being encouraged to use commercial options.

We have been liaising closely with Scottish Government colleagues and updating them on our repatriation programme.