Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent steps he has taken to provide repatriation flights for UK citizens in Yemen.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) suspended its operations in Yemen in 2015. Since then our ability to offer consular assistance to British nationals in Yemen has been extremely limited. Since March 2011, the FCO has consistently advised against all travel to all parts of Yemen, and advised British nationals to leave the country. However, where possible, the FCO remains committed to doing what it can for those British nationals who remain in Yemen.

In light of the challenges following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and subsequent restrictions put in place by the authorities in Yemen, FCO officials have been in contact with 27 British nationals who have expressed a wish to return to the UK. Officials have worked with the UN and regional partners to arrange departures to neighbouring countries, from where onward flights to the UK have then been secured. To date, six British nationals have successfully left Yemen.