Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has responded to the letter sent to the Prime Minister on 27 August 2020 from the British Educational Travel Association; and what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues copied into that letter on its contents.

The letter copied to the Secretary of State has been received. However due to the high number of correspondence the Department has received we have been unable to respond. However, I would like to assure the honourable member for Midlothian, that a response will be sent shortly.

The Department for Transport is in regular contact with the travel industry regarding the challenges facing the sector as a result of COVID-19. The sector is crucial to the UK’s economy and businesses across the industry are able to draw on the unprecedented package of economic measures we have put in place during this time.

This includes a Bank of England scheme for firms to raise capital, two business interruption loan guarantee schemes for different sizes of business, Time to Pay flexibilities with tax bills, financial support for employees and VAT deferrals.