Select committee: Foreign Affairs Committee
Conclusion 4
Third Report: Flying Home: The FCO’s consular response to the COVID-19 pandemic
Published 28 Jul 2020
Paragraph 13
Addressed to Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Foreign Affairs Committee Coronavirus: FCDO response All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Whilst reliance on the commercial system may have been the most cost effective and convenient way to help the majority of travellers return to the UK, for some people this was not a practical solution. This included travellers who were vulnerable, those in the ‘high risk’ category and those who were travelling in countries with strict lockdown rules and thus were unable to access the commercial flights available. By running a small number of chartered repatriation flights in parallel to the commercial options the FCO could have successfully brought home the travellers in the most vulnerable situations.
From: Foreign Affairs Committee, Third Report: Flying Home: The FCO’s consular response to the COVID-19 pandemic (HC 643), paragraph 13, 28 July 2020
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 23 October 2020 (deadline 28 September 2020).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government recognises concerns about the consular response and accepts some recommendations, but disputes that the report fully represents what was done, or how quickly, and disagrees on reliance on commercial flights.
- On the £75 million repatriation funding, the government says it does "not accept the suggestion that unspent funds meant those in need did not receive the repatriation support that they needed". If further flights are needed it "will look to find the funds within the department" and, "if appropriate", apply to the HM Treasury Reserve.
- On commercial flights, it says that keeping commercial routes open was needed because repatriating 1.3 million people by charter "would have required over 4000 charter flights". It ran charters where there were no commercial flights available or other ways to bring home British travellers.
- It agrees with the committee on crowdfunding: the reference "has been removed" from internal and public guidance. On loans, it says it "will always work to agree flexible repayment plans tailored to individual circumstances" and can extend repayment beyond six months where someone is actively repaying.
- On answerphone messages, it agrees this is "a priority" and is creating a "call-off arrangement" with its supplier, which it "expect[s]" to be in place by the end of October 2020. It does not agree that social media was used at the expense of tailored support.