Select committee: Foreign Affairs Committee
Recommendation 12
Third Report: Flying Home: The FCO’s consular response to the COVID-19 pandemic
Published 28 Jul 2020
Paragraph 33
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 ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Automated answerphone messages told travellers around the world that our embassies and consulates were closed. It is extraordinary that the FCO had no control over the answerphone messages of its own embassies. This oversight prevented many from accessing the advice and support that they needed. The FCO should make it an immediate priority to ensure that these answerphone messages can be controlled centrally.
From: Foreign Affairs Committee, Third Report: Flying Home: The FCO’s consular response to the COVID-19 pandemic (HC 643), paragraph 33, 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.