Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 45
45
Paragraph: 215
It is concerning that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for Transport have...
Recommendation
It is concerning that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for Transport have issued contrasting advice to the public on more than one occasion, at a time when providing clarity about the new travel corridors and nurturing confidence in them is of great importance. The Government must ensure that its communications are consistent and accurate across all departments. We recommend that one department leads on communications in this matter, and works constructively with other departments and associated bodies, such as public health authorities, to make sure all appropriate guidance and advice is clearly reflected. The Government must review differences between Foreign and Commonwealth Office travel advice and Department for Transport air corridor countries as an urgent priority, with a view to reconciling discrepancies. Where those departments are not able to agree, the Gov.uk website should clearly explain why this is the case in order to allow would-be travellers to make informed decisions before using travel corridors.
Paragraph Reference:
215
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
We agree with the Committee that communication of guidance and clarity of advice is important. Throughout the COVID-19 response, we have ensured that gov.uk is the single source for policy and operational changes. We have created new gov.uk content for key policy and operational changes delivered and have linked to this from a central collections page so users can easily navigate to the content they need. Where relevant we have updated existing content rather than created new content. such as immigration law practitioners, to raise awareness of the changes. This does not replace official guidance, but signposts to gov.uk content.