Source · Select Committees · Transport Committee
Recommendation 2
2
To allow the aviation and tourism sectors to prepare for restart and recovery and to...
Recommendation
To allow the aviation and tourism sectors to prepare for restart and recovery and to accommodate the public’s desire to travel for business, study, families and holidays, the Government must: a) populate the traffic-light framework with destination countries by 1 May 2021 at the latest and announce that classification of destination countries in a statement to Parliament; b) explain the criteria and mechanism by which countries will move between risk categories by 1 May 2021 at the latest; c) facilitate an affordable testing regime that supports public health and safe travel for everyone by maximising the role of antigen tests and ensuring the provision of affordable polymerase chain reaction tests, where required; and d) act immediately to reduce waiting times and queues at the UK border, including working bilaterally with partner countries to agree mutual recognition of travel health certification, deploying more staff at the border, processing passenger locator forms before passengers arrive in the UK and establishing an efficient system based on a single digital app to process health certification submitted in a range of languages. (Paragraph 18) Safe return of international travel? 9
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
UK Government understands the importance that the criteria and the mechanism by which countries move between tiers be clear and transparent. The risks posed by individual countries will be monitored and we will take into consideration a range of factors to inform whether a country is allocated red, amber or green. We have always been guided by the science and that remains the case. The allocation of countries into each category is reviewed every three weeks and will respond to emerging evidence. The Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) published their methodology supporting the allocation of countries to each list on Friday 7 May. Measures and restrictions will be reviewed at checkpoint reviews no later than the 28 June, 31 July and 1 October to take account of the domestic and international health picture and to see whether these measures remain appropriate. If there is evidence to suggest any risk as per the four tests1 set out in the domestic roadmap out of lockdown, UK Government will not hesitate to act accordingly.