Select committee: Transport Committee
Recommendation 3
Fifth Report: The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the aviation sector: Interim report
Published 11 Mar 2021
Paragraph 9
Addressed to Department for Transport
Transport Committee The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the aviation sector: follow-up All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The Government must commit to publishing the Global Travel Taskforce report on 12 April to give consumers and industry the certainty that they need to plan for a summer 2021 restart for international travel. The publication of the road map should be accompanied by a statement to the House of Commons setting out next steps. The Global Travel Taskforce report must clarify: • The criteria that destination countries must meet on vaccine and testing capabilities in order to reopen for travel with the UK, as well as the requirements that passengers will need to fulfil in order to travel abroad, including any relating to digital health certification; • when and how the current quarantine schemes will be phased out; and • how the Government plans to support industry should variants or high levels of Covid-19 transmission affect the reopening schedule.
From: Transport Committee, Fifth Report: The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the aviation sector: Interim report (HC 1257), paragraph 9, 11 March 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 13 May 2021 (deadline 11 May 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government notes the Committee's recommendations on restarting international travel and the recovery plan, partially agrees with two, and points to the Global Travel Taskforce report and a 'traffic light' system as its response.
- On the Committee's call to maintain the 17 May restart, the government "notes this recommendation". It says measures limiting outbound travel "will be removed by 17 May at the earliest", with a "traffic light" country system.
- On the road map and destination standards, it "partially agrees". It says wider vaccine and testing standards "must be agreed internationally", and sets three review checkpoints, the first "no later than 28 June 2021".
- On quarantine, it says all measures "will be reviewed, as appropriate" at the three checkpoints, rather than giving a phase-out timetable.
- On the recovery plan, the government "notes" the recommendation, says a strategic framework will be published "later this year", and is "willing to provide an update" to the Committee in early autumn.