Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Sixteenth Report - Managing cross-border travel during the COVID-19 pandemic
Public Accounts Committee
HC 29
Published 26 July 2022
Recommendations
2
Accepted
Government does not know whether it achieved value for money from the £486 million that...
Recommendation
Government does not know whether it achieved value for money from the £486 million that it spent implementing measures. Government did not track spending on implementing health measures, but the National Audit Office estimated that, across the five Departments involved, …
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Government Response Summary
HM Treasury will consider what additional guidance should be issued to departments on how cross-government portfolios should report and track their overall cost on an ongoing basis, as part of ongoing work looking at improving joint working across government. HM Treasury will write to the Committee with an update by Spring 2023.
HM Treasury
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3
Accepted
Government’s failure to communicate the reasons for frequent changes to health measures made it hard...
Recommendation
Government’s failure to communicate the reasons for frequent changes to health measures made it hard for the public to understand and adhere to them. Ministers changed the rules that people had to follow under the traffic light system at least …
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Government Response Summary
The government agrees and notes key lessons learned on communicating with the public through cross-channel campaigns, including the need for agile approaches, research and feedback sessions, simple language, mutually supported communications, strategic communications, volume, clarity, timeliness, paid-for media, and communication through local, regional and national partners.
HM Treasury
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7
Accepted
The Cabinet Office failed to bring together how risks were identified and managed across the...
Recommendation
The Cabinet Office failed to bring together how risks were identified and managed across the portfolio of programmes for implementing health measures at the border. We have repeatedly found that the pandemic has exposed limitations in how government manages risks, …
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Government Response Summary
HM Treasury will work with the Cabinet Office to develop guidance on aggregating and managing risks at a portfolio level, and undertake a review of approaches taken on some other cross-government portfolios. HM Treasury will write to the Committee with an update by January 2023.
HM Treasury
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14
Accepted
In our report Government preparedness for the COVID-19 pandemic: lessons for government on risk management,...
Recommendation
In our report Government preparedness for the COVID-19 pandemic: lessons for government on risk management, we concluded that the pandemic has exposed limitations in how government manages risks, especially those that cut across institutional boundaries. We said government needs to …
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Government Response Summary
HM Treasury will work with the Cabinet Office to develop guidance, consistent with the principles-based approach in the Orange Book, on aggregating and managing risks at a portfolio level. They will also review approaches taken on some other cross-government portfolios to understand where the new guidance could be used and provide an update to the Committee by January 2023.
HM Treasury
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21
Accepted
As of 1 March 2022, DHSC was owed £74 million from people who had not...
Recommendation
As of 1 March 2022, DHSC was owed £74 million from people who had not paid for their stay in the MQS or had not paid for their PCR tests. DHSC told us that it had allowed people using the …
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Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the recommendation and states that the UK Health Security Agency has already provided the Committee with a quarterly update on chargeback and hardship recoveries, with the next letter to be sent by the end of September including responses to the specific points raised.
HM Treasury
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22
Accepted
By January 2022, DHSC had only investigated two fraud cases and so far had only...
Recommendation
By January 2022, DHSC had only investigated two fraud cases and so far had only recovered £1 million. We asked whether DHSC had published data on amounts recovered and it confirmed it had not, but agreed to provide this information …
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Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation and UKHSA has already provided the Committee with a quarterly update on chargeback and hardship recoveries, and the next letter will be sent by the end of September with responses to the recommendations.
HM Treasury
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Conclusions (7)
6
Conclusion
Accepted
DHSC failed to adequately protect the taxpayer from fraud in the Managed Quarantine Service (MQS), and is not pursuing the fraud that it has identified vigorously enough. There was substantial fraud against the MQS programme. At 1 March 2022, DHSC was owed £74 million in unpaid bills. This includes £21 …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation and the UK Health Security Agency has already provided the Committee with a quarterly update on chargeback and hardship recoveries and the next letter will be sent by the end of September with responses to the recommendations.
10
Conclusion
Accepted
From February 2021, until all travel measures were withdrawn in March 2022, private sector carriers were legally responsible for some additional document checks required as part of the travel measures. Border Force told us that the administration of some measures, notably the checking of Passenger Locator Forms, fell on the …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation to set out how it would support industry partners if health measures were reintroduced and will capture lessons learned through engagement with transport operators. They note the importance of regular engagement, updated guidance, and the intent to use the least stringent measures possible in the future.
11
Conclusion
Accepted
We received written evidence from Manchester Airports Group, which told us that, if passenger numbers remained as they were when testing requirements were in place, it would cost the UK economy £16 billion per year. It also estimated that travellers had spent £365–730 million on PCR tests between 20 May …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation to set out how it would support industry partners if health measures were reintroduced and will capture lessons learned through engagement with transport operators. They note the importance of regular engagement, updated guidance, and the intent to use the least stringent measures possible in the future.
12
Conclusion
Accepted
The NAO found that making changes at short notice in the fast-moving environment of the pandemic was inevitable, but the processes for communicating these changes to those responsible for implementing them, in advance of a public announcement, were not timely. Border Force officials, bodies representing carriers and regulators told the …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation and explains what it has learned about communicating with the public effectively and what it will do differently in the future, including key lessons learned for future cross-channel campaigns.
15
Conclusion
Accepted
The NAO found that while government implemented controls through both its committee structures and individual departmental programmes, it had not set out risks for the overall system of border measures in one place. It found that government had not adopted system-level good practice such as risk registers, regular data dashboards …
Government Response Summary
HM Treasury will work with the Cabinet Office to develop guidance on aggregating and managing risks at a portfolio level, and undertake a review of approaches taken on some other cross-government portfolios. HM Treasury will write to the Committee with an update by January 2023.
23
Conclusion
Accepted
DHSC allowed people facing financial hardship to stay in quarantine hotels or buy tests without paying upfront. At 1 March 2022, DHSC was owed around £54 million from people who have not paid their bill. DHSC allowed people to self-certify financial hardship until September 2021, after which it introduced a …
Government Response Summary
The UK Health Security Agency has already provided the Committee with a quarterly update on chargeback and hardship recoveries.
25
Conclusion
Accepted
The NAO estimated that government spent at least £486 million on cross-border travel measures in 2021–22 across the five main departments responsible for the system. Government did not track the cost of implementing cross-border travel measures. The Cabinet Office said that it considered that the border measures were not a …
Government Response Summary
HM Treasury will consider what additional guidance should be issued to departments on how cross-government portfolios should report and track their overall cost on an ongoing basis, as part of ongoing work looking at improving joint working across government. HM Treasury will write to the Committee with an update by Spring 2023.