Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Rosindell Excerpts

Thursday 3rd February 2022 Commons Chamber

[Trudy Harrison]

I am more than happy to meet the hon. Member to discuss the matter in detail. The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency is working hard to increase driving test availability by recruiting more driving examiners, offering out-of-hours tests and asking all those who are qualified to conduct tests to do so. I reiterate my willingness to meet the hon. Lady.

[Andrew Rosindell (Romford) (Con)]

3. What recent progress he has made with Cabinet colleagues on easing international travel restrictions for UK nationals.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Robert Courts)]

On 24 January, the Secretary of State announced to the House that all testing requirements will be removed for eligible fully vaccinated arrivals.

[Andrew Rosindell]

Given the success of the roll-out and the welcome news that the plan B restrictions are ending and will end, with travel restrictions set to end on 11 February, will the Minister please assure the country that we will never again go back to travel restrictions of that kind? The latest travel restrictions seem to have had very little effect and the damage done to our economy was vast.

[Robert Courts]

My hon. Friend is absolutely correct: thanks to the success of our roll-out and booster programme—the fastest in Europe—we are now in a position where we can live with covid and start to travel again. The Government are developing a more flexible model, including a contingency playbook to deal with future variants that will provide certainty to consumers and industry alike.