Asked by: Chris Coghlan (Liberal Democrat - Dorking and Horley)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to help improve reciprocal visa-waiver arrangements with the EU.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
HMG officials and Ministers, including myself, regularly engage the EU and EU Member State counterparts on a range of issues affecting UK nationals. The UK and the EU allow for visa-free, short-term travel in line with their respective arrangements for third country nationals.
The UK allows EU citizens visa-free travel for up to six months; the EU allows for visa-free travel within the Schengen Area for up to 90 days in any rolling 180-day period which is standard for third nationals travelling visa-free to the EU. UK nationals planning to stay longer will need permission from the relevant Member State. The UK Government will continue to listen to and advocate for UK nationals.
Asked by: Chris Coghlan (Liberal Democrat - Dorking and Horley)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, following the closure of Voluntary Repayment of COVID-19 Funding, if he will publish full data on which companies took Covid support, and which companies subsequently made repayments.
Answered by Josh Simons
The details of many companies who received certain forms of Covid support have previously been published. However, the government does not intend to publish full data on the recipients of support across every Covid scheme.
Whether companies made repayment of Covid support, either through the Voluntary Repayment Scheme or through other means, will also remain confidential. We do not want to discourage repayment. Voluntary repayment does not necessarily indicate fraud.