Rhodes Wildfires: Repatriation of Holidaymakers
Debate between Earl of Courtown and Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean
The Earl of Courtown (Con)
My Lords, at present, as I understand the situation, all British nationals are in good health. The noble Baroness makes a very good point about the facilities available to our nationals in Greece at the moment. As I said earlier, there is a small Red Cross team at the airport. If there is anything more that I can add to my answer, I will write to the noble Baroness.
Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean (Lab)
My Lords, the Minister referred to the consular staff. Can he tell us how many British consular staff there are in our consulate in Rhodes, as opposed to the locally engaged staff?
The Earl of Courtown (Con)
I do not have the number of consular staff in Rhodes to hand but, as I said, we have sent out a team to Rhodes Airport, including Red Cross personnel. The FCDO has deployed a rapid deployment team of six FCDO staff—who are based, as I understand it, at the airport—and there are four British Red Cross responders there to support British nationals.