Spain: Travel

Lord Hayward Excerpts

Tuesday 28th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton [V]]

Border Force has the power to check people’s information when they arrive in the country. If it finds it to have been filled in incorrectly, that person can be subject to a £100 fixed penalty notice.

[Lord Hayward (Con) [V]]

My Lords, I understand that there is now a European-approved 40-minute test, which can allow the Government to negotiate secure testing sites at airports, whether in Spain or other countries. That would help to avoid unnecessary self-isolation on return and the associated loss of earnings. Would the Minister be willing to look at these schemes?

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton [V]]

I reassure my noble friend that we are already looking at a range of different options. For the time being, the position remains unchanged: there is a 14-day self-isolation period. However, we are considering options on how to manage the risk of imported cases. We are looking at ways of testing people on certain days, but we must understand that testing people on arrival is sometimes inappropriate because of the longer incubation period of the virus, which means that it does not show up in the tests. Again, I reassure my noble friend that we are looking at all eventualities, because obviously we would like to decrease the number of days in self-isolation if we possibly can.