Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what (a) financial and (b) other support the Government plans to provide to UK nationals stranded overseas and unable to return to the UK as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.

Following the change to date for answer of this PQ, I submitted a response by email on 26 March, with the following response.The Table Office have agreed this approach.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office provides information on what to do and who to contact if British nationals require financial assistance abroad: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/financial-assistance-abroad/financial-assistance-abroad. We are helping to reduce travel costs by encouraging airlines to have maximum flexibility on changing return tickets. Where people are in real need, our consular teams will work with them to consider their options and, as a last resort, offer an emergency loan. We have also published advice for British nationals who do not have immediate departure options available to them: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/travel-advice-novel-coronavirus#if-youre-abroad-and-you-want-to-return-to-the-uk.

We are working closely with local authorities, commercial airlines and other diplomatic missions to enable British people to get home. Our consular team is working around the clock to provide support, advice and information. The situation is fast moving, and our advice at this time is for British nationals to secure safe accommodation and to speak to their tour operator, airline and insurance company to discuss the options available to them. Consular teams are continuing to support British people who are experiencing disruption. We are working intensively with the Governments of those countries that have closed their borders to people travelling to and from the UK, to enable airlines to bring back British people to the UK, if that is what they want. We are providing direct support to individuals through our contact centre and consular teams, but call volumes are high. In light of the rapidly changing situation, we urge all travellers to sign up for our travel advice alert service. We will keep the situation under review and remain in contact with the airline operators and authorities overseas to facilitate return travel.