Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many emergency repatriation loans have been paid; and what the total value is of those loans.

British nationals and UK residents who are overseas and wish to return to the UK, but cannot afford travel costs and have exhausted all other options for getting funds to return home, may apply for an emergency loan from the government as a last resort. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) usually issues around 250 emergency repatriation loans per year. We estimate that over 750 loans have been issued this year with an approximate total value of over £100,000. Some loans are still being processed. Since 7 April, the FCO has been working with Corporate Travel Management (CTM), which is authorised to administer such loans on behalf of the FCO, to extend the FCO's capacity to consider loan requests from British nationals.

The welfare of British nationals remains our top priority, and we remain committed to ensuring that British travellers around the globe are able to return home.