Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the deportation flight on 30 April 2020 from Stanstead Airport to Poland, what assessment she has made of its effect on (a) international efforts to contain the covid-19 pandemic and (b) the health and safety of (i) passengers and (ii) staff onboard that flight.

We routinely help people with no right to remain in the UK return to their country of origin and we make no apology for our commitment to removing foreign national offenders wherever possible.

The flight on 30 April was arranged for Polish nationals who had been required to leave the UK and who requested assistance to return to Poland.

We take the welfare of those in our care very seriously. A safer system of work was adapted in line with Public Health England guidance; this included social distancing in transit and on the flight and appropriate Personal Protective Equipment for both escorting staff and returnees.