Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what (a) assessment his Department has made of the potential impact that the reintroduction of compulsory PCR covid-19 testing for overseas arrivals will have on the travel industry and (b) support he will make available to support small businesses in the sector which may lose revenue as a result.

The government has worked closely with the travel sector throughout the pandemic to help find ways to enable people to travel safely, while protecting public health. The re-introduction of pre-departure tests and PCR post-arrival tests are temporary, precautionary measures to prevent further Omicron cases from entering the UK and will be examined at the three-week review point in the week commencing 13 December.

Throughout the pandemic, over £2 billion of discretionary business grant funding was provided to local authorities via the Additional Restrictions Grant to support businesses in their local area and travel agents can continue to apply for the scheme through their local authority until March 2022.