Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sugg on 5 December 2017 (HL3455), whether they have now established a more refined figure for the costs of repatriation to the UK of customers of Monarch airlines.

We are not yet able to give a final figure for the costs of the repatriation operation as we are awaiting invoices from third parties. In line with the usual transparency guidelines on government expenditure and financial reporting the absolute full and final position will be made clear in the annual accounts for the department, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and the Air Travel Trust (ATT), which should be published in June 2018.

At this stage, the current forecasts suggest that the total cost of the repatriation operation remain broadly in line with the original estimate of around £60m. As explained in my written answer on 5 December 2017 (HL3455), we are focused on making sure that there is clear burden sharing of the repatriation operation, and are seeking to recover costs of the operation from third parties. We will in due course be able to report back with more detail.