Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have been granted exemptions from quarantining in a hotel after returning from a covid-19 red list country; and for what reasons those exemptions were granted.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The information on exemptions from ‘red list’ countries is not available in a consolidated format as individual departments are responsible for managing exemptions relevant to their responsibilities. Exemptions from managed quarantine are agreed on a case by case basis and are recorded by the relevant Government department.
Exemptions include those that are work related such as jobs that are essential for the effective running of the country, for medical and compassionate reasons or for safeguarding unaccompanied minors. Those seeking an exemption on medical or compassionate grounds would be granted an exemption before travel while in some other categories, prior approval for an exemption is not required. In these cases, relevant documentation would be presented to confirm exemption from managed quarantine. Due to the range of conditions and evidence required to satisfy each exemption, this data is not collected in a central record.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 26 July 2021 to Question 29827, whether the steps to centrally validate the data on the passengers entering from covid-19 red list countries who have been successful in applying for an exemption have been completed; and how many exemption applications have been successful.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The information on exemptions from ‘red list’ countries is not available in a consolidated format as individual departments are responsible for managing exemptions relevant to their responsibilities. Exemptions from managed quarantine are agreed on a case by case basis and are recorded by the relevant Government department.
Exemptions include those that are work related such as jobs that are essential for the effective running of the country, for medical and compassionate reasons or for safeguarding unaccompanied minors. Those seeking an exemption on medical or compassionate grounds would be granted an exemption before travel while in some other categories, prior approval for an exemption is not required. In these cases, relevant documentation would be presented to confirm exemption from managed quarantine. Due to the range of conditions and evidence required to satisfy each exemption, this data is not collected in a central record.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the removal of all countries from the covid-19 red list announced on 14 December 2021, if he will make it his policy to release people who are in hotel quarantine having returned to the UK from one of those countries.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Arrangements were made for guests in managed quarantine to leave at the earliest opportunity in line with appropriate COVID-19 safe protocols from 15 December.
Guests who tested positive, those who are unvaccinated, and those who were notified they had been a contact of someone who had tested positive were required to remain in quarantine. This aligns with domestic self isolation requirements.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what data informed his Department's decision to place Nigeria on the Government's travel red list.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Nigeria was added to the travel red list from 4am on Monday 6 December following 21 cases of Omicron reported in England which were linked to travel from Nigeria. Decisions on red list assignment and associated border measures are taken by ministers, who take into account UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) risk assessments, alongside wider public health factors. A summary of the UKHSA methodology is published on gov.uk, alongside key data that supports Ministers' decisions.
Nigeria was removed from the red list at 4am on Wednesday 15 December. As Omicron cases rise in the UK and in countries around the world, the travel red list is less effective in slowing the incursion of this variant from abroad and managed quarantine measures are no longer proportionate. Additional temporary testing measures remain in place to help prevent additional cases of Omicron from entering the UK.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the average level of subsidy per person they provide to hotels to quarantine travellers entering the UK from red list countries; and what steps they take to ensure value for money.
Answered by Lord Kamall
From February to October 2021, the average level of subsidy per person to provide a managed quarantine service was 53%. During the period there was a decrease in number of destinations on the ‘red list’, therefore the number of hotel rooms for quarantine was reduced to reflect the lower demand from passengers and deliver better value for money.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to make COVID-19 PCR tests free in order to ease the travel expense burden on families.
Answered by Lord Kamall
We have no plans to provide free tests for international travel. Free National Health Service tests cannot be used for travel in order to preserve testing capacity and protect public health. We are committed to working with private testing providers to reduce the cost of testing. Since international travel testing requirements were introduced, the average cost of a day two polymerase chain reaction test has decreased to £45.
We have also reduced the cost of NHS Test and Trace tests for international arrivals from £88 to £68 for fully vaccinated arrivals and from £170 to £136 for two tests for arrivals who are not fully vaccinated. For United Kingdom residents or individuals with residency rights who would suffer severe financial hardship by paying the full cost of their managed quarantine or testing fees before they travel, hardship arrangements may be available.
Asked by: Baroness Sherlock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what support is available to British residents returning to the UK who face a requirement which had not been in place when they left the UK to quarantine in a hotel on public health grounds but who lack the financial resources to pay for the hotel.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Where British residents returning to the United Kingdom from a ‘red list’ country believe they will suffer severe financial hardship as a result of paying the full cost of managed quarantine in advance, they may qualify for hardship arrangements. This includes repayment plans, where the fees are repaid in monthly instalments and in exceptional circumstances, fee reductions and waivers may be granted.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether UK diplomatic staff posted in countries on the UK red travel list are exempted from quarantine requirements on return to the UK.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Crown Servants posted in countries on the UK red list are required to quarantine in a government approved hotel on return to the UK unless the relevant department of the UK government has certified that they are: (i) travelling to the UK for essential government work or returning from such work outside the UK; (ii) returning from conducting essential state business outside of the UK; or (iii) returning to the UK where this is necessary to facilitate the functioning of a diplomatic mission or consular post of Her Majesty or of a military/other official posting on behalf of Her Majesty. Each case is considered individually and a clear justification must be provided with reference to the exemption criteria.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that affordable covid-19 testing is available for people wishing to travel overseas.
Answered by Maggie Throup
We are working with private testing providers to reduce the cost of testing. We have reduced the cost of NHS Test and Trace tests for international arrivals from £88 to £68 for fully vaccinated arrivals and from £170 to £136 for two tests for arrivals who are not fully vaccinated. Since international travel testing requirements were introduced the average cost of a day two polymerase chain reaction test has fallen to £45.
For United Kingdom residents or individuals with residency rights who would suffer severe financial hardship by paying the full cost of their managed quarantine or testing fees before they travel, hardship arrangements may be available.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department has taken to broaden the UK's recognition of covid-19 vaccination status with respect to vaccines administered overseas beyond the existing list of countries.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
As of 22 November, people vaccinated with vaccines listed on the WHO Emergency Use Listing, in addition to those already recognised, can travel to the UK without having to quarantine. In practice, this means that Sinovac, Sinopharm Beijing and Covaxin are now accepted at the border as well as Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna and Janssen.
The Government will continue to work with international partners to expand the policy to more countries and territories where it is safe to do so.