Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

International Travel: Safe Restart

Thursday 11 March 2021 · 3 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 2 Partly answered 1 Not answered 0

Key points

  • The Government launched the global travel taskforce mark 2 to facilitate international travel during the pandemic.
  • The global travel taskforce mark 2 will introduce travel certification using schemes like IATA's travel pass or the World Economic Forum's CommonPass.
  • The recommendations from the global travel taskforce will be made public on 12 April, with travel for leisure or other purposes not resuming until at least 17 May.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Antony Higginbotham
Business & Trade
Context

The UK government is considering how to safely resume international travel amid the ongoing pandemic.

Question

What preparatory steps his Department is taking on the safe restart of international travel during the covid-19 pandemic?

Answer from Grant Shapps

The Government have launched the global travel taskforce mark 2 in order to help facilitate international travel as we deal with this virus.

Partly answered

Not addressed: No specific preparatory steps or timelines were provided

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Q2 Antony Higginbotham
Transport Business & Trade
Context

Thousands of manufacturing jobs in the questioner's constituency are reliant on the aerospace and aviation sectors.

Question

My right hon. Friend will be aware that thousands of manufacturing jobs in my constituency are reliant on the aerospace and aviation sector. What those people need more than anything else is aircraft in the air, flying again. Will my right hon. Friend set out what steps he is taking with global partners, including looking at schemes such as the International Air Transport Association's travel pass, to get aircraft flying again in a way that is safe and sustainable?

Answer from Grant Shapps

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. He will recall that mark 1 of the global travel taskforce introduced test to release to assist with this. Mark 2 will introduce travel certification by using schemes such as IATA's travel pass or the World Economic Forum's CommonPass. He will be interested to know that I have been having conversations with my US counterpart and many others around the world to get that travel going again. The report will be on 12 April.

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Q3 Huw Merriman Con
Transport
Context

The Secretary of State mentioned a report due on April 12th regarding the global travel taskforce's recommendations.

Question

The Secretary of State just mentioned 12 April for the global travel taskforce recommendations. Is that the date on which the public and the aviation industry will know what the rules will be, or is it just the date when the recommendations will be given to No. 10?

Answer from Grant Shapps

The Chair of the Transport Committee is absolutely right; 12 April is the date that we will report back, and we will make it public on the same day. Travel for leisure or other purposes will not resume or be allowed until 17 May at the earliest. It is important that people realise that that is the earliest date, but we are very keen to get the aviation sector that many Members across the House have talked about back in the air, and this is the route to get it there.

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