Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

International Travel Restrictions

Thursday 3 February 2022 · 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 1 Partly answered 2 Not answered 0

Key points

  • On 24 January, the Secretary of State announced the removal of all testing requirements for eligible fully vaccinated arrivals.
  • The Government are developing a more flexible travel model including a contingency playbook to manage future situations.
  • The Government have committed to reviewing and simplifying the Passenger Locator Form process.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Andrew Rosindell Reform Romford
Immigration
Context

The question arises from the government's decision to remove testing requirements for eligible fully vaccinated arrivals.

Question

What recent progress has been made with Cabinet colleagues on easing international travel restrictions for UK nationals?

Answer from Robert Courts

On 24 January, the Secretary of State announced to the House that all testing requirements will be removed for eligible fully vaccinated arrivals.

Answered
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Q2 Andrew Rosindell Reform Romford
NHS Economy
Context

The question follows the success of the roll-out and booster programme, which led to the removal of plan B restrictions.

Question

Given the success of the roll-out and the welcome news that the plan B restrictions are ending and will end with travel restrictions set to end on 11 February, will the Minister please assure the country that we will never again go back to travel restrictions of that kind? The latest travel restrictions seem to have had very little effect and the damage done to our economy was vast.

Answer from Robert Courts

My hon. Friend is absolutely correct: thanks to the success of our roll-out and booster programme—the fastest in Europe—we are now in a position where we can live with covid and start to travel again. The Government are developing a more flexible model, including a contingency playbook to deal with future variants that will provide certainty to consumers and industry alike.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The Minister did not give a direct assurance that there will be no return to previous levels of travel restrictions.

How: Developing A More Flexible Model

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Q3 Jim Shannon DUP Strangford
Immigration
Context

The question is about the process of filling out passenger locator forms and the potential for simplification.

Question

I thank the Minister for his response—he has definitely been on his Weetabix this morning, so he has. My question is on a specific issue. As filling out a passenger locator form per traveller takes a long time, has consideration been given to providing group application facilities, whereby families can fill in their details as one and save themselves the stress of having to fill out multiple applications in a foreign country so that they can return home safely?

Answer from Robert Courts

The hon. Gentleman makes an excellent suggestion. We have committed to looking into and radically simplifying the way that the PLF works. It remains necessary for now but I shall take that suggestion on board and consider it in any upcoming review.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The Minister did not commit to implementing group application facilities, instead committing to considering the suggestion.

How: Looking Into, Considering

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