We believe the vast majority of British travellers seeking to return to the UK - who don't have commercial options - have now done so. Through our embassies, and a dedicated central team, we continue to support British nationals who need consular support and are working to ensure commercial routes are maintained.<\/p>
We have brought nearly 18,000 people back to the UK on 66 chartered flights from India, including from New Delhi, Goa, Mumbai, the Punjab, Gujarat and West Bengal. These flights carried almost all of those in India who registered, were eligible, and took up a flight when given the chance to do so. Since then, thousands of people, including British nationals, have been able to make use of outbound legs of Air India's "Vande Bharat" repatriation flights to return to the UK, as well as the increasing number of British Airways flights which are now running from India. The British High Commission is in contact with airlines, the Indian authorities, and other governments to make sure that more commercial options for returning to the UK are available as soon as possible.<\/p>
Repatriation flights from the Punjab started just five days into the repatriation operation. We estimate that of the 18,000 people who returned to the UK, over 8,000 returned from the Punjab on 29 charter flights between 13 April and 4 June. Our consular teams in India continue to work around the clock to provide support, advice and information to British travellers remaining in Punjab. Any British travellers who require consular assistance should contact us on consular lines or visit the 'staying in India' page of our travel advice.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4057", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Nigel Adams"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Selby and Ainsty"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Nigel Adams"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2020-09-01", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "groupedQuestionUIN" : {"_value" : "78838"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2020-09-01T14:24:02.823Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "16"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2020-07-22", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "India: Coronavirus"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 22 July 2020 to Question 76100 on India: coronavirus, for what reasons repatriation flights from India did not initially include the Punjab; for what reasons (a) New Delhi, (b) Goa and (c) Mumbai were selected for initial repatriation flights; what assessment his Department has made of the effect of those decisions on UK residents in India; what information sources the Government used to reach those decisions; and whether more people were repatriated from the Punjab region than any other region of India.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4638", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Slough"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi"} ], "uin" : "78837"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1227657", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1227657/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
We believe the vast majority of British travellers seeking to return to the UK - who don't have commercial options - have now done so. Through our embassies, and a dedicated central team, we continue to support British nationals who need consular support and are working to ensure commercial routes are maintained.<\/p>
We have brought nearly 18,000 people back to the UK on 66 chartered flights from India, including from New Delhi, Goa, Mumbai, the Punjab, Gujarat and West Bengal. These flights carried almost all of those in India who registered, were eligible, and took up a flight when given the chance to do so. Since then, thousands of people, including British nationals, have been able to make use of outbound legs of Air India's "Vande Bharat" repatriation flights to return to the UK, as well as the increasing number of British Airways flights which are now running from India. The British High Commission is in contact with airlines, the Indian authorities, and other governments to make sure that more commercial options for returning to the UK are available as soon as possible.<\/p>
Repatriation flights from the Punjab started just five days into the repatriation operation. We estimate that of the 18,000 people who returned to the UK, over 8,000 returned from the Punjab on 29 charter flights between 13 April and 4 June. Our consular teams in India continue to work around the clock to provide support, advice and information to British travellers remaining in Punjab. Any British travellers who require consular assistance should contact us on consular lines or visit the 'staying in India' page of our travel advice.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4057", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Nigel Adams"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Selby and Ainsty"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Nigel Adams"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2020-09-01", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "groupedQuestionUIN" : {"_value" : "78837"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2020-09-01T14:24:02.777Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "16"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2020-07-22", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "India: Coronavirus"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answers of 22 July 2020 to Questions 76100 and 76099, what assessment he has made of the effect on UK residents stranded abroad in Punjab as a result of the covid-19 pandemic who registered with his Department for flights to return to the UK as a result of his Department not being able to determine how many of those residents remain stranded.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4638", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Slough"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi"} ], "uin" : "78838"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1226021", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1226021/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
India is a priority for the UK Government and we have been working closely with both airlines and the Government of India to ensure British travellers can return home.<\/p>
We have brought nearly 18,000 people back to the UK on 66 chartered flights from India, including from New Delhi, Goa, Mumbai, and other areas of the Punjab, Gujarat and West Bengal. These flights carried almost all of those in India who registered, were eligible, and took up a flight when given the chance to do so. We estimate that of these, over 8,000 people returned from the Punjab on 29 charter flights between 13 April and 4 June.<\/p>
Since then, thousands of people, including British nationals, have been able to make use of outbound legs of Air India's "Vande Bharat" repatriation flights to return to the UK, as well as the increasing number of other flight options out of the country. It is extremely difficult to be precise about numbers: we do not require British travellers to register with us when they go overseas or report their return to the UK via other means, while there were instances of multiple registrations by the same individual and other who were not eligible.<\/p>
We continue to assess the need for any future flights and are in contact with airlines, the Indian authorities, and other governments to maximise options for returning to the UK. For any British travellers who are unable to do so, support is provided by our consular teams in India.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4057", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Nigel Adams"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Selby and Ainsty"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Nigel Adams"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2020-07-22", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "groupedQuestionUIN" : {"_value" : "76099"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2020-07-22T16:26:31.177Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "16"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2020-07-17", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "India: Coronavirus"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many UK residents stranded abroad as a result of the covid-19 pandemic who were located in Punjab, India have returned home on UK Government charter flights.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4638", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Slough"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi"} ], "uin" : "76100"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 3, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }