To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the new covid-19 travel restrictions and requirements on people arriving in the UK announced by the Government in February 2021, what assessment he has made of the effect of those new restrictions and requirements on international seafarers arriving, on schedule, on a merchant ship in a UK port and requiring transit to their home country in line with their contract of employment.

The UK Government’s border health measures are part of our strategy to tackle Variants of Concern, and to protect both the progress we have made in bringing cases down and the effectiveness of our vaccination programme

Therefore, on top of the travel ban for all on non-residents coming from the 33 countries on the red list, all UK/Irish residents arriving from the 33 red-list countries must now quarantine in a government assigned hotel for 10 days from arrival, or longer if they test positive during their stay. There is currently not an exemption for seafarers who arrive in the UK having travelled through a ‘red list’ country in the 10 days before arrival.

Since the start of the pandemic, the UK has provided exemptions for seafarers from the need to self-isolate where it has been safe to do so. We have also taken a global lead in efforts to protect the welfare of all seafarers, regardless of their nationality or the flag of the vessel they serve on.

If non-UK or Irish resident seafarers have not been in a red list country in the 10 days before arrival in the UK, they will be exempt from the requirement to quarantine at a private address.

Full details on quarantining can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-quarantine-when-you-arrive-in-england