Managing cross-border travel during the COVID-19 pandemic

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry
Opened: 25 Apr 2022 Closed: 14 Oct 2022 Parliament page
Putting cross-border travel measures in place during the COVID-19 pandemic often at speed to time-pressured deadlines then adapting and sustaining them required considerable efforts by government and others. Although individual departments have been monitoring their own spending on implementing cross-border travel measures in response to COVID-19, the National Audit Office … Read more
10 Recommendations
20 Conclusions
1 Report
1 Oral session
2 Letters
1 Event
Activity timeline 6 events
14 Oct
2022
Report published
26 Jul
2022
Report published
5 Jul
2022
Correspondence
14 Jun
2022
Correspondence
23 May
2022
Oral evidence
23 May
2022
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Grimond Room, Portcullis House
Oral evidence sessions 1 session
23 May 2022
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Managing cross-border travel during the COVID-19 pandemic
Alex Chisholm · Cabinet Office Gareth Davies · Department for Transport Patricia Hayes · Home Office Phil Douglas · Border Force Shona Dunn · Home Office
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Sixteenth Report - Managing cross-border travel during the COVID… HC 29 26 Jul 2022 30 Responded
Recommendations & Conclusions
4 results
Clear
16 Conclusion Rejected
Sixteenth Report - Managing cross-…
The NAO reported that government had no formal, agreed articulation of how competing objectives for...
The NAO reported that government had no formal, agreed articulation of how competing objectives for implementation of the system as a whole should be balanced and prioritised. We asked how government ensured that the seven separate programmes worked together to … Read more
Government Response
The government disagrees with the committee's recommendation regarding the balancing and prioritisation of competing objectives, stating that they did take on board many of the CMA's recommendations and detailing actions taken.
HM Treasury
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17 Recommendation Rejected
Sixteenth Report - Managing cross-…
To preserve NHS testing capacity for domestic health monitoring, DHSC created a private sector market...
To preserve NHS testing capacity for domestic health monitoring, DHSC created a private sector market for PCR tests for people travelling. The number of firms offering PCR tests increased from 11 in December 2020 to at least 400 by September … Read more
Government Response
The government disagrees with the Committee’s recommendation, stating that it did take on board many of the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) recommendations.
HM Treasury
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18 Conclusion Rejected
Sixteenth Report - Managing cross-…
DHSC told us that it had tried to ensure that the market could provide valid...
DHSC told us that it had tried to ensure that the market could provide valid and accurate tests, and that without its approach it would not have been able to develop the scale of testing market that it needed. We … Read more
Government Response
The government disagrees with the Committee's recommendation because it did take on board many of the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) recommendations; lists multiple specific actions it took to address the issues raised, and states that if health measures were re-introduced, the UKHSA would continue to learn the lessons from previous iterations of travel testing.
HM Treasury
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19 Recommendation Rejected
Sixteenth Report - Managing cross-…
The NAO found that the price of PCR tests for prices ranged from £15 to...
The NAO found that the price of PCR tests for prices ranged from £15 to £525. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) reviewed the PCR testing market in August 2021 and found there was a ‘race to the bottom’ where … Read more
Government Response
The government disagrees with the recommendation, stating that it *did* take on board many of the CMA’s recommendations, and describes the actions taken in response to the CMA report.
HM Treasury
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Government Response AI assessment · 23 of 10 classified
Accepted 14
Acknowledged 4
Not Addressed 1
Rejected 4
Total 10 recs + 20 conclusions
Correspondence 2 letters
5 Jul 2022 Correspondence from Dame Meg Hillier, Chair, Committee of Public Accounts to Patricia Hayes, Second Permanent Secretary, Home Office, re Managing cross-border travel during the COVID-19 pandemic, 29 June 2022
Parliament page
14 Jun 2022 Correspondence from Gareth Davies CB, Second Permanent Secretary, Department for Transport, re Managing cross-border travel during the COVID-19 pandemic, dated 6 June 2022
Parliament page