UK Government "does not know" if Covid traffic light system for travel worked

The UK government do not know whether it's multi-million dollar 'traffic light system' worked or was worth the disruption, according to a report published today.

A report the Public Accounts Committee says despite spending at least £486 million on an international travel "traffic light system", the government "does not know whether the system worked or whether the cost was worth the disruption caused".

Various pandemic safeguards were reviewed, including the 'travel traffic light system', hotel quarantine, and orders for people to isolate at home.

According to the review, the government spent upwards of£486 million on implementing its traffic light system but made many key mistakes.

"Government did not track its spending on managing cross-border travel or set clear objectives, so does not know whether the system worked or whether the cost was worth the disruption caused," the report read.

Lack of clear communication or consistency
As many in the UK would also attest, rules around travel were unclear and changed often.

"Government changed the travel rules at least 10 times between February 2021 and January 2022," the report said. Not only did this give the travel industry little time to prepare, but also put the burden of understanding on individuals.

Since they "did not clearly communicate changes to either carriers or the public", the report found just 40 per cent of people were aware of the rules on self-isolation.

The private travel sector pressured to enforce rules
Not only did the rules change, but private sector travel carriers were relied upon to play a key role in checking additional health documents, despite not receiving support for the additional costs it incurred.

"Government did not strike the right balance between its reliance on the travel
industry to implement travel controls and the support it provided," the Committee claimed.

Exceptions were not tracked
During the previous two years, the government gave an estimated 2.5 million exemptions to select groups.

However, they did not keep track of how many of those who received a travel exemption to attend events like Euro 2020 or London Fashion Week caught Covid-19 as a result of travelling.

Market for travel tests poorly set up

Department of Health and Social Care was also criticised by the Committee for "failure to properly set up the market for travel tests put the public at risk of fraud and poor quality of service".

DHSC required companies looking to conduct tests to be accredited by the United Kingdom
Accreditation Service, according to the report. However, this only requires a self-declaration, after which, companies were listed on gov.uk as providers of pre-departure tests.

Overall, 95 per cent of companies failed the second stage of accreditation, a margin that concerned the Committee as it suggested many companies on the government website were not properly qualified to conduct tests.