Instruments relating to COVID-19
Changes to business practice and regulation
Draft Airports Slot Allocation (Alleviation of Usage Requirements) (No. 2) Regulations 2021
30.During the pandemic the reallocation of airport slots8 has been suspended. This instrument amends the 80:20 airport slot usage rule to cover the slot scheduling season which runs from 31 October 2021 until 26 March 2022 (the “Winter 2021” season). The Regulations make three changes in relation to slots for the Winter 2021 season which will affect reallocation of the same slots for the equivalent period from October 2022 to March 2023:
- the required percentage usage rate is reduced from 80% to 50%;they enable an air carrier to retain rights to a series of slots if it returned the complete series to the slot coordinator for reallocation on or before 7 September 2021;
- they expand the list of reasons for which non-utilisation of slots can be justified, to include certain government-imposed measures related to COVID-19 which severely reduce the viability of, or demand for, passenger travel on the route in question.
Travel
Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel and Operator Liability) (England) (Amendment) (No. 6) Regulations 2021 (SI 2021/865)
31.This instrument amended the International Travel Regulations9 with effect from 19 July to introduce an exemption to the self-isolation and day 8 test requirements for individuals fully vaccinated in the UK arriving from an Amber List country who have not been in either a Red List country or mainland France (including Corsica) in the 10 days prior to arrival in England. It also made consequential updates to the provisions for private test providers and introduced a requirement for operators to carry out the necessary evidence checks on passengers seeking to benefit from this relaxation and for operators to establish appropriate systems and records. It added a corresponding requirement for such passengers to show their evidence if asked by an operator or immigration officer.
32.The instrument also amended the Green List to remove the Balearic Islands and British Virgin Islands and add Bulgaria, Croatia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. It also added Cuba, Indonesia, Myanmar and Sierra Leone to the Red List and permitted direct flights from Cuba and Indonesia only if they arrive at the dedicated Red List terminals.
Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel and Operator Liability) (England) (Amendment) (No. 7) Regulations 2021 (SI 2021/914)
33.With effect from 2 August, this instrument extended the regime allowing exemption from self-isolation for fully vaccinated individuals arriving from Amber List countries (see SI 2021/865 above) to those who have been fully vaccinated in the United States, the EU and other relevant countries.
34.Additionally, this instrument excluded transport crew from the requirement to undertake workforce tests if they do not disembark in England, and, from 23 August, made improvements to test result reporting including requiring day 8 tests to be genome sequenced (to identify variants of concern).
Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel and Operator Liability) (England) (Amendment) (No. 8) Regulations 2021 (SI 2021/923)
35.The instrument further amended the International Travel Regulations with effect from 8 August to:
- Remove additional restrictions on individuals arriving from France, who will now be subject to the same travel rules as arrivals from any other Amber List country.
- Add Austria, Germany, Latvia, Norway, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia to the Green List.
- Remove Bahrain, India, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates from the Red List.
- Add Georgia, Mayotte, Mexico, and La Reunion to the Red List–in addition direct flights from Georgia and Mexico may only land at designated terminals in London Heathrow and Birmingham airports.
- Update the list of exempt sporting events in Schedule 5.
- Ensure that UK civil servants fully vaccinated abroad under the overseas staff programme qualify for the relaxed inbound requirements when arriving from an Amber List country.
- Extend to all parts of the UK the agreement that children arriving from a Red List country to attend boarding school may serve their quarantine at their school.
Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel and Operator Liability) (England) (Amendment) (No. 9) Regulations 2021 (SI 2021/ 966)
36.These Regulations further update the International Travel Regulations:
- to add Montenegro and Thailand to the Red List with direct flights only allowed to land at the designated airports, and to move Denmark, Lithuania, Finland, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, the Azores, and Canada to the Green List;
- to add Newcastle airport to the list of designated Red List ports under Schedule 11 to increase capacity to safely manage the volume of returning international students in the autumn;
- to introduce exemptions from the international travel requirements, apart from the obligation to possess a negative result from a pre-flight test for all persons facilitating or attending the Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP 26), to be held from 31 October-12 November, and the World Leaders Summit on 1 to 2 November;
- for London Fashion Week there is an exemption from self-isolation requirements for invitees arriving from Amber List countries (this applies to about 130 fashion professionals who will be required to isolate when not attending events);
- to introduce a duty for an unaccompanied minor arriving from a Red List country to have a booking for managed quarantine both for themselves and for a nominated adult to join them there; (although those arriving for educational purposes may quarantine in the educational institution’s accommodation); and
- to update reporting mechanisms to require minimum standards and reporting times from private providers, and to introduce penalties so that there is a comprehensive compliance mechanism covering all private testing providers, not just those governed by the Health Protection Regulations.
37.We are pleased to note that the Department of Health and Social Care has appointed different start dates according to the comparative urgency of the changes proposed.10
Public services
Education (School Inspection) (England) (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 (SI 2021/845)
38.This instrument extends temporarily the prescribed interval for routine Ofsted inspections of most state-funded schools and of inspections of collective worship and denominational education in voluntary-aided and foundation faith schools. The aim is to take account of a period in which such inspections were suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic. The suspension was announced in March 202011 and formalised from 1 May 2020, with the relevant inspection duties being disapplied through monthly notices using powers in the Coronavirus Act 2020.12 The Department for Education says that the extension made by this instrument provides the necessary time and flexibility to enable inspection to resume following the suspension.
39.Under the new arrangements a school that would have been due a routine inspection by the end of the summer term 2020 will now require one before the end of the summer term 2022, and once that takes place, its next routine five-yearly inspection will be due by the end of the summer term 2027. In relation to faith schools, a school that would have been due an inspection in the summer term 2020 will now be due that inspection by the end of the summer term 2023. If that inspection takes place in the summer term 2023, the school’s next routine inspection will be due before the end of the summer term 2028.
Education (Pupil Registration) (England) (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 (SI 2021/852)
40.This instrument enables schools to continue to record when a pupil is not attending in circumstances relating to coronavirus. This category of non-attendance was introduced in the 2020/21 academic year13 and is extended by this instrument, so that it will also apply during the 2021/22 academic year. The category applies to all schools, except those where all pupils are boarders. The Department for Education (DfE) explains that the category recognises where pupils do not attend because they are following public health guidance to shield or because they are quarantining after returning from abroad, self-isolating or staying at home due to local restrictions or a national lockdown, without unfairly categorising them as absent, which would negatively affect their school attendance record. The category does not apply where a pupil is not attending because they are unwell with COVID-19: pupils who are unable to attend due to illness are recorded under a separate category. DfE says that the category helps schools and local authorities to identify and understand the impact of COVID-19 on pupil groups with different characteristics and to target their catch-up and recovery efforts effectively.
Education (School Performance Information) (England) (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 (SI 2021/932)
41.This instrument extends to the 2021/22 school year a change in the definition of ‘reporting school year’ that was made by an earlier instrument14 with regard to the reporting of an annual phonics assessment in the 2020/21 school year. The Department for Education (DfE) explains that a phonics screening check (PSC) is usually carried out for all children in Year 1, and for children in Year 2 who did not take the check or did not meet the required standard in Year 1. The aim of the assessment is to understand whether a child has learned phonic decoding to an age-appropriate standard and to identify students who may need additional support. The results are reported to the Department and published.
42.Following the cancellation of the summer 2021 primary assessments due to the pandemic, DfE will run a Year 2 PSC in the autumn term of the 2021/22 school year, instead of the cancelled June 2021 Year 1 PSC, to ensure that Year 2 pupils who need support are not missed. DfE says that while schools will be required to report the results of the 2021/22 autumn term Year 2 PSC to the Department, the data will not be published because of the ongoing disruption caused by the pandemic. This instrument extends to the 2021/22 school year a change made in the previous school year which enabled the reporting of results to DfE despite the absence of published results.
8 An airport ‘slot’ is a permission to use all necessary airport infrastructure to operate an aircraft at a specified date and time for take-off or landing. Under normal conditions to retain a slot an airline must use them at least 80% of the time.
9 The Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel and Operator Liability) (England) Regulations 2021 (SI 2021/582).
10 See reg 1, The Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel and Operator Liability) (England) (Amendment) (No. 9) Regulations 2021.
11 DfE, ‘Routine Ofsted inspections suspended in response to coronavirus’ (17 March 2020): https://www.gov.uk/government/news/routine-ofsted-inspections-suspended-in-response-to-coronavirus [accessed 8 September 2021].
12 Section 38(1) of, and paragraph 5 of Schedule 17 to, the Coronavirus Act 2020.
13 Education (Pupil Registration) (England) (Coronavirus) (Amendment) (No.2) Regulations 2020 (SI 2020/816).
14 Education (National Curriculum Assessment Arrangements, Attainment Targets and Programmes of Study) and (Pupil Information and School Performance Information) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2020 (SI 2020/844).