Oral Answers to Questions

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Tuesday 21st November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Our early lunchtime exchanges would be incomplete if we did not have the participation of the right hon. Member for New Forest West (Sir Desmond Swayne).

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

15. When a Minister of his Department last visited Bangladesh.

[The Minister for Africa (Rory Stewart)]

Ministers regularly visit Bangladesh, with which we have a very special relationship. I have had the pleasure of visiting, as have my right hon. Friends the Ministers for the Middle East, and for Asia and the Pacific, who visited Bangladesh on 27 and 28 September.

[Sir Desmond Swayne]

Is the Minister satisfied with the level of support we are providing for the Rohingya?

[Rory Stewart]

More support can always be provided for the Rohingya. The situation is horrifying: nearly 600,000 refugees—Burmese citizens, we should emphasise —driven out of their homes by horrific actions provoked largely by the Burmese military. We are providing £47 million of assistance, which makes the UK the largest bilateral donor, and we have just sent experts on preventing sexual violence in conflict to the camps in Bangladesh, but there is always more to be done.