Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Desmond Swayne and Laurence Robertson

Wednesday 3rd February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Laurence Robertson (Tewkesbury) (Con)]

4. What recent assessment she has made of the humanitarian situation in Yemen.

[The Minister of State, Department for International Development (Mr Desmond Swayne)]

Eighty per cent. of Yemen’s population are in need of humanitarian aid, and 7.6 million people face severe food shortages. Some 320,000 children under the age of five are severely malnourished, there are 2.5 million displaced people, and there were 8,000 civilian casualties last year. Yemen must be one of the least eligible places to be.

[Mr Robertson]

I thank the Minister for setting out the worrying situation in Yemen. There are other problem areas of the world, such as Syria, but Yemen is one of the world’s hidden problems. What can the Government do to enable NGOs to at least get food aid and clean water into Yemen to those who are so desperately in need?

[Mr Swayne]

We started by doubling our aid last year, and last week the Secretary of State announced that that aid would increase by a further £10 million to £85 million. In September, she led a side event at the UN General Assembly, at which she secured from other donors a further £85 million. We are working on the UN verification and inspection mechanism to ensure that more food and shipping get into Yemen.