Syrian Refugees: Food Aid

Lord Collins of Highbury Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd December 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

I will need to write to my noble friend with the details of that.

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

My Lords, the one thing that is clear is that this crisis will not come to an end in a short period. Does the Minister therefore accept that longer-term funding for host government authorities is necessary to ensure that their national infrastructures do not collapse under the weight of the refugees?

[Baroness Northover]

The noble Lord is right that a huge amount of support will need to go to these countries. That is what the United Kingdom is in fact doing, both as regards support within Syria itself but also for those countries around, some of which, as he well knows, were under a lot of pressure before this crisis occurred and are under further pressure. We have to ensure that the situation that developed in Iraq does not develop elsewhere.