Oral Answers to Questions

Sarah Newton Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd September 2013 Commons Chamber

The Secretary of State was asked—

[Sarah Newton (Truro and Falmouth) (Con)]

1. What recent assessment he has made of the situation in Syria.

[John Glen (Salisbury) (Con)]

11. What recent assessment he has made of the situation in Syria.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr William Hague)]

The United Nations has announced that there are now 2 million Syrian refugees in the region. The United Kingdom is already the second largest donor, supporting more than 900,000 Syrians, and we will do more. The president of the Syrian National Coalition will visit London on Thursday, when we will discuss further support to save lives, promote political dialogue in Syria, and advance the holding of a second Geneva conference. We support a strong international response to the use of chemical weapons in Syria, while of course fully respecting the views of the House.

[Sarah Newton]

I do not believe that the people of Britain want the people of Syria to feel that they have been abandoned in their hour of need. Will my right hon. Friend, who has shown such a lead, continue to work with partners in providing humanitarian aid to help to alleviate the dreadful suffering that we see in Syria, and will he consider including in that humanitarian response protection against any future use of chemical weapons?

[Mr Hague]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The United Kingdom’s total funding for humanitarian purposes in Syria and the region is now £348 million. That is the largest total sum that the UK has ever committed to a single crisis. UK aid is funding food for more than 280,000 people a month, and drinking water for almost a million people.

My hon. Friend also mentioned protection. The package of chemical weapons protective equipment that I announced to the House just before the summer break has now arrived in the region. It includes 5,000 escape hoods, detector paper, and a stock of nerve agent pre-treatment tablets.