Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with the Government of Bangladesh and humanitarian agencies about helping to improve safety and protection for Rohingya refugees.

We remain concerned by the challenges faced by Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, as seen first hand by the Minister for International Development on her visit to the country in November last year. We regularly engaged with the former Interim Government of Bangladesh on security in, and around, the refugee camps and press for actions to improve the protection environment, and these issues were raised with then Chief Adviser Yunus by Baroness Chapman on her visit.

We also fund protection services for women and girls, and seek to ensure that UK-funded Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) health and site management projects are sensitive to the needs of women and girls. The UK is working through local partners to address the humanitarian situation in the refugee camps and closely monitoring levels of need and security.

In September, the Foreign Secretary announced £27 million of new funding for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and the communities which host them. This brought the UK's total support since 2017 to £447 million. This includes support to help refugees build skills for the future and reduce reliance on aid.