Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, on what date her Department's Office in Bangladesh became aware of the possibility of an influx of Rohingya refugees to that country; and what steps it took in response to that awareness.

The DFID office in Bangladesh was aware that rising tensions Rakhine State that could lead to an influx of refugees in the week of 15 August. The UK was already providing support to Rohingya people and the communities that host them in Bangladesh long before the current influx began. This includes programming of £13.9 million since 2014.

In late August, our daily monitoring showed that numbers of new arrivals were rising. We released £5 million additional funding to meet urgent needs on 8 September. Since then we have announced a further £42 million, bringing the total to £47 million since the start of the cirisis. We are providing food, medical help, safe water and sanitation, shelter, nutrition and psychological support to Rohingya refugees.