Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to progress the peace talks between parties to conflict in Yemen.

The UK is playing a leading role in diplomatic efforts, including bringing together key international actors to try to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Yemen. As part of this we proposed the Presidential Statement passed at the UN Security Council in June this year, which called for an end to the fighting and a return to UN-led peace talks. We are now working urgently with our international and regional partners to ensure that the Security Council's words are converted into action. We call on all parties to respect these unified and clear demands from the international community. More recently, the Foreign Secretary hosted a meeting of his US, Saudi and Emirati counterparts in our Embassy in Paris on 23 January. They discussed ways of addressing the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, countering weapons smuggling and refocusing the political track to move towards a peaceful solution to the conflict.