Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to supply further humanitarian aid to Yemen after supplies were destroyed at the port of Hodeidah on 31 March 2018.

On 31 March, a fire destroyed a World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse in Hodeidah containing an estimated 3,422 metric tonnes of nutrition supplements and other food. WFP reported that the incident had not affected their food distribution pipeline.

On 3 April, DFID announced an additional £170 million in response to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen for the new financial year (2018/2019). This is in addition to over £400 million in bilateral support from the UK since the conflict began in 2015.

The UK has led the call for unhindered humanitarian and commercial access into Yemen, including through the UK-coordinated Security Council Statement of 15 March, the Secretary of State’s visit to Riyadh in December and lobbying from the Prime Minister. DFID is also providing expertise and funding to UN shipping inspectors to facilitate import flows into Yemen.