Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to increase food, medicine and fuel supplies to Hodeidah port.

The UK government has been clear in expressing its concerns about any attack on Hodeidah, and is actively calling on all parties to the conflict to continue to facilitate access for essential commercial and humanitarian imports of food, fuel and medical supplies into the country, including through Hodeidah port.

The UK government has worked closely with partners to assess how an attack on Hodeidah might affect the delivery of commercial and humanitarian goods (including food, medicine and fuel) to those in need. The UN’s Yemen Humanitarian Pooled Fund – to which the UK has provided £15m so far this year – has launched a reserve allocation for the procurement of essential goods for Hodeidah, including a $6 million contribution to the World Food Programme to fund the procurement of 600,000 immediate response rations as well as $2m for high protein biscuits to meet needs across Yemen including in Hodeidah.

We continue to provide expertise and funding to the UN Verification and Inspection Mechanism (UNVIM) to facilitate commercial imports of food and fuel into Hodeidah and Saleef ports and to provide assurances to the Saudi-led Coalition that shipments are legitimate and not a threat to their national security.