Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 18 December 2014 to Question 219424, what financial support the Government has (a) provided since 1 January 2015 and (b) budgeted to provide in the future to support local governance in opposition-controlled areas.

We do not have figures for spend since the start of the calendar year, but the UK has delivered over £85m in non-humanitarian support to Syria, Jordan and Lebanon since the start of the crisis in 2011. A significant amount of this has supported work in moderate opposition-controlled areas, helping to save lives, bolster civil society, build resilience against extremists, promote human rights and accountability, deliver basic governance and help lay the foundations for a more peaceful and inclusive future for Syria.

The UK is committed to helping the Syrian people, and will continue its non-humanitarian support next financial year, although a final budget has not yet been allocated.