Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of anticipatory cash transfers to populations vulnerable to extreme weather events.

The UK is working to scale up anticipatory action to reduce the impact of humanitarian crises on the most vulnerable. We have supported pilots of anticipatory cash through funding to the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF). Initial evaluations of these show that cash is an efficient and effective anticipatory modality. We are also investing in social protection systems which play an important role in building vulnerable populations' resilience to extreme weather events before they occur. For instance, the FCDO-funded Hunger Safety Net Programme in Kenya routinely reaches 100,000 households and can scale up to an additional 275,000 households during drought to help more families better absorb the impact of climate shocks without falling deeper into poverty.