Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the ease with which Syrian nationals can cross the Lebanese border.

Lebanon is currently hosting over 1.3million refugees and has shown enormous generosity in welcoming those in need which the UK has consistently welcomed.

The Lebanese cabinet agreed new guidelines on Syrian refugees on 23 October saying that new arrivals would be restricted to "special humanitarian cases". The Government of Lebanon is also trying to reduce numbers of refugees already inside Lebanon, partly by encouraging displaced Syrians to return to their or another country. We assess that current restrictions have resulted in a reduction of 75% in those entering Lebanon over the last month.

The UK continues to urge Lebanon not to return Syrian refugees as we do not judge it safe to do so at present.

The UK has so far committed £140m in humanitarian and development assistance to Lebanon since the start of the Syria crisis, much of which is to assist with refugees.