Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether he has had recent discussions with (a) his Ethiopian counterpart and (b) other international partners on ensuring the adequacy of access for humanitarian deliveries in the Amhara region of Ethiopia.

The UK is committed to providing support to the most vulnerable and those in desperate need in Ethiopia. We have already increased our humanitarian support this financial year to £74 million. Almost 1.9 million people benefit from UK-supported programmes in Amhara, although access is currently limited. The UK is continuing to provide support where possible and consistently raises humanitarian access with the government of Ethiopia. Most recently Minister Mitchell met the Ethiopian Foreign Minister Taye on 17 April at the Ethiopian high-level pledging conference in Geneva, where the government committed to reforms to improve humanitarian operations in Ethiopia. At the conference, which was co-hosted by the UK, international partners successfully raised $610 million to meet humanitarian needs in Ethiopia, including in Amhara.