Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of whether humanitarian aid provided to Pakistan following the Balochistan earthquakes in 2013 reached that region.

In response to the September 2013 earthquake in Balochistan, the UK provided relief and recovery interventions worth £2.5m. Monitoring of this assistance was carried out by third parties as most areas in Balochistan are inaccessible for British Government staff for security reasons. Regular field-based evidence was gathered on our support, including independent monitoring. This monitoring confirmed the distribution of around 10,000 emergency shelter roofing kits (8,666 male-headed and 1,334 female-headed households), 40,000 blankets, 10,000 ceramic filters, 32,000 sleeping mats and 10,000 solar lights.

The Department for International Development (DFID) has a zero-tolerance policy to fraud, bribery and corruption. This is regularly communicated to organisations we fund and work with, including Government counterparts in Pakistan. Alongside this policy, we have third party validation of results achieved using DFID funds in Pakistan.

The National Disaster Consortium (NDC), led by the UN International Organisation for Migration Pakistan under our Multi Year Humanitarian Programme, provides rapid responses to any humanitarian emergency throughout Pakistan. In Balochistan, we are currently providing drought and snow emergency response through the NDC.