Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent steps her Department has taken to support the development of clean drinking water systems in Africa.

The UK Government has promised to support 60 million people to gain access to sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services in the developing world. We are on track to achieve this target through projects managed by our country offices in 15 countries, of which 12 are in Africa; a partnership with UNICEF to deliver programmes in nine countries, of which three are in Africa; and a challenge programme which funds three consortia working in 12 countries of which 10 are in Africa. The total number of people reached with WASH services in Africa since 2010 is 19.4 million and this is forecast to rise to 34.1 million by December 2015.